Dear Powell,

I’ve realized that senior year consists of a lot of waiting. We’ve waited for the normal senior year things. We’ve waited for college admission decisions, waited to get our senior photos back and waited until the day we can walk across the stage and receive our diplomas. 

But we’ve waited for the unconventional as well. Waited to hear if we would get to have a senior year in person rather than through Zoom, waited to hear if homecoming olympics or dances or after school activities would be canceled and I have waited hours to receive an email containing my Covid test results. The email informed me that the test was positive, by the way.

It’s pretty obvious that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected all of us. From going to work at your office to buying produce at your grocery store, we’re seeing the effects of Covid every day now. But currently, at your local high school, class of 2021 is experiencing a senior year that none of us wanted. And certainly a year that none of us deserve.

Nothing about this year has been normal. On the first day of school, instead of walking with the normal confidence radiated by seniors, the class of 2021 felt just as nervous as anyone else. With masks on and temperatures checked, no one knew what to expect. And we still don’t.

The class of 2020 had it bad, no doubt about it. They missed out on the last months of their school year and had to say goodbye to a majority of their teachers over Zoom. But you rallied together to help make up for it. With everything from gifts and posters to parades and Facebook posts, the senior class received loads of support. I myself even contributed by putting together a video of their school year. 

But where has the support gone for the successors? What about us?

Academically our year is exactly the same — the same workload in the classroom and outside. But everything else is very different. The whole experience feels alienating. Watching certain sports and activities take precedence over others, a lack of alternatives being put together for canceled events and plastic dividers in front of you during lunch feels isolating. A strange energy hangs about us. Half faces. Traffic patterns. Desk cleaners. 

It feels discouraging to have watched all of your upperclassmen friends get to experience their senior year and then spend the next four years waiting for your own. Then once the date arrives, everything special about the year you were anticipating slowly moves out of your reach. And it feels like no one cares.

I’ve never been good at waiting. But as the year goes on, there’s less waiting that I have to do. The college acceptance emails have arrived, my senior photos have been mailed to my grandparents and I survived the draining two-week quarantine. 

So, as we move into our final semester of high school, we would like to ask that you please consider how this year has felt for us. We’re not asking for you to throw us a parade or anything, we’re just asking that you give us a little more support. We need it. We want it. And we deserve it. 

Sincerely,

A senior from the class of 2021