It’s been a hard four years. Covid messed up my highschool experience but now senior year has me suffering from another illness: senioritis. As my highschool years dawned on me, my excitement for college, my drive, and motivation suddenly fell. I was confused about who I was and who I was supposed to be. Losing myself, becoming lost in my own intrusive thoughts, quarantine created an escape for me and a lot of teens my age. I grew into a different person completely, as others matured and others stayed the same. But one thing we all had in common was we still felt like underclassmen; we still had time to make mistakes. Though when I look on my roster, we are all almost out of here. Now, as a senior, I find myself lost in the abyss of modern day high school.
Going back to the beginning days in this school, CSArts San Gabriel Valley, I spoke with students who have been attending since 7th grade. They talked about their sadness in watching their classmates starting, and even harder, leaving. Their peers who have stayed at CSArts through the years have created a familial bond with each other, as they all watched each other grow and change through the traumatic events that came with the pandemic.
Even the bad memories and toxic friendships seemed to be missed, as once was recent, is now just childhood memories, seeing peers going in the wrong direction, or the right one, finds me stuck on where I have to go, I’m glad to have friends I consider family at CSArts”
one student said.
Some seniors are facing the problem of going in the “wrong” direction. As we see in schools and news reports across the country, students are acting out and learning hard lessons with situations they should have learned during late middle school and early high school. The pandemic has stripped students of these lessons. I feel this generation of seniors does not have the same maturity as the seniors before the pandemic. Why would they? Parts of life and experiences have been stripped from us; they have led some of my peers on difficult paths. I hope as time progresses we get the experiences that we lost in the pandemic.
Senior Sunrise