Seniors vs COVID

Masterman’s class of 2020 is special. Some people--considering our 2 spirit week wins, our incredible president Ranim Aberkawi, and that Mean Girls dance--would say this in a positive way. Others would say that we’re cursed. There’s plenty of evidence to support this theory, considering the frequency of rain during our trips and events, our coincidence with the Trump presidency, and the fact that we’ve never read A Hundred Years of Solitude. Obviously, the current pandemic, which has already caused us to be out of school for weeks and will keep us out for the rest of the school year, is evidence to support the latter.

The pandemic doesn’t just affect our high school experience, it is also interfering with the way that many students are making their college decisions. For some, the process still went pretty smoothly; Urofsky says that for her “everything kind of all just fell into place.” Still, she adds that “I also have never visited the campus, so that part looms over me a bit.” The inability to visit the campus of their prospective college(s) is a common complaint amongst seniors. Many colleges are trying to adapt by offering virtual events, but some seniors don’t think this is good enough. McKeown says that “As for moving forward, I feel like every interaction I have with current students/welcoming events have been ruined. Everything is now recorded, so you can’t tell if it’s really the students’ opinions or just what they were told to say.” Some seniors even find themselves worrying that the virus will keep campuses closed next fall semester, so none of us will be able to start as planned, which is a scary thought.

Obviously, this is all pretty grim. We should allow ourselves to miss each other and to mourn what we’ve lost. Our feelings, which range from grief to anger to fear, are perfectly valid. This is undeniably a strange time for us, and for the world. But like I said before, 2020 is special. And it’s blatantly obvious from all of the ways we’re responding to this crisis.

Right away, President Albarkawi and other seniors starting working together to push some events into the virtual sphere and others into the summer. Our incredible Mod Squad orchestrated a virtual spirit week, and 2020 got to work signing up for events, campaigning for the crowns, and crafting good-spirited trash talk. We don’t know the results yet, but I feel good about our odds. While nothing has been confirmed yet, it’s possible that events like Senior Awards and Graduation may be moved to the summer, depending on the state of the pandemic at the time.

We’ve also been coming together in less official ways. Ranim, Lucas Jaeger (12-3), Max Mester (12-3), and Noah Bradley (12-2) created an Instagram page (@masterman.2020) to “easily see where everyone’s going once they’ve committed.” Max is putting together a 2020 Commitment Day video; while Filip Przybycien (12-4) is putting together a Commitment Day collage. The Senior Video team, Isaak Popkin (12-4), Isaac Finn (12-2), and Theo Wyss-Flamm (12-4) have been putting out teasers of the video, which have been making us all laugh and cry in equal measure. They are also hosting grade-wide Zoom calls, for the dual purpose of gathering footage for the video and just having time to get together and reminisce.

It goes without saying that we’d rather be finishing up Senior Year normally: going to classes every weekday, going to clubs and extracurriculars, and getting to have all of our Senior events as planned. But I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of a class of such dedicated, brilliant, and talented people who are able to roll with the punches and make our Senior year as beautiful and memorable as possible. I can’t think of a better group of people to survive a pandemic alongside.