As a senior this year, I can speak from personal experience that this year has been nowhere near the normal graduating experience due to the fault of no one other than the coronavirus. Most seniors graduating have not had classes in person or, if they are lucky, they may have had hybrid classes. There have been no official school dances. The worst thing for me is that I haven’t been able to see the teachers that I like but don’t have classes with. When you are in the same school for three or four years, you start to be friends with different students and teachers and they become almost like family. I even saved buying a yearbook until this year because I thought it would be the best year to have one.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone from the school staff to teachers to people like PPI and yearbook are trying to give us some slack and try to empathize with our situation. We, as a graduating class, have overwhelming amounts of support. Personally, I don’t think there is going to be a perfect solution to anything that happens this year.

The only thing that makes me a little mad is when I see some members of the Class of 2020 profess that their year was worse because they didn’t have any warning as to what was coming. While I get that last year was horrible because they had to stop early and they didn’t get a prom or graduation, that doesn’t make it worse or better than our year. Some say that at least last year’s seniors had a normal fall season, but I think that both 2020 and 2021 have shaped up to be horrible graduation years. Saying that one is worse isn’t helping, because yes, last year there was no warning. The fact is there was a warning when the rest of the world became infected, but no one wanted to believe it could happen to them. When it comes to prom and graduation, neither class is going to have anything resembling a real one.

People just need to stop comparing hardships like one is harder than the other, because, in reality, no one is having the best COVID-19 experience. Maybe, instead of saying that someone should feel worse for you, we should all support each other first. The Class of 2020 should be there for us graduating like most of us were there for them. There were some people who were not too nice about their situation last year, but does that make it okay to bring others down? Whether it be a nice gesture or maybe just an “I’m here for you,” the little things are what help people feel better.

When it comes down to it, this year sucks and we haven’t got nearly the year we wanted, but if we all come together and be there for each other, we can make it a little more bearable. I personally just want to ride my moped to soccer practice and finish out my Lotus Leaf journey. I just keep in mind, at least my senior year is memorable and it is still just four years of my very long life. Keeping my eye on the future is what is getting me through.