Dear Class of 2020,

Crazy. It would seem that our time as a senior class is already coming to a close. So marks the end four years of tireless work. Four years of long nights cramming for tests and quizzes. Four years of cracking jokes in the hallways, running to class after the warning bell, bumping into that one friend who you didn't expect to see that day, and every one of the little things that made our time at Eastview High School so special.

Personally, I am incredibly proud to have a gone to this school. No where else would you be able to find high school students casually discussing philosophical ideas around a table in a cluster, athletes pushing themselves to their limits in the gyms, students teaching younger students new concepts after school, and musicians hard at work in the practice rooms, all under the same roof. 

It isn't just the fact that we did those things. It is how we did them. Because if there is one thing that Eastview values, it is hard work. It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are at what you do. It doesn’t matter if you are a D1 athlete or the best kid on a stage. We value effort, persistence, and kindness. Cherish that fact, as it is not something you will likely find everywhere you go in life. It has been truly humbling to have gotten the chance to work with and learn from some of the most diverse-thinking, hard-working classmates in this state.

We must not, however, ignore the crazy and unprecedented times that we are living in. There are moments where it feels like we have been robbed of the perfect Senior year that everyone before us has had. Still, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First: the disruption of our Senior year is justified, and we must respect that fact. There is nothing that we can do to change the situation we are in.  We can't turn back the clock. We can’t make everything disappear, and we shouldn’t act like we can; as graduates with newfound freedom, we mustn’t break precautions set in place to protect our society. We instead must protect one another by doing what may seem difficult in a typically joyous time, and keep distance from each other.

Second: if you can’t get out of it, get into it. This is a phrase taught in Eastview’s LTLC course (which I highly recommend to anyone who still has the chance to take it). The idea is that when things get difficult, it is better to take a situation head on and recognize that you can’t avoid the struggle. Instead, you must put in your best effort forward and find the silver lining, and avoid desperation even when a situation may seem futile. I understand the pain that we are all going through. I want to walk across that stage. I want to see my friends, for what could be the last time. Most of all, I want to walk through those West doors one last time, having had made peace with completing high school. But there is nothing that can be done about that. Instead, reflect and recognize all the things we have to be thankful for. We have spent years building friendships, skills, passions, and understanding. Those are things that cannot be taken from you. They stand the test of time. In the meantime, we must find innovative ways to maintain our relationships, our mental strength, and health. It is impossible to get out of this situation, so we must do whatever we can to not succumb to the circumstances.

Third, and finally: Smile. You did it. You graduated. Quarantine can’t change that fact.

In such a turbulent time, I have never been more proud of our school. Eastview students continue to step up to the challenge. We are finding new ways to help those in need, to support our loved ones, to learn new skills, or to make the world a better place. We are not one of the strongest graduating classes because of the feats we have already accomplished, but because we continue to push ourselves harder than ever before, when times are more uncertain than we could have expected. 

That is why I posit what may be an unpopular opinion: unexpected adversity is fastest path to growth. We as humans are undoubtedly resilient. While this may not be the end of our high school career that we imagined, the Class of 2020 is proving that actions truly do speak louder than words. This is because rather than taking this time to celebrate our defining qualities as a class, we are showcasing them. We are living up to the name of “scholars” by continuing to struggle through online classes. We are fulfilling our duties as “volunteers” by making masks and donating to relief funds. The “artists” among us continue to spread their creativity and message. Those who are “leaders” are bridging gaps between groups of people and solving problems as they arise. 

We would have been called those very things at an in-person graduation. Scholars. Volunteers. Artists. Leaders. Yet the class of 2020 is unlike any other, because we are using this to live up to those titles, proving that worthy of them. That is special.

This pandemic will undoubtedly leave a mark on us. It has already devastated economies, torn families, and created immense uncertainty. But when we reflect 10, 20, even 50 years down the line, this time will be memorable because of how we overcame. There will be light at the end of this tunnel.

Until then, how we hold ourselves in this pandemic and in the future comes down to one thing: attitude. For many of us, navigating this next year may even be more difficult of a challenge than managing the past four. Many of us may feel that our plans for next year are falling apart, or that our goals are impossible to reach under the current circumstances. Yet, if EVHS and this class of 2020 has taught me one thing, it’s that if you want something bad enough, you have got to chase it, no matter the circumstance. So, to the class of 2020, don’t let our situation stop you from continuing to learn, grow, and change the world around you. We are Eastview scholars. We will continue to discuss philosophy, push ourselves to our limits, teach our fellow students, and practice our craft. 

Thank you for all the memories. May your talents, compassion, and positivity carry you far Eastview Scholars.

Best,

Nikhil Kapur 

If you had told me in September that my last few months of junior year would have consisted of me cooped up in my room staring at my laptop for a few hours everyday… I probably would have been relieved. I was nervous for my first year as an upperclassman, the rigor of the new classes I was taking, the ACT looming in my future, really having to take a look at what I wanted from what seemed like the rest of my life. I still remember the feeling of the last Thursday before school was moved online. There was a sense of impending doom in the air, which seemed silly at the time, but it felt like everyone was talking about the virus. They were curious to see how our state would handle the pandemic, and excited to get out of school a little early. When it actually happened though, well that was a whole other story.

While I’ve had time to adjust to the current sense of normalcy, I still constantly wish that we could go back to life before the virus. I miss seeing my teachers, participating in extracurriculars, and even hugging my friends (and that’s coming from someone who HATES hugs). While I may not have had a typical junior experience, I still have my senior year to look forward to. It’s difficult for me to imagine what the class of 2020 is going through right now. The Eastview community is working hard to make the end of the year as special as it should be for the seniors, but I realize that it can’t replace their last prom, the last day of school, or graduating alongside their friends, family, and teachers. Despite these troubling times, we need to look at the positive and reflect back on the memories that we have been able to make this year.

For me, there are so many memories from this year that stand out. I felt like I was able to connect with many new people, but especially the seniors. Everyone in the senior class has made a lasting impact on the Eastview community. The seniors that I was able to interact with and form friendships with are a great representation of the people that we’ll miss seeing in the halls next year. Whether it was talking during study hall, joking around at robotics meetings, or hanging out on the weekends at speech and debate parties, the class of 2020 impacted me immeasurably. Their ambition, courage, and compassion are traits that will last them long after high school, and traits that I aspire to acquire. The senior class continues to inspire me everyday with their constant optimism that the future will be better. I can only hope that someday, I can impact someone as much as they have impacted me.

The class of 2020 will be sorely missed at Eastview, but I know that we can continue to build off of the community that they created in order to make our school the best that it can be.

Thursday, March 12. The sky was an ominous gray, the wind was blowing, and the world just felt off. In every class of mine, teachers were making predictions, stoked by students’ amusement, for how long we would be gone from school. I heard some predictions of a few weeks after Spring Break, others of no time at all, but only one teacher had the foresight to predict the rest of the school year. Mr. P, I wish you were wrong. 

Regardless, saying goodbye on that Doomsday of a Thursday, and then on Friday, I felt it was more of a see you later than a goodbye. Looking back, other than excitedly gossiping about what the rest of our Junior Year may look like, I don’t remember much of those two days. I cheered when school got called off, because I had been procrastinating on my homework. I was happy to be gone. I regret that. 

Look, Junior Year sucks. It was not fun, and my skin would agree- stress breakouts, constantly. But this sucks more. At least, while we were in the trenches, we had each other to keep company. Now we don’t. The most social interaction I have had in months was a bonfire, in which we tried our best to stay six feet apart, and wore face masks for the majority of the evening. It is hard to not be with people, much less, not be at Eastview.

I remember Brianna Cairns called me one day before the rest of the school year went digital, and she lamented, “What if I had my last day of high school and didn’t even know it?” I wanted so badly to reassure her, tell her that she would return, but I couldn’t.

So seniors, if you are feeling anything like what I feel when I think of the possibility of my senior year being impacted, this is rough. You may feel robbed of memories that every other graduating class will get but you. You may feel helpless, a marionette pulled about by a microscopic pathogen that decided to multiply a lot. You may feel lost, lonely, sad, angry, anxious, grief, heartbreak. Your feelings are valid. Nobody wants to end their high school career like the way you are. 

But, in this time of uncertainty and anxiety, seniors, I challenge you to bloom where you are planted. Continuing this plant metaphor, some seeds, like the Class of 2019 get good conditions to grow- eg. outdoor graduation. Other seeds, like y’all, get horrible soil - AKA socially distant awkwardness. But you have to ask yourself, once you are ready to take the next step forward, from our earlier acceptance of emotions, if you are going to let these circumstances define you. 

And I have good faith that you won’t let it. The true strength of your class comes from the relentless optimism, relentless hard work, and relentless spirit, regardless of Homecoming placings. 

So, Class of 2020, bloom where you are planted. Bloom with strength, bloom with grace, and bloom with the belief that you will see the sun again. Although that infamous Thursday was the start of many cloudy days, eventually the sun will shine, and we will be all the more grateful.

This year has definitely been one for the books. On the verge of 2020, the entire world felt that they were embarking on a new adventure with the arrival of the new decade. While the year has definitely not been what we expected and has devastated many, it is important to look back and cherish the good memories, while also looking forward and seeing the opportunities that the future contains. 

With the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year came the idea of new possibilities, as every new school year comes with. I was able to make many amazing memories with some people that I hope to remain close with for many years to come. I also had to make many difficult decisions and had to leave some people that were not serving my best interests, and were instead hurting me with their negativity. Through it all, it is clear that Eastview has been a place that is able to bring people from many different backgrounds together, and create an amazing, welcoming community of students.

As a Newspaper Editor and Writer this year, I got the opportunity to see many different sides of Eastview through a new lens. Whether it be through an interview with our new principal or working with my fellow editors as we create a quality Newspaper for our peers, it is clear to me that being a part of the Newspaper has introduced me to new people and has helped me develop new skills. Next year, I hope the Newspaper will continue to inform and inspire Eastview students, with its interesting interview and intriguing stories. The Newspaper staff hopes to positively impact others and create a broad view of Eastview that people can read and understand parts of Eastview they may have never seen or heard of. I truly believe that we were successful in doing this, and I am proud to help and support this strong effort.

With the upcoming school year, I am sure we will all have to encounter many hardships. With no knowledge of when this pandemic will end and its economic impact lasting even longer, it is clear that it will take many years for our world to get back to ‘normal.’ Through it all, I hope we are able to work together and create a positive environment at Eastview. This terrible situation has also shown us that we should never take anything for granted. Seeing our friends everyday, eating lunch in a cafeteria surrounded by others, participating in our extracurricular activities, these are all priceless events that many of us have now realized their true value. In the future, I want us all to live our lives as we want to, because we never know when the entire world will be turned upside down.

See you next year Eastview,

Akshara Molleti

Starting out Junior year I was facing so many changes in my life. I was for the first time working and going to school. I quit soccer and focused my energy on speech and debate. I fielded college emails and letters as I tried to start planning for my future after high school. I felt overwhelmed and stressed. Every new aspect of my life had to be molded to how I wanted to experience my junior year. I faced overlapping schedules and cancelled plans, and I felt like these changes would always make my life more difficult. Fortunately, slowly but surely, I started to figure out how to organize my life. I set clear goals, boundaries, and plans and I was able to transform a Junior year full of terrifying changes into one that provided me with new and exciting challenges. 

Just as I felt that everything was in place, Covid-19 came and cancelled everything I had been working hard for. My speech tournaments were cancelled, my work closed down, and the ACT was delayed leaving me with no certainty of my future. It was so easy for me to be mad and wallow in a self pity party. I had to make a conscious choice to once again adapt and move on with these changes in my life. I’m not perfect, I couldn't just magically switch my mindset, but I was able to be more positive by looking towards the future. Knowing that I have another year to work and compete and learn gives me comfort and hope. Being a newspaper editor also helped me create this more positive mindset. I was able to feel connected to Eastview students and faculty through the stories I wrote and the ones that other editors shared. The goal of the newspaper has always been to connect Eastview and keep everyone informed, but I feel like this new reality actually has helped me connect more with that goal. 

 I am so privileged to even be able to be concerned about my activities. There are people out there that are fighting for their life, that are taking care of the ill, that are facing oppressive governments, that are facing war and hunger, I am in my nice house with food and family. Realizing this really brought my problems into perspective and allowed me to feel a sense of gratitude. Even that I take comfort in the fact that I have my senior year left speaks volumes about how fortunate I am. Some students are forever leaving their schools without a proper goodbye. The class of 2020 is made up of some of the best and brightest people I know. I have full confidence that they will be able to not only move on from this, but flourish and find innovative ways to move the world forward. 

Next year is a mystery, and that can be nerve wracking and stressful. I'm choosing to hold onto the hope that life will carry on and I’m working on always remembering that I am so fortunate to be where I am today. 

Looking back at the year behind us, it is hard to look past this terrible crisis and see all the other things that happened. However, there is no doubt that some great memories that will last with us for our entire lifetimes were made prior to the start of the outbreak. For the first three months of the year or so, we lived in total oblivion to the disease that was about to descend upon us. Personally, I remember thinking that this would be my year: I was going to ace all of my classes, succeed in my extracurriculars and develop lasting and meaningful friendships. I was able to do that for a good part of the year, and I can’t let that go unremembered. I feel that, in just that short span of six months that we were in school for, I connected with people who I barely knew or didn’t know at all more strongly and frequently than ever before in my life.

I remember that, in early January, I first read a news briefing about the new coronavirus. “Thankfully,” the article read, “the virus does not seem to spread easily among humans”. I never realized just how important that story would be in the coming months. As someone who reads a lot of news, and frequently discusses international news stories with my fellow extemporaneous speakers, there were much bigger concerns playing on our minds at the time. America had just assassinated a high-ranking Iranian official, prompting threats of war. The leader of Germany’s ruling political party had just resigned. A minor virus outbreak in a mid-sized Chinese city seemed to be of little geopolitical importance compared to all these things. Without even realizing it was happening, coronavirus came to dominate a larger and larger portion of our discussion in speech practice as January turned to February, and eventually as February turned to March. Then, all of a sudden, the world as I knew it came crashing down. In the span of four days, I went from packing for a spring break trip to France to being locked away at my home with nothing to do. As I remember it, I wasn’t even thinking about the possibility that it would be unsafe to go outside here in Minnesota; I was more worried about the outbreak spreading over in Europe. My trip was cancelled on a school night in the middle of the week when the President restricted all travel from Europe. One day later, the big speech tournament I had been preparing for also ended up being cancelled. That was when it really started to hit me that this wasn’t some faraway issue. This was affecting me right where I lived. By that Sunday, I got the word that I wouldn’t be returning to Eastview the following week. Even then, we thought the school’s closure would be a short, couple-of-weeks-long affair.

The end of the school year is now just a couple of weeks away, and I can confidently say that this has been the longest school year of my life. Sure, it’s been the same length chronologically, but it has also been filled with more developments - both good and bad - than any other. For sure, the covid-19 crisis has played a huge role in that. It has changed the way we live in a sweeping, dramatic fashion, and some of the changes made might be irreversible. It has prevented us from the methods of learning and research that we once knew, and it has deprived us of the opportunity to spend time with our closest friends. My quarantine was certainly marked by a lot of loneliness and longing; electronic communications just weren’t the same to me. In my opinion, school should be put back in session as soon as it is possible to do so. I surely hope that, by September, it will be safe for us to return. If not, I strongly encourage school and district administrators to look for ways that we can reduce the possible spread of the virus within the school. If that means having different people attend on alternate days or changing class schedules, so be it. But there is something that we’ve all been missing about Eastview, and we deserve the chance to get it back. 

In all of this, there are some silver linings. For one, we’ve had a chance to reflect on the ways of life that we always took for granted. We’ve had the chance to get rid of what wasn’t working, and to try out new strategies that will define the future. And, we’ve demonstrated that we are a resilient, hardworking community who looks out for others and makes sacrifices for the greater good. Here’s to hoping that those sacrifices pay off soon.

As our communities are adapting to this new world of uncertainty due to COVID-19, I feel very distraught. It feels like it was just yesterday, when I was able to walk into school and spend time with my closest friends: laughing, gossiping, and wondering about what our future would entail. Conspiracy after conspiracy were given to my classmates as teachers were predicting a rather unfortunate reality. And to their credit, they were absolutely right.

However, I have to put my feelings aside when I realize the devastation that our nation has truly embarked upon. 1,700,000 cases, 100,000 deaths, and so many broken lives. For me to sit in my room, under a roof, and with both of my parents with stable jobs, I face the inevitable: privilege. Now, that doesn’t mean that there is no hope for the future. My year as a whole before Ms. Rona came into town was a whole other story. 

Junior year was sort of a whiplash, to be completely honest. Regardless, I made so many great memories in the process. I was able to cherish memories with my friends through our laughter and discussions in the midst of my 6 AP classes and total chaos. But, at the end of the day, it was an escape for me. I met some new friends, and some connections with my teachers, some that I have never been able to make in the past. All in all, an epic journey of togetherness.

I felt connected through my Speech and Debate endeavours as I became closer with some of my competitors as we talked constantly throughout the tournaments. I felt connected at the lunch table with my friends as we debated about our favorite Presidential candidate. And, I felt connected when I was able to walk down the halls at Eastview High School, knowing that I always had a community behind me. I felt connected until I almost couldn’t feel it anymore.

But, nonetheless, I am still connected. Whether it be on Zoom, Schoology, or through some friendly FaceTime calls, I have found a way to stay connected in this unprecedented situation. In reflection, did COVID-19 strip away a lot of my plans for the rest of this year? Yes. But, just like many of my peers, I hope to make the best of it.

“I highkey don’t wanna go to school tomorrow” ~Rimika’s Private Snapchat story (Thursday, March 12th 2020). That night, I felt like all of my wishes had come true when my parents agreed to not send me to school the next day. Friday morning felt like a fantasy as I had my breakfast at 3:00 pm and breathed a sigh of relief for being able to take a break from my so-called overwhelmed routine–a.k.a my chemistry exam. Fast forward to about three months from then, I can’t think of anything but to feel the morning sun on my skin, inhale the cold air outside the west doors, walk across the white and brown hallways, gossip about how stupid the freshmen class is, eavesdrop on all the drama and make small-talk with my teachers just to get them rambling about their lives so we could all use some distraction from the actual classwork. 

In the mere span of about 4 months, lives all across the globe have turned upside down with cries of impending deaths and clouds of uncertainty. As we continue to lose lives to COVID, a more drastic change is evident as we lose social connections that we so heavily depend on to maintain a balance between our daily stresses and sources of enjoyment. Thanks to social media platforms that have become a means to explore interests, raise awareness, build online relationships and cure solitude. But, I cannot help but wonder, how meaningful are these online interactions? 

Connecting with my friends is taken over by long FaceTime calls and the only source of physical contact that I have left is between me and my bed.  Digital dependency is at an all time high, as education systems continue to digitize all forms of learning and classwork activities. But it’s not the same. Our awkward zoom meetings, even with muted microphones and videos, simply cannot compete with the blank stares our teachers got every time they asked a question. Now, more than ever in my Biology class, I realize how much of a social animal us humans are, and I have started to appreciate it. Walking with my friends to all my classes seems like a pleasant memory that I took for granted. All of those complaining about our workload now seem unnecessary and immature. The mental breakdowns with my friends seem more tolerable then than now. We were just getting to the fun part of Junior year–the short time period of relaxation and fun between the end of AP testing and beginning of college apps!! I can’t believe how everything has changed within a blink of an eye. As privileged as I am to be secure and healthy inside the walls of my house with my parents, I miss everything.

Amidst such chaos and inconsistency, time continues to fly by as consistently as ever. You would barely ever hear a Junior say that they are enjoying high school, but the pandemic really out here changing my outlook on not just school but life as a whole. Not only do I miss school, I have started being more grateful as a whole of the several opportunities I have gotten throughout this year. Opportunities to build my strengths, explore my interests through extracurriculars, accept and work with my weaknesses, hang out with friends, expand my social circle, make new connections have all become mere memories, and I really wish I could turn back time. As miserable as I am for missing the end of Junior and due to the uncertainty of my senior year, I cannot imagine the amount of memories that the Class of 2020 has been stripped away from due to this pandemic. All I can do is hope for the best for all of our seniors because all we can do during this time is stay strong, introspect and focus on the bigger picture.

Easier said than done, we need to start being appreciative of the little things in life to keep us motivated during times like this. Take a step back from normal life and investigate our strengths and weaknesses. Give time for nature to take its course as we continue to heal and develop as human beings. As sorry as I feel for such an abrupt ending to this school year, all I can do is follow the guidelines and wish for the good times to be back again. 

The rapid shift from normality to the quarantined life we now live took many of us by surprise. I’ll always remember the last few days of the 2019-2020 school year, and the worry that buzzed through the school. However, looking back upon the time I have spent staying at home and social distancing, it hasn’t been all bad. I definitely miss my friends, going out, and participating in my favorite activities, but quarantine has also been an opportunity to connect with what really matters. Family time, getting outside, and actually sleeping the recommended amount of hours are all among the benefits quarantine has brought to me. This quarantine cannot be described as a good thing, and the suffering which is going on around the world is immense, but in these scary times we have to look for the positive. Keeping ourselves “above the line”, while it may be difficult, is key to finding the light amongst the darkness. 

Every student at Eastview is dealing with this quarantine differently. Seniors are the ones who have perhaps lost the most- graduation, prom, and the chance to properly say goodbye to the community which they’ve been involved in for the past four years of their lives. This senior class have been our leaders, our friends, and the ones we look up to as we continue our journey through high school. Throughout this past year in particular, I’ve grown close to a few seniors through speech and debate. Every one of these individuals are kind, giving, and intelligent. While every individual in the class of 2020 is unique, the ones I have come to know and love are examples of who I aspire to become as I continue through my journey into adulthood.

As a junior, I am worried about how my senior year will be. Will we even return to school? Will I have a final debate season? When will everything go back to normal? While many of these types of questions cannot be answered, and in all likelihood we will exit this period in our history to a “new normal”, I still have hope for our future. Already, we have adapted in how we socialize, communicate, and learn. I have full faith that we will find ways to continue on in our Eastview communities, even if they are different from what we are used to. As we move into the summer, it won’t be filled with trips to the beach, late nights with friends, and driving around town just for the fun of it. Despite this, we can and must find ways to adapt, grow, and seek new ways to find fun and enjoy life. While I am not happy about losing my summer plans, already I have found new ways to find enjoyment, whether it be Zoom movie nights, or taking my dogs out for a walk. As a writer, an editor, and as a member of the EVHS community, I have hope for us. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay sane Eastview.