Ending Senior Year

A good bye to the class of 2020

Closure. It’s something we all strive for; it helps us get to the acceptance stage as we cycle through the five stages of grief. Whether it’s closure in a relationship or a job, a little bit is all we need.

It is also something that the class of 2020 can’t get as we finish out our high school lives in front of a computer screen, probably lying in bed or sitting at a desk. Walking through the halls and taking it all in one last time isn’t something that we can do. We just have to try to accept that we’ve reached the end without any closure.

If we had known our last day of school was going to be March 12, we probably would have had a different reaction to leaving the building and classes. We probably wouldn’t have said “See you tomorrow” to our friends and teachers, and we might not have run out to our cars to get out of the parking lot as fast as we could.

We didn’t know that when we left for an early spring break, we would actually be leaving the building for good. We may have come back a time or two for our signs or our caps and gowns, but we can never truly have our last day in the building.

We didn’t know that when we drove away after the bell rang on March 12 that we would be saying goodbye so early, not only to regular education, but also from classes with friends, our sports, our extracurriculars, prom, and listening to Pomp and Circumstance in May like other classes.

We didn’t know that we would spend the next 36 days seeing our friends over FaceTime and teachers over Zoom. Although we wish we could have known and been able to prepare for this, no one saw this coming.

While trying to get some closure from the senior year that wasn’t, the time seems to pass slower and slower. Although binge-watching Netflix shows now only takes a week (or even a few days), there still seems to be an abundance of time on our hands, not able to be filled by school and extracurriculars.

It is definitely easy to wallow or wish of what could have been, but we need to keep positive thoughts and stay busy. There isn’t anything we can do to get our senior year back, but there are things we can do to keep our heads up. 

Instead of sleeping all day, try to get out for a walk by yourself or with a pet. Attempt to make a meal for your family by yourself. Talk to friends and family you can’t see as much as you can. Try to get in some physical activity.

The past is behind us, and there is infinite space in front of us to make our mark on the world and live our lives. Our closure might not ever come, but moving on has to.