COVID-19 Experiences.pdf

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Part of Graduating High School in a Pandemic

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COVID-19

Taylor Smith
Department of English, East Carolina University
ENGL 1100 Foundations of College Writing
Dr. Cheryl Dudasik-Wiggs
Spring 2021

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COVID-19
If anyone in the world would have betted me a million dollars that I would not have a
normal senior year in high school, I would have laughed in their face. My senior year started off
normal, just like every other school year had ever been. This was my year, my time to shine. I
was in my last year of high school with people I grew up with over the past thirteen years, would
more than likely never see again after graduation. The word covid meant nothing to us when it
first came around in the fall of 2019, we were not worried one bit.
Practicing my skills to become Certified Nurse Assistant in the spring of 2020 is what
took up the majority of my fall other than volleyball. I had prepared for my CNA certification for
the last three years of high school. Around December of 2019, is when the changes started
coming in. We kept hearing more and more about this thing called “Covid” as people around the
world were starting to get more concerned with what it was and what it was to become. Around
the end of February, we learned that Covid was more serious that what we thought it was. The
last week of February, I learned some bad news. I was told that we would not be able to go to our
clinical site to complete our hours. No nursing home would even consider taking us in so that we
could complete them. But on March 12, my world was flipped upside down.
Softball has been in my life as long as I can remember. I have been playing since t-ball.
My senior year I was going to break many records from my school, the county, and even some
records that I had already broken myself. On the 12th of March, my world was shattered. I was
told that I would not be able to get my CNA. Later that day, my head coach and my assistant
coach called me to their office and sat me down. They told me that the state had postponed all
spring sports until further notice. I immediately broke down in tears. The last games to be played
my senior year was Friday, March 13th of 2020.

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We played McMichael in a double header so that we could get just two last games in
because we did not know what the future held, and it scared us. I left my heart out on the field
that night, God was telling me that this was it. We won the first game and then we started the
second game shortly after we finished the first. We were winning and I was pitching one of the
best games I had ever pitched before. When the time came to the bottom of the seventh innings,
we had two outs. My lifelong friend, who was also McMichael’s pitcher, came up to bat. My
coach called a screw ball, strike one. He then called a curve ball, strike two. When I received the
ball from my catcher, God told me this was it. I walked to the back of the mound, started to cry
just a little. I walked a little further, I gathered myself. When I turned around, I grabbed some
dirt and rubbed in on my pants. As my coach called a rise ball, I knew this was it. I began my
pitching motion and as I released the ball, I started crying. When the ball left my fingertips, I
knew it was going to be a perfect rise ball and that I would get her to swing and miss. Sure, as I
thought, she swung and missed. Strike three, ball game! We ran off the field in happiness, I
looked around and realized that this was the last time I would ever get to play with the girls I
grew up with. All these emotions and tears came streaming from my face, I could not stop
crying. Once everyone realized I was crying, they all circled me into a big group hug.
March 13th was the most emotional night of my life. I did not get a proper senior night
with my family or anything. Everyone was crying, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I played
with an amazing group of girls and I could not have asked for a better way to finish off my high
school career than we did. We later learned that in fact, I would never step foot on another
softball field again in high school. My career was over. I had so many goals I wanted to
accomplish and a fantastic season to look forward to. All of these events that happened, only

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made me stronger as cliché as it sounds. I went through things nobody else’s class below me
would have to do.
I did not think we would even have a graduation ceremony or anything. I was expecting
my high school to tell us that we could come pick up our year books, cap and gowns, and that
our diploma would be mailed to us. We did not get our senior prom either which was really a
bummer. I had looked forward to my senior prom for years. When our school faculty was
deciding on what to do for our graduation, they decided that we would do a drive through type
prom. At first, it sounded terrible and very unorganized. But when the day of “graduation” came
to be, we all got on our vehicles that were decorated for the celebration of us. We waited in line
for about an hour, then my turn came. I got out of my dad’s truck, walked up to the station where
I got my cords. I then walked in line to get my diploma cover, from there they put my cords on
me in the correct order and I shook my principal’s hand. Walking to the tunnel filled with fake
fog, I then met my family on the other side. My sister flipped my tassel, and I was graduated. We
took pictures and then it was time for me to walk to the next place. From there, I was greeted
with a cupcake and a balloon from one of my best friends. I walked further and was met by my
former teachers and some substitutes. Some of them had gifts and others threw confetti. As I
hugged them walking by a few tears were shed with some of them. These were the people who
helped shape me into who I am today, and I was saying goodbye to them.
My senior year was not at all what I had expected it to be, but it is a memory of a
lifetime. Graduation will be a day that I never forget. The Covid-19 Pandemic made a huge
impact on my senior year as well going into my freshman year of college.