Loveland, Colorado … COVID-19, self-quarantine, social-distancing! That’s all we have been hearing lately, not just on the news, but social media, TV, the radio, and basically everywhere. As most people are freaking out about the virus, making sure to be prepared for any situation such as a stay-at-home order, we high school seniors are more devastated than ever. With all the cancellations and closures, the Campion Class of 2020 is struggling.
At first it didn’t seem real, and at times it still doesn’t. With the first email we received, I saw that Music Tour was canceled, and with the emails that kept coming, it kept getting worse. Everything was being canceled, all of my “lasts” you could say, including our senior class trip.
It came expectedly, but it was still devastating to receive the email. It felt like the world around me was crumbling, and although that may sound dramatic: it’s true. For many of us seniors, those final school events have been our world. These last couple of months that were supposed to be spent with our friends, getting together for what may be the last times, is being spent in self-quarantine.
It stinks. There’s no other way to put it. The whole situation is ruining our senior year. Not only has this time been taken away from us, but we’re all worried about graduation being canceled. Finding out that my family who had been planning to fly in from the Philippines can no longer come was devastating. But realizing that we may or may not get a graduation is even more crushing. We have dreamed of the day we would wear a cap and gown, getting ready with all our friends to finally walk and receive our diploma, representing all of our hard work. And now that rite of passage may be ripped away from us.
With everything going on, it’s hard to find the good and to be positive-minded. One day as I was scrolling through Instagram for what seemed like the hundredth time, I saw something that said, “What if God has given you this time to spend with Him, to strengthen your relationship with Him?”
I believe that we are living in the end times, and it made me think that maybe God wants us to use this time to get ready and to help others be ready too. Even though everyone is going through challenging times, we as seniors should take this time to remember what is important.
As hard as it is, I choose to believe that God has something bigger and better planned. God has a way of surprising us when life doesn’t go the way we planned.
—Bela Cinco, Student Editor; photo from Mountain View Studio, used with permission
