Some of life’s most lasting memories are made during the final weeks of our senior years of high school – that special, spring-fever stretch when the work eases, teachers become friends and teens celebrate a rite of passage.
For me, personally, it was a wonderful time.
There was my last season with a Hall-of-Fame high school lacrosse coach who shaped me in ways he never knew. There was senior cut day, when, in keeping with tradition, I joined hundreds of my classmates at the beach. There was the prom, which turned into an all-nighter, and Graduation Day, which took us from pomp and circumstance at the football stadium to a conga line of house parties.
There was the cementing of friendships, many of which endure to this day, even though Brentwood (N.Y.) High School’s Class of ’76 hasn’t had a reunion in more than 30 years.
I’ve been thinking more about those days lately, probably because I’ve been spending too much time during the coronavirus pandemic perusing Facebook, where I’m seeing names and faces from yesteryear.
And it got me thinking about the Class of 2020, which has been lost in the sometimes-wearying, wall-to-wall media coverage of the ongoing public-health crisis and the resulting shelter-in-place and social-distancing orders.
Specifically, I’ve been thinking about the high school seniors here in Vero – about how this virus has robbed them of what should be among the best times of their young lives.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month ordered the state’s public schools, which were shut down March 17, to remain closed through the end of the academic year. Instead of on campus, classes are being taught virtually using computers and Internet-based video-conferencing tools.
“When the schools were first closed last month, I assumed we’d eventually go back,” said Vero Beach High School senior and class valedictorian Julia Lamothe. “Even now, it doesn’t feel like this is really happening. But it’s starting to sink in, and it’s sad.
“I didn’t know my last day of high school was my last day of high school.”
Nobody did.
At St. Edward’s School, in fact, longtime teacher Louise Kennedy said seniors who, just a few weeks ago, were eager to graduate and get on to the next chapters of their lives are now missing being on campus, going to classes and seeing their friends.
“Before spring break, the seniors were like, ‘We’re so done with school,’ not knowing they’d never be back in the classroom here,” Kennedy said. “Now, they miss it.”
The seniors aren’t merely missing being in school. They’re missing being in school as seniors poised to reap the rewards of the past 11-plus years.
Not only have this year’s seniors missed their proms, which were canceled at all the county’s high schools, but they’re also likely to miss their graduation ceremonies, which won’t be held until the summer – if at all.
“I’m sure a lot of kids feel they’re getting the short end of the stick, and that’s understandable,” said Kennedy, whose daughter, Fiona, is a St. Edward’s senior. “The school has made an effort to make the seniors feel special, but they’re missing out on traditional American experiences.”
Some of them are missing out on more, and it could be costly.
The pandemic-prompted school closures and cancellations have deprived late-blooming, spring-sports athletes of a senior season they needed to convince college scouts that they deserve a scholarship.
“There’s no doubt that we’ll lose scholarship opportunities because of this,” Vero Beach High School Athletic Director Lenny Jankowski said. Not just seniors, and not just in spring sports.
College football recruiters rely on high schools’ spring football practices, games and jamborees to identify which players to monitor in the fall.
But spring drills, which were scheduled to start earlier this week, were canceled when the governor shut down the state’s public schools.
“We always have guys who have been in the program, put in their time, and got bigger and faster between their junior and senior years,” said Jankowski. “Some of them also improve academically. From a football perspective, the spring is huge for those guys.”
From a personal development perspective, the spring is even bigger for seniors – for the relationships forged on campus, the life lessons learned outside the classroom, the lasting memories made during those final weeks.
This pandemic, which has forced the Class of 2020 to finish school on a computer screen, allows none of that.
“I was really looking forward to the last few weeks of my senior year, but there was no way anyone expected anything like this,” Lamothe said. “It definitely feels different. I don’t feel like I’m in school.”
How could any high school senior?
This is supposed to be a glorious time filled with moments they’ll long remember – not a nothing-special spring they’ll want to forget.
