Remember Your Senior Year of High School? Now Add a Pandemic.

For many college students, school can become practically your life. Not just academics, but when you live, eat, and sleep at school, being forced out is a big deal. Plus, when you’re paying to go to college, not actually going to college definitely takes a toll. So needless to say, this pandemic has been very disruptive to the semester, especially for seniors who will not be returning to school when the world opens up again.

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The experience has not been the same for everyone though. We decided to learn more from students who don’t live at (or pay for) school. If you haven’t guessed yet, we’re talking about high schoolers.

We caught up with the student body president of the senior class from a public high school in New York state. She wishes to remain anonymous. To make things easier, we’ll give her the pseudonym Kate.

Senior year of high school is a big deal. There’s prom and graduation, but also, for many who are going to college away from home, senior year is probably the last time they will be in their communities for a while. Senior year of high school is a year of celebrating students’ achievements, but it’s also a time of goodbyes. 

Missing out on these goodbyes is what has hit Kate the hardest. 

“For so many of us, it feels like we never got to say goodbye,” she said. 

At first, her high school was only supposed to shut down to be cleaned for a matter of days, but they never went back. And who knows when they will next be able to see their friends, teachers, and other peers again.

Much like Elon’s courses, classes at Kate’s high school have moved online. She feels that this style of learning has caused a disconnect in her school community.

“When you’re learning from home, you lose the classroom environment that you have with your teachers, and I didn’t realize how important that was until I didn’t have it,” she said, adding that at-home learning could feel “really isolated” at times. 

As student body president, Kate has been working with her school administration to try to fill that gap. Additionally, a large part of this loss of community that our source feels can be attributed to not being able to attend any of the quintessentially senior events that many high school students look forward to, including proms and graduation. 

“A lot of schools are doing virtual versions of [graduation], but … we think the most important thing is that we have a normal ceremony when we can, even if it’s during a school break next year,” she said. “We all just want to be able to have that same experience, even if it’s at a later date.” 

For now, their prom is scheduled for mid-july, but of course there is still uncertainty. 

Of course, the reason why senior year is such a big deal is because it’s the end of an era. Seniors usually celebrate finishing their high school education, and for many, this is also a time during which they commit to going to college.  

College decisions are yet another aspect of high school seniors’ experiences that have been affected by this pandemic. 

“I fortunately was able to visit most of my schools junior year,” Kate said. “I definitely have a lot of friends that had to make their choices without visiting their schools, and it was kind of just based on talking to other people they know that go there or doing a virtual tour.” 

Additionally, she shared that she is aware that some parents and students might now be wary of going to college far away from home. This could be attributed to new dangers that come with travelling in a pandemic as well as hearing about the experiences of current college students who had difficulties making accommodations to move out of their campuses without much notice.

May 1 is an important day for high school seniors because it’s college commitment day. Every year on this day, many seniors celebrate their decisions with their friends. This was another milestone that many seniors missed out on this year.

Kate shared how her and her friends celebrated decision day social-distancing style. They all dressed up in their chosen school’s apparel and parked their cars in the school parking lot.

“We were able to be outside the school building and see each other which was nice,” she said.

Because of the unknown timeline going forward during COVID-19, Kate recognizes that there could be implications for her college experience as well. 

She expressed concern about living in a dorm, in close quarters with people, and whether or not her chosen university would open come the fall semester.

“I’ve kind of come to terms with the fact that not having a first semester on campus is very possible right now,” she said. “I feel like, worst case scenario would be that we just don’t go until second semester.”

Even though senior year is a big deal, Kate also acknowledges that this experience also isn’t easy for other high school students, especially for juniors who have a lot on their plate.

For many juniors in high school, the year is filled with hard classes and the overwhelming prospect of having to start thinking about their plans after high school. For students looking to go to college, this year often involves college visits, SATs and ACTs, all of which have been cancelled for the time being.

“I am worried how this pandemic will affect my college admissions process,” shared Matthew Milstein, a junior in high school. “I am unable to visit college campuses to find what kind of place I am interested in. Also, I am unable to bring my ACT score up because I was only able to take the test once before the pandemic hit. Overall, I’m just worried how this will affect my academic future.”

In all, it’s not hard to see that this time has been disruptive to both high school and college students, and it will continue to have emotional effects going forward.

“When we get to college in the fall, of course we’re going to be, like, over the moon excited to be there… if we can be there,” Kate said. “For me personally, and my friends, we’re all so excited about going to college and meeting new people and having all these experiences. But it’s so hard to feel that right now when we feel like we haven’t ended high school.”