To the class of 2020, I’m sorry that we won’t get the last semester of college we hoped for. The next six weeks were supposed to be some of the best times of any college seniors life. We said goodbye to our classrooms and teachers without even knowing it. We worked so hard these past 4 years to enjoy a graduation ceremony, senior week and a proper goodbye to the place we called home for so long. But a very serious disease came in and took that all away. Coronavirus is no joke and should not be taken lightly, it has hugely impacted millions of lives all around the world. Including those in our little college town here in Plymouth, New Hampshire.
No one saw this coming. I too thought that the virus would calm down before we returned to classes after break. I even traveled to Barcelona for my last spring break trip. Before I left, everyone told me I was going to be fine and not to worry about the pandemic at hand. So I hopped on a plane and had a great time, at first. But I saw first hand how easy this disease spreads. Within days Spain became a level 2 high risk country and the streets began to clear out. My friends and I had to return early with fears of not being able to get back into the U.S because of travel bans.
Still in denial, we came back to school with hopes of our classes still remaining intact. We may have been in quarantine but we just wanted everything to go back to normal. Then our school ultimately made the decision to move all classes to online platforms for the rest of the semester. This was the best and safest decision the school could have made but in the process us seniors lost everything we’ve been looking forward to these past four years.
What I’ve began to notice during this time is how although we all may be distancing from campus, we have become closer in the face of despair. The seniors here at Plymouth have all come together to not only stay healthy, but not let our year end on a bad note. We have banned together to make the best of a terrible situation and create our own memories.
This may not have been the way we envisioned our senior year to end up, but we must remain optimistic. Now is the opportunity to do everything you have been putting off now that the world is at a stand still. You can:
- Read the book you never picked up
- Go on a hike and put your phone away
- Focus on your school work, it’s not over yet
- Do something you really enjoyed as a kid, you may still love it
- Pick up a new hobby
But what’s most important now is to stay home and stay healthy. The more we distance ourselves, the faster we can slow down the spread of this virus. This is serious and will affect many people you know. We will adjust to this new way of life for now, just as we did when we were freshman. We will have our time to commemorate our years here soon, as long as we all distance ourselves for the time being.
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”
Robert Frost
Charlotte's Blog 