I think it’s safe to say that no one saw this coming. Who knew that on March 12 at 7:45 a.m., I would be entering La Salle for the last time?

I have always been a planner. I have a schedule, and I like to stick to it. Ever since sixth grade, I knew where I was going to high school, college, and what I was going to study. Now, of course, a few things have changed.

On that same sunny, March day, right before the bell rang for a break between classes, our principal, Mr. Andrew Kuffner, came over the intercom system and announced that the entire school would move to digital learning days until April 6, or until further notice.

When I left school that day, I felt as though I was in a movie. Kids were ecstatic. They were thinking of flying to Hawaii for $60 round trip, going up to the mountain and snowboarding, and hanging out with friends; we thought this was a dream. 

Little did we know that this was less of a dream and more of a nightmare.

Oregon governor Kate Brown announced on April 8 that all Oregon schools would remain closed until June. This means that all public school seniors who were on the right path to graduate will receive their diplomas and be given a pass or fail grade for each of their classes. 

But, this is not the case for seniors at La Salle. 

Vice Principal of Academics Mr. Mario De Ieso sent out a recent Schoology post to the members of the National Honors Society regarding COVID-19.

“We are a college prep Catholic high school equipped better than most to stay the course of this year and so we will do just that,” he said.

Prom, graduation, spring sports, college visits, senior retreat, Senior Survivor, and the all-night grad party have all been canceled or postponed, and the list of events continues. 

We started the year with college applications, graduation cap and gown orders, and college visits. But now, we are ending the year still undecided about colleges, and are left with no cap and gown and no more social interactions.

Don’t get me wrong, I love talking with my family all day, but there is only so much you can talk about. I have started placing regulations at the dinner table because I am sick of talking about COVID-19 and all of the ways it has affected me. However, there is one constant phrase that I continue to hear out of my parents’ mouths: “It could be worse.”

I totally get that the circumstances could be worse.

For example, my relatives are expecting a baby in nine days, and I could never imagine all of the stress they are going through. Another set of relatives are expected to get married in June, but who knows if that will actually occur. 

When my family tells me about their high school experiences, I hear the same thing over and over again. It’s usually something such as, “high school was the time of my life” or “I would do anything to go back to those days.”

One of my biggest struggles right now is finding that happy medium. I have to find the balance between finding time for myself and spending time with my family. Since we have been home all day, there have been changes to my daily routines, and my chores are increasing.

And on top of all of that, there are of course Zoom and FaceTime calls, which are a temporary solution to not being able to see friends, but it’s not quite the same. 

It’s glitchy, hard to schedule, and you can’t get your entire group of friends on the call without having everyone talk over each other. On FaceTime, I often get nauseous from watching the screen move all over the place as each person’s image moves back and forth, depending on the person talking. 

I could be angry and mad about the way the end of my senior year is turning out and take it out on the people around me, but that wouldn’t help anyone. 

I could be mad at my school for canceling all of these events, but they are only trying to do what is best for their community and their students.

I could be mad at the governor for making me stay at home, but she is only trying to contain this before it gets too out of hand, so that the class of 2021 will not have to go through what we have.

I have learned to accept COVID-19 and all of the challenges and difficulties that it has put forth. There is nothing that I can do individually to stop this all from taking over my senior year except staying home, having faith, and trying my best to limit the number of people I come into contact with.

I can’t change anything or determine the outcomes that are in my future, but can only help contribute towards them. So as of right now, I have to accept the obstacles in my way and take things one day at a time. 

As a whole, we can accept the large changes that are occurring in our lives, learn to adapt to them, and do our best in society to help those around us. We need to stay home to protect those who are not directly affected. Just because as teenagers we are less susceptible to contracting COVID-19, we still have the potential to spread it to others.  Many people think that the coronavirus can be taken lightly, but you often don’t understand how large of a problem it is until you are individually affected by it. 

Many people have questions and concerns, and we don’t know when we will receive answers. We are worried about our summer jobs and making a little extra cash before heading off to college. What about senior ditch day? Are we just going to ditch our online homework? 

So yes, the future is blurry and unclear, but here is what I have to say:

Although we don’t know what is going to come next, which is stressful, we will get through this. We take it day by day, step by step, and we can all get through this together. No one is alone, and I promise you that someone else is experiencing the same difficulties that you are. Just know that this will all be over eventually, and then you can finally take that deep breath and breathe again.

None of this is ideal, but we have to be able to work with the hand that we are dealt, and be able to adjust when the wind wants to knock us down. Instead of getting knocked down, we are going to endure and keep fighting. We are not going to be the class that is forgotten and pushed aside, we will not give up, and we will still make this a senior year to remember. 

Nothing will be the same, but for right now, all we can do is love the people around us, support them, and show them how much we care about them.

I think that this pandemic is a sign and a much-needed call to reality. The virus has demonstrated how communities can spiral into crisis mode, but it has also shown how we can all come together to help others in need, and to support the people around us. When this whole thing is over, we will all see how grateful we are that the community can come together in times of need and protect each other. 

Of course I am extremely upset that everything I have looked forward to these past four years of high school may not occur as originally planned. We may not go on that senior trip we have planned for months, we won’t have St. La Salle Day or cream puff and buff puff volleyball, and we may not have our senior breakfast or senior presentation, but we will still be remembered.

This is a lesson for underclassmen: take advantage of all of the times you spend with your friends. Don’t forget to thank your teachers, greet the front office ladies, and appreciate the cafeteria food because you never know when it will be the last time that you get it. 

After talking to many friends about their concerns during this pandemic, there have been many common themes. Will we be able to spend time with our friends before we all have to head off to college? Will the events that are being cancelled now be rescheduled? These are valid concerns, but for right now, I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone knows. 

We are all hoping for these questions to have answers, but there are no answers as of now. So we need to live and enjoy the moments that we are given, and do our best to adapt to the changes that have occured. 

Overall, this was not the senior year I had imagined. A lot of changes have occurred in a short period of time, and a lot of things will never be the same, but all we can do now is try our hardest to overcome these challenges and keep moving forward.