For seniors throughout Marion County, their final year is in shambles with the coronavirus pandemic suspending school and threatening to cancel sports, prom and graduation.
Five students interviewed agreed that they’d rather be in school than at home for a change.
“It’s sad. I wish I could have it back,” Columbia Academy senior Hunter Courtney said. “I’d do anything if we could go back to school.”
“I’ve never wanted to go back to school more in my life,” West Marion senior Avery Holmes said.
Public school is suspended through April 17 as of right now, while CA is going week-to-week. However, a social distancing order has been put in place through April 30, which is likely to delay any potential return to school.
Rather than all of the extracurricular activities missed, Courtney said he misses being around his friends every day the most. He said they’re like family to him after being around them for so long.
“It’s definitely a very heartbreaking experience to have something taken away from you that you thought wouldn’t get taken away,” West Marion’s Shelby Bedwell added.
CA senior Maggie Townsend said initially it was frustrating because school was suspended well before the coronavirus reached Marion County, but now that the disease has arrived she understands. She said while many seniors were suffering from “senioritis” before school was suspended, it has been heartbreaking because they didn’t realize how much they’d miss school until it was gone.
“We’re missing a lot of time with each other that we probably won’t ever get back, and there will be a lot of us that don’t really stay connected after high school,” she said.
Lindsey McLaughlin, a senior at CA, said she’s been trying to stay positive, but it’s sad to know they might not have a senior prom or a graduation ceremony they’ve spent 12 years working for.
“I’m trying to think that it will pass and that I’ll get to see my friends again hopefully before the school year is over,” she said.
Most spring-sport athletes at least had an inkling when their last game may be before play was suspended, but Holmes hurt her elbow on opening day and wasn’t going to return until district play. She has since been cleared to play, and she said it would be really upsetting if she doesn’t get to wear a Lady Trojans uniform again.
“I’ve missed most of my senior softball year, and now we’ve had to postpone prom. The Columbia Crown Club presentation has been postponed, and right now we don’t know about graduation so it’s upsetting,” she said. “I’m hoping we’ll still be able to do those activities and even finish the softball season.”
Bedwell, a teammate of Holmes, said she felt like West Marion had a lot of potential this year to make the playoffs — the Lady Trojans were 7-1 — and to not even get the chance to try to realize that potential is a disappointment.
Potentially missing graduation would be the worst part about school being suspended for Holmes because she has spent years working hard toward getting her diploma and said it would feel like a waste if she doesn’t get to have a real commencement ceremony. Courtney agreed missing graduation would be the worst.
“I feel like it would be very unfair, but I think the good Lord has got a plan for all of it,” he said. “I just don’t know what it is.”
Townsend said that CA’s teachers have done a great job at keeping their education on pace, but there’s no way to replace the little memories made in the classroom, in the halls or the potential events that could be canceled.
“A lot of seniors, our goal right now is to at least graduate and have that last memory. If it is taken away from us and we can’t graduate, I think that memory would be the biggest loss that we’ve had,” she said. “Prom is a big deal, but most of us have already done it so it’s not like something new or a big accomplishment. If I don’t get to graduate it would be a letdown because from K-5 until now that’s what we’ve all been waiting for.”
McLaughlin said that she has a lot of friends that are underclassmen and to not have prom to have that final opportunity to make memories with them would be disappointing, but missing graduation would be the biggest blow.
“I’ve worked so hard to be able to have that and to not be able to walk across the stage one last time with my friends, that’s probably the most devastating,” she said.
