Dear COVID-19,  

You have changed so many lives in one quick, pandemic sweep. You’ve taken so much from so many — a good many have been seniors. Seniors in high school, seniors in college, and seniors in life.

From the seniors in my school, you’ve taken our last weeks of fun in our adventurous, memory-filled senior year, and nothing can be done to fix that for us. 

At this time everyone in our grade (and school) is at home in our rooms doing online school and not knowing if we will go back to finish the year or walk the stage. We didn’t expect to get that call on March 12th saying school was canceled, along with senior prom. We most likely won’t be able to experience the tradition of walking the halls of past schools to see our old kindergarten and 5th-grade teachers. We won’t have our senior prank or senior skip day. We won’t have that last week of school packed full of finals and graduation practice, as stressful as it may be.

But nothing compares to the stress of the unknown right now. I would give anything for that kind of stress right now. All of our last high school spring breaks are crumbling in front of our eyes, and who knows if we’ll have our senior trips. The thing is Corona, with you, we just don’t know. We are all hoping you will disappear as quickly as you showed up.

But you aren’t only changing high school seniors’ last year. My brother is a senior in college, and he won’t be returning to his campus. He doesn’t know when his graduation will be — if he even gets to have one. You are taking all of our biggest steps away from us, and it is breaking our hearts. 

But this isn’t only about seniors in school either. Senior citizens are scared to leave their houses because of you. My family is having to take every precaution we can in hopes my 72-year-old mom doesn’t even get a sniffle right now. There is so much death and so much destruction surrounding you. 

But don’t let my sadness about all of this fool you. You will not defeat my will. You will not defeat our 2020 classes — not in high school, not in college.  And all of us need to rally around our senior citizens.

Seniors are strong and we will get through this. We might not finish this school year traditionally, but we are going to finish. And we will be ready for wherever life takes us next.

We didn’t go through thirteen years of school just for you to come in at the last second and steal our accomplishments. And you aren’t going to swoop in and stop us from doing amazing things from here on out, either.  

Thank you for being one more thing to make the class of 2020 just a little bit stronger.  

Love,

Avrie Thomas, Class of 2020 Strong