AND NO PLACE TO GO
Sarah Mclean, 17, gives her perspective as a high school senior during the COVID-19 pandemic. As told to Saskatoon Starphoenix city editor Dave Deibert.
Warman High School student Sarah Mclean, 17, fully understands the importance of closing schools because of COVID-19 but she and thousands of other seniors remain disappointed their Grade 12 year is being disrupted. They are unable to spend their last months with classmates and have little hope of a graduation ceremony.
The suspension of classes has been a stunning event in my life and for upcoming high school grads everywhere.
For some students, this time away means early vacation or a relaxing break from their studies. For a high school senior like myself, it is quite the opposite. It’s the loss of precious time we should be spending with our classmates, teachers and friends. It deeply saddens me, realizing that in these final few months of the school year, I will be waiting anxiously for any sign of relief from the social distancing, rather than enjoying what’s left of my senior year.
As Grade 12s, we relish the fact that we are the queens and kings of the school.
It is our one year to be truly spontaneous and wild. It is our year of senior pranks, skip days, banquets and field trips. It is our final year to be with our friends before we all branch off to continue to our next chapter. It is laughing and sharing special moments with the people we’ve been going to school with since the first grade, people that have been in our lives so long we can’t picture being without them.
It is the numbered days before graduation, the mix of sadness and eagerness, knowing full well that our time together will end, but acknowledging that the years up to now were wondrous.
This is what it means to be a high school senior — and these are the things we are missing out on.
I’m still holding out hope, barely, but it looks like I will not get to experience the excitement of getting ready before the graduation ceremony. The beautiful, sparkly dress I was so eager to wear will just hang in my closet.
I won’t hear my name through the loudspeaker in a gym packed with family and friends. I will not hear the MC read my grad quote that I have been thinking about for months (and have finally come to the conclusion that, yes, it is funny enough).
I won’t shake hands with my principal after accepting my diploma. I will not toss my grad cap into the air, scream and hug my best friend as the graduating class of 2020 is officially introduced. I won’t experience proudly exiting the gym and moving my cap’s tassel from the right side to the left. This is what I have been dreaming about since the eighth grade.
The Classes of 2020 won’t get those moments. Sad doesn’t do it justice. I am completely and utterly devastated. I feel cheated, knowing I am missing out on my high school experience and there is nothing I can do about it.
I fully understand the importance of closing the schools, and am well aware of the impact social distancing will hopefully have on world safety. I realize that getting COVID-19 under control is the biggest picture, and I do not disagree with the measures that are being taken. But we have a right to feel disappointed, angry, hurt and anything in between.
I won’t discredit my own sadness, or the sadness of the other thousands of seniors, as we think about the loss of sports, band trips, SRC retreats, graduation and all the other special events that were going to be a significant part of our Grade 12 experience.
My senior year will be a memory that was never quite complete. There are certain things you can’t get back, certain moments you can’t relive. My senior year is once in a lifetime, and the best half of it is disappearing day by day.
All high school students deserve their senior year. We deserve to feel like we’ve accomplished something, like we have done our part and played our role. Now it’s like we’ve been through so much — but we’re missing out on the final celebration.
I hope future seniors never take their Grade 12 year for granted, because it is the only one that they are ever going to get.
I won’t shake hands with my principal after accepting my diploma. I will not toss my grad cap into the air, scream and hug my best friend.