Class of 2020 robbed of special memories

From prom night to graduation day, the coronavirus has stolen milestone events from seniors.

For some, it was the chance to be on stage as part of an ensemble singing in the school musical. For others, it was achieving a personal best on the track in the 800-meter run. It could be the longawaited trip to HersheyPark with friends, the “senior skip day” breakfast at Shady Maple Smorgasbord, the school record pole vault jump or the team celebration of a softball championship.

For many, it was prom night — posing for pictures, riding with friends in a rented limo, dancing the night away.

And for just about every high school senior, it was the long-anticipated walk across the stage in front of family and friends to be handed a diploma.

Those were the memories stolen from the Class of 2020 by the coronavirus.

When Gov. Tom Wolf gave his first school closing directive to Montgomery County schools on March 13, the losses began. But it wasn’t until weeks later after the order was extended statewide and throughout the remainder of the school year that the reality hit. No proms, no graduation ceremonies, no theater, no class trips, no sports — or at least not this spring and not in the way that seniors anticipated for so long.

“I can’t stop thinking about how at the time, I didn’t even know that my last day of high school was my last day of high school,” said Anna Alberti, a Wissahickon High School senior.

North Penn High School senior Divya Sood said, “the situation seems so surreal. If someone gave us a heads-up about the pandemic back in September, everyone would’ve laughed in disbelief.”

In Berks, Exeter senior Alixandriya Williams laments the loss of the lacrosse season. “I was looking forward to another county championship, hopefully a district championship and state championship,” she said.

These seniors will never have the end-of-high-school memories that people talk about for the rest of their lives. Their memories will be the Year of the Pandemic, the year that all was interrupted in a serious effort to stop the spread of the disease COVID-19.

Some of those seniors may have a family member who got sick or was quarantined. Some may have parents who are doctors and nurses and health aides on the front lines, putting their own health in danger and working long hours to care for the sick. For all of them, however, the pandemic has changed their lives.

Ashley Lenhart, a senior at Brandywine Heights in Berks, was looking forward to a spring filled with sports, specifically softball. And the day before schools were closed, she ordered a royal blue dress in anticipation of prom.

With the loss of those experiences, Lenhart said there has also been a lesson: The experience has reminded her to try to make the best out of every situation, to say yes to new, exciting experiences. “Having this happen just really teaches me to take the chances I have and run with them” she said.

Karen Nguyen, a Berks Catholic senior agreed. “I had heard previous seniors say, ‘Don’t take high school life for granted,’ “she said. “Now I really know what they mean by that. …This is something that you can’t really get back. It’s something you’re supposed to never forget.”

The toll of the virus is reported daily in numbers of cases, numbers of deaths, and the devastating impact on people’s livelihoods as businesses remain closed and people are out of work. Those tragic and sobering statistics are the tangible toll we try to grasp as we move forward through this time.

But the loss of once-in-a-lifetime highlights and memories for these youth on the verge of becoming adults is just as real.

The experience of the Class of 2020 also puts things in perspective. Life in the present is interrupted, but the future remains. These young people will graduate, albeit in a different way than they expected, and they will go on with their futures, perhaps to become our best and brightest leaders.

Our hats, tossed high, are off to them.