(Written by Ella Smith, Class of 2020, Glacier Peak High School, Snohomish, WA)
March 2020; you’re coming close to the end of your senior year. Prom is quickly approaching, your final high school season is just getting started, your cap and gown is in the mail, graduation is so soon. You feel on top of the world.
Thirteen years of long study nights, thousands of hours in the classroom, and countless times you spent watching the clock; waiting for the last bell to ring. Our “last bell” was going to ring, but we never expected it to be so soon, so sudden.
We never imagined that sunny March afternoon would be our final “goodbye”, the last time we walked those halls. We never imagined that last year would be the last time we ever took the field. We never imagined we wouldn’t be able to put on that dreamy prom dress. We never imagined the mailman placing our diploma in our mailbox instead of receiving it on stage. We never imagined being the senior class that never got to live out their final “lasts”.
But, we are a class of fighters. We came into this world during the uncertainty of 9/11, we entered high school at time when school shootings became a regular occurrence, and now we must leave these 13 years behind us in the midst of a global pandemic.
You have every right to feel as though you’ve been cheated of the last memories with your childhood friends. But, if anyone can overcome such adversity, it’s us. We will take these obstacles and use them to grow and do good things in this world.
We are the future, and we are a force to be reckoned with.
We may not get to hear our name called as we walk across the stage to receive our hard-earned diploma, but WE DID IT!
I see you, I hear you, I feel you, I am one of you. We will do big things.
Sincerely,
A Class of 2020 Senior
