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Students’ dreams trashed by COVID-19: Not able to show accomplishments
By Anonymous
(This was written by two Lynn Classical High School students who wished to remain anonymous.)
Students have spent 13-plus years waiting for this exact moment; graduating high school and continuing to a higher level of education or pursuing a career. Throughout the hardships and struggles of school, losing motivation and yet still moving forward with huge efforts in order to obtain a celebration to show how hard we have been working to get to where we are today. It’s disheartening to hear that we won’t be able to show off our accomplishments to friends and family in the traditional ways like everyone else; crossing the stage at graduation along with our other peers. The only motivation that
kept many of us going was being able to put on our cap and gown with our friends and say farewell to the teachers and staff that supported us throughout the four years. Not only are us students saddened at the fact that we might not be able to do that, even families are hurt hearing this news. Many of us students are the first to be graduating high school in our families and we won’t even get a proper send-off into college or higher education. Offering us an online graduation can not compare to having all our families and friends cheer us on as we each cross that stage, shake the hands of officials, and receive our diploma. I was envious of seeing past alumni that I’ve supported crossing that stage and was excited for my turn. Yet, it was taken away from us due to COVID-19 and the United States’ poor treatment in attempting to suppress the virus.
Not only have we lost our graduation, we have lost the time to make our last memories as kids. We are moving on into becoming independent adults and we are parting ways with friends we have known since we were in kindergarten. As seniors, we were supposed to make the most of our year and enjoy it as much as possible. There are past alumni who said, “Senior year goes by fast, so live it up.” What they said came to be true since we are living in that year now. At this point, we can’t make up for the time we lost. It’s frustrating to realize that all of these events are stripped away from us. As of right now, the best we can do is keep the friendships we created within these 13 years. We may have missed our opportunity to create a handful of memories as seniors. However, the least we can do as of now is to make more promising memories once this time has passed.
This piece was written by two Lynn Classical High School students who wished to remain anonymous.