Don’t Feel Bad for My Senior Year

MY VIEW

As a high school senior who has been incredibly involved in my school and community, I’ve had some time of late to consider how my final year of school is coming to a most unexpected conclusion.

Because my school district (like most of the schools throughout Michigan) last conducted in-school classes on March 13, I have been doing a lot of reading and reflecting on the global economic, political and social impacts of COVID-19. Like, a lot.

And after hours of consideration, I have come to the conclusion that my lost “senior experiences” don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Of course, I always have looked forward to helping out with graduation speeches, receiving recognition at Senior Honors Night, leading my last school club meeting and dancing with my friends at prom. But when viewed in the context of broader developments, those experiences seem largely unimportant. The economy has been crashing, the presidential administration has seemed lost in responding to a real crisis, and a dangerous virus was spreading without check across the country and around the world.

While experiencing drastic and sudden changes to my daily routine, I began to realize I had to accept the loss of my senior-year festivities as necessary.