To my fellow seniors,

Like many of you, I eagerly looked forward to my last semester of high school. During this semester (and in the upcoming weeks) we would find out where we’re going to college, partake in senior activities, play one last game or perform one last show and on June 2, we would graduate. Now, due to the outbreak and severity of coronavirus, most of these have been taken away from us, and we’re unsure if we will get them back. Across the globe, people are dying and an ever growing number of people are becoming infected. In Santa Clarita, school is closed for weeks, with the hopeful chance of returning April 13. 

Our feelings are not invalid simply because we’re healthy. In the light of everything that is happening across the globe, missing out on prom or grad night is trivial. There are, in fact, bigger problems than that. But for most of us, it’s our most direct problem, and some of us have waited our entire life for prom only to have the event be on the fence. It’s more than just missing out on events like these, it’s the loss of time spent with our classmates before we all head our separate ways. There’s so little time left before August comes and we’ll head off to college or do whatever our next step after high school is. Moments like these are among the last times we’re connected as a class and as a school, and the time spent making memories with our friends is precious.

Friday was the last day we had on campus before the notification that school was going to be closed for a month. The possibility that that was our very last day as a senior is both terrifying and heartbreaking. I’ll probably never see the majority of our class after graduation, and these last three months were supposed to be the peak of high school. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that I’m healthy, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a little sad about what we’re missing out on. Every activity is on the line now, and we’re not even sure if we’ll finish the school year off at Hart or at home.

I, alongside many of you, have put twelve years worth of hard work into school, all of which would culminate in a short walk across the stage at COC in front of family members and friends. While I hope that graduation will still occur and we will go back to school when we’re planned to, the uncertainty of this situation poses concern. Maybe I’m getting too sentimental, but I’ve been looking forward to my senior year of high school for a long time. This may not be how I expected it to go, but it’s definitely memorable. A couple of years into the future, hopefully we’ll look back to our senior year and think of what we went through. After all, not many other classes can say that they’ve had as many days off of school as we’ve had.

Thank you for a memorable four years. I hope it’s not over yet.

Kathryn Supple