Senior year is supposed to be a lot of things. All the perks that come with being a senior such as prom, senior night, senior week, graduation and Project Graduation are supposed to be fun events that celebrate what you have accomplished.
Senior year is supposed to be exciting and joyful and filled with an exhilarating nervousness about crossing the stage into adulthood.
Every year for the past four years, you have watched seniors enjoy all of these perks and more as they commemorate the culmination of 13 years of hard work paying off. Finally, it’s your turn. You’re ready to experience all this and more, except, you can’t.
Children in all grades have been through a lot this year, but especially the seniors, the class of 2020. My senior year at Windsor High School is not going to be like those that have come before.
The first semester of my senior year was my most difficult semester of high school. Taking the ACT and applying to colleges whilst continuing my rigorous academic load and extracurricular activities to look good for said colleges was a lot to juggle.
I have never felt more stress in my life than in that first semester. Applying to colleges is anxiety-inducing enough without doing it from a friend of a friend’s living room because you were evacuated and you don’t know if you have a house or not.
The Kincade Fire put us out of school for about two weeks. Luckily we didn’t have to cancel very many events, and we had a school to go back to. After the stress of the fires and college applications was behind me, I was finally able to relax a little bit and enjoy my senior year.
Second semester was supposed to be fun, not stressful. It was supposed to have all the exciting perks of being a senior that I was really looking forward to.
Besides applying for scholarships and maintaining my grades, the only difficult thing about this semester should’ve been choosing which school to go to. Unfortunately, because of COVID-19, this is not the case.
Until at least May 1, we have transitioned to online learning. All school events have been canceled or postponed and all of the things I was looking forward to about the second semester of senior year aren’t happening.
I have played badminton all four years of high school. Being able to play my last season of badminton won’t happen and being honored for those accomplishments at senior night in front of my friends and family most likely won’t happen either.
There are two scholarships that I was nominated for that had day-long conference and interview processes. Both conferences have been canceled. I won’t be able to see and experience if my hard work has paid off.
Prom has been postponed until very late May and graduation is tentatively scheduled.
I have to decide what college I want to go to when I haven’t even seen some of the campuses in person.
My classmates and I have worked for years to get to this point and we might not even get the chance to walk across the stage.
I miss school. I miss my friends and teachers. I miss my routine. I miss badminton. I miss touring colleges. I miss work. I miss everything. School has been my life for the past 12 years and suddenly my life has been turned upside down.
I’m not gonna lie, it has been difficult for me to find the motivation to get out of bed or off the couch. I am scared that I won’t get to graduate or start college at a normal time. It’s frightening to be out of control and unaware of what is in store for the future.
This is a time where everyone is suffering and missing out on their lives. It’s hard to look at the silver lining in times like this, but I am trying to.
All of my teachers have created Google Classrooms and are assigning work so we won’t get too far behind. My AP teachers are still helping us prepare for our AP tests. I am very grateful for my teachers for attempting to create a new routine and a new sense of normal during this time.
Now I have the time to deep clean my room and closet and desk. I can read a book I’ve been wanting to or try out a couple of new recipes. I get to spend a lot of time with my family and pets before I go away to school. I get to witness my community members doing their part to help flatten the curve and community leaders trying to help everyone during this pandemic.
My senior year is not going the way I expected it to. However, it is one I am never going to forget.
Julia Sawyer is the former intern for The Windsor Times and a senior at Windsor High School.
