The firsts and lasts of everyone’s high school career to some are the most important part. Your first day, first tardy, first dance, first late grade, etc. But those very last days, the ones we spend our whole life looking forward to, graduation, senior prom, that last day and saying goodbye to the people that have been there with you and for you from your very first. The Class of 2020 was stripped from their lasts.
With COVID-19, face to face schooling was canceled on March 13 for a two week period to examine the procedures necessary to keep parents safe during the pandemic. People thought it was just going to be a short two weeks, maybe a few more, but nobody thought it would be until the end of the year. Seniors had their last day at GHS and didn’t even know it.
“I am very proud of my class and how we have handled things,” senior Peyton Plugge said. “So many of us want to say “why now?”, “why us? But it’s brought people together and made us celebrate all the small things. Now, I think we focus on the little things that we did get to do.”
Seniors persevered through these tough times and showing the rest of us what it looks like to take a bad situation and make a positive outcome. Even though going to school on an afternoon in May and picking up their diploma is not how most kids envisioned their walk across the stage, the Class of 2020 is doing it with their heads held high.
“I am proud of myself and my class because we were born into a time where the world was going crazy, 9/11,” senior Jada Scharff said. “I was supposed to be born on that date, but the doctor’s brother was in the Twin Towers, which shows that especially for me, the whole 9/11 thing is crazy but then this pandemic is another thing happening when we are all supposed to graduate. We are definitely going to come out of this stronger.”
Before they head off to college, the seniors were given the chance to look back and reflect on their high school memories. The good and bad times are what make up the journey itself.
“From all of this, I have learned to not take things for granted,” Scharff said. “It’s easier said than done but it’s something I will take from this situation.”
The Class of 2020 will be a part of online graduation and although this isn’t exactly how anyone expected the 2019-2020 school year to end, it shows that this class is ready for the rest of their journey.