An Open Letter to the Class of 2020

I want to preface this by saying that I know seniors are not the only people negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a very serious issue that changes on a daily basis. Please, please, PLEASE, practice proper social distancing (it isn’t just for your health, it’s to save the lives of those around you). 

Dear class of 2020,

We came into this world during 9/11. We came into a world filled with fear and uncertainty. When the time came for us to start school, the economy crashed, and again we were in a world filled will fear and uncertainty. And here we are 12 years later, a lifetime of memories and friendships made, and still, we are in a world full of fear and uncertainty due to a global pandemic. 

We went into this year, excited for it to be over. We were excited to start a new chapter in our lives, to move out, to become independent, and to experience new things. We were ready for senior year to be over the second it started; the seniorities was real. 

We went to school and thought we had until May to say our goodbyes and soak in the senior experience. We went to school the day before spring break, expecting to come back in a week, dread the AP tests, and have all the lasts we were excited for. I never expected that two days ago, I would walk into high school and clean out my locker for the final time. 

We are faced with a dilemma, to have hope or to grieve. When schools first started shutting down, we were hopeful. We would still get our senior season; just it would be shorter. We would still get senior prom and graduation, but now we aren’t so sure. As we see the situation in Italy continues to escalate, we are forced to revaluate our expectations. We are forced to realize that that hope that we hold is becoming less and less of hope and more of a dream as the numbers of those with COVID-19 rise day by day. 

We are forced to grieve. 

We are grieving the loss of experiences we were ecstatic to have: Senior prom, senior night, senior skip day, and all of those senior privileges that we watched the classes before us enjoy with bittersweet smiles. And it’s ok to grieve. It’s human. The hardest part is that we are experiencing emotions that nobody else before us have experienced. This is an experience that is unique to us, and that hopefully, nobody else will have to go through. We’re in a time where we aren’t sure when the next time we can sit in a coffee shop and talk with our friends is. Or when we can even see our friends. 

It is evident that fear and uncertainty are always going to be apart of the world we live in. Times are changing faster than we can possibly imagine. We are dealing with problems that our great-grandparents couldn’t even fathom. But we are dealing with them together. 

Despite all of the losses, it is essential to look at how far we have come in these four short years. We walked into our freshman year one person and left high school another. We made friends with people we never thought we would be friends with, and we kept the old ones. We made memories that we will look back on and cherish. We learned not just the material that we were taught, but we learned about life. About love. About happiness. About friendships. Many of us walked into high school with no sense of who we are, and are leaving with a stronger sense of self. We’ve grown (I mean I’m still the 5’3” that I started high school at, but you get the point). 

Although our time was cut short, we can still cherish the memories we made: the homecomings, football games, dances, trips to McDonald’s, concerts, late nights watching movies, the laughter, the summer days that you wished would never end, and the list goes on. Don’t dwell on what could have been; focus on what it was. Focus on those memories and hold onto them. 

For many of us, senior year ending before we expected is not the greatest adversity we have faced or will face. But that does not mean our feelings aren’t valid. The last few months of our senior year is something we’ve spent our whole lives looking forward to, and suddenly they are gone. We can make it through this, but only if we do this together. 

We are strong.

If you are reading this and you aren’t a senior, I ask that you pray for all of the seniors in your life. Check-in with them, and offer them words of encouragement. Give them a reason to be hopeful. 

And to the class of 2020, remember, we are strong, and we are all in this together. (Like that High School Musical reference I put in there). I’ve also attached links to a couple of other videos that I think addressed the situation perfectly, and I encourage you to watch them!

Sincerely,

Shelby Whiting, 2020 Graduate

3/22/2020 

 

An Open Letter to College Seniors (Re: Covid-19): https://youtu.be/nuOz1V5T1EY 

Dear Class of 2020: https://youtu.be/9b_iREjuCrA