Class of 2021’s senior year, another COVID-19 casualty

By Sakura Amano, Staff Writer

It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected students of all ages socially, academically and emotionally. From having to make friends through a disconnected Zoom call to missing out on countless social events, it seems that everyone has had something taken from them in one way or another. For students of a certain graduating class however, the losses they have experienced and are currently still facing are incomparable to those of other years. The class of 2021 have expressed that they often feel like the “middle child” of a family, and I personally think that this comparison is made rightfully so. 

While I recognize that it would be impossible to determine who deserves the most pity without taking into consideration each and every student’s personal hardships, I simply see that the class of 2021 are missing out on the most vital years of their highschool experience, without the attention given to the class of 2020 at the start of the pandemic. The class of 2021 was forced to navigate their junior year, what many view as the most difficult year of high school, at a time when the world was in pure chaos. Even outside of an academic standpoint, the now seniors are likely feeling as though they were stripped of their final years of childhood, without being able to cherish the last of their time in a highschool classroom. Though no one is sure if they will be able to return to school before graduation, the feeling of uncertainty as to whether or not their last day of highschool was just another Friday in March must be bad enough. 

As a sophomore, I can acknowledge that the current seniors are experiencing the most losses as I know that I will likely be able to attend my last two years of highschool in person. While I will get to receive guidance from my teachers and counselors without the barriers of a computer screen.

“With distance learning, I feel like I have missed out on the social aspect of school, especially as a second semester senior! I have known many [Samo] students since kindergarten and we only have a couple of months left together before we matriculate to university. I hope we have the opportunity to safely celebrate our accomplishments,” Gracie Evans (’21) said. 

As mentioned earlier, it would be unfair to say that everyone other than the class of 2021 is having the time of their lives, as that would be far from the truth. While it is okay to recognize that one graduating class has experienced more collective difficulties than others, I also think that it is important to not turn it into a competition. Especially during the pandemic, we have become so intensely divided as a society, that it would be absurd to disconnect ourselves even further as a generation. For now, we must continue to do the best we can as teens in a global pandemic and cross our fingers for a better tomorrow. 

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