Written by Ilona van der Linden
Bye-bye, senior year.
Governor Newsom dropped a bombshell on all high schoolers when he officially announced that schools would not be opening for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year, but it certainly hit seniors the hardest. No prom, no graduation, no senior week, no senior prank… All of these things that we’d dreamed of since we were kids are being taken away for good.
For the most part, my friends and I knew that the governor had made the right decision—after all, our mundane losses become nearly irrelevant in the face of a global pandemic. However, I think a lot of us can’t help but feel a sense of regret. We were experiencing highschool knowing that there still was a long way to go—that every chance we had wasn’t our last.
We didn’t have to go to prom junior year, since there was always senior prom. We didn’t have to attend school sporting events, since there’d always be another season. We didn’t have to take every opportunity we were given, because there were always more to come.
Now, there are no more chances, and we’re never getting them back. That’s what hurts.
I guess all we can do now is look forward; to college, a new beginning, and beyond. That’s what’s motivating me past this slump: the brightness of the future. True, there’s still the looming uncertainty of when all of this will be over, but a girl can hope—and hope she will.
To those still in high school, please learn from this. You may never have the opportunity to do those quintessentially “high school” things ever again, so when you’re offered the chance, take it.
And to those a bit further down the road, I think there’s a grain of truth in the plight of the angry high school senior, and I hope you’ll take it. Let us serve as a reminder to live life to the fullest.
Perhaps this pandemic will give the world a much-needed chance to reflect, and we’ll emerge from it better. We’ll live in the moment, be kinder to each other, and work together towards rebuilding what’s been broken.
I’ll be consoling a lot of my friends who are crying in their prom dresses come May, but I don’t think I’ll be among them. In times like these, we need hope. It’s the only consistency left in this crazy world, and though it can be a difficult thing to keep, I still have it.
So stay hopeful, San Diego. I know it’s what you do best.
