COVID Class of 2020

Title

COVID Class of 2020

Description

My first hand experience of being a high school senior during the pandemic.

Coverage

Richmond, Virginia

Creator

Anonymous

Date

2021-03-03

Text

Writing on my experiences

extracted text

In March of 2020 I was planning for prom, shopping for dorm room decorations and
itching with “senioritis”, completely unaware that my world would be flipped in two weeks. I
vividly remember the word “covid” being used as a joke around my high school and not taken in
the slightest bit serious until mid-March. I remember the day Covid-19 was announced as a
national pandemic, it was March 11th, my sisters birthday. The week prior I was extremely sick,
I was out of school for a week, my last day of high school was my first day back.
I was so sure that I would be back in my high school in two weeks, everything would be
normal, I would get asked to prom, I would stress for weeks about plans, I would have my senior
awards assembly, graduation party then graduation. The day I found out I would never go back
to my high school again is a day that I can recite perfectly and is a story I will tell my kids and
their kids. I am from Richmond, Virginia, our governor was giving a press conference that day at
around 3pm, I had just left work right when the press conference was starting, I plugged my
phone up to listen on my drive home as my high school class of 2020 group chat was blowing
up. Right as I pulled into my neighborhood Ralph Northam stated that all K-12 schools would
not reopen for the rest of the year, I parked my car and sobbed. At this point my biggest
nightmare became a reality. I looked at my phone and saw a text to meet in our high school
parking lot from my huge class group chat. Everyone wanted to just sit in our cars in our parking
lot and soak up the last high school moment. This might be my favorite high school memory,
almost all of my senior class sitting in our cars, crying, laughing, watching the boys in their
trucks do donuts around the parking lot, it was really a bonding moment and a moment we
needed. The students who didn’t get a lacrosse, softball, baseball, or soccer season all hopped the
fence and just sat on their field alone. Teachers and staff saw this but they didn’t care and they
let us have our moment.
We made the best of this awful situation, our community and families were so supportive.
There were organizations such as “adopt a senior” where a stranger would “adopt” you and bring
you a basket full of college gear, snacks, and more. Parents organized socially distant
graduations and prom’s to try to make it better.
A year ago I thought my life was awful, I was at a loss and was upset at the world for
bringing us the pandemic.Looking back now I am still upset for all the pandemic took from me
and so many others however, I lived through a major historical event and I grew more in one
year than all eighteen years of my life. Covid-19 was by far the worst situation I have ever lived
through and I would not have believed anyone if they had told me this is what my life would
look like for a year but at the same time I learned to be more grateful and appreciative for my
health, for my families health and I became a stronger person.

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