COVID-19 and the Class of 2022

As the 2020-2021 school year comes to an end in the next few weeks, seniors are getting ready to graduate and start the next chapter of their lives. 

But as juniors become rising seniors, the typical excitement and angst of such a change has become more complicated. 

“I think I'd definitely feel more prepared for senior year if it weren't for COVID,” remarked junior Amanda Cao. “It sort of felt like time stopped for a year and a half.” 

“I feel like my time has gone by too fast and it doesn’t seem like I’ve been here for three years,” said junior Arianna Geraci.”

As the Class of 2022 has spent the middle years of high school in a pandemic, the primary reason many juniors feel jipped is at-home learning.

Junior Kieran Freed said, “I still think of virtual learning as a temporary thing… Virtual school blends together in my mind, so the past year feels more like an unavoidable process and less like a typical high school experience with distinctive memories.”

“I think this extended break from 'normal' society has definitely affected my perception of time and growing up,” Cao continued. “It’s almost as if not living in such a fast-paced society means that I haven't grown up at all.”

Juniors also must deal with finding their paths after high school. With college application season just months away, Cao said, “I honestly cannot believe that I'm going to have to apply to colleges soon.”

“I have always looked forward to going to college and leaving the house, but it just doesn't feel as close as it is,” Freed asserted. “I'm still eager to go off to college, but I realize now that college is less of an idealized next step as much as it is a higher education I need to seriously prepare for.”

Though the prospect of college is daunting, for some, the COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the desire to get out of the house. “COVID changed my whole perspective on school and has made me want to be done with high school,” said Geraci. 

Freed explained that it is not necessarily the academics that make senior year intimidating, but the lack of typical high school experiences over the sophomore and junior year: “While I feel academically prepared to start my senior year and move on to higher-level classes, I don't feel that I've totally realized my responsibilities as a senior, or that my time in high school is nearing its end.”

“I'm beginning my senior year whether I like it or not, but it seems like there's a gap in my mind where my junior year should have been,” Freed continued. “That makes it especially jarring to begin next year.”