By Morgan Hart
Senior year is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Although mine was memorable, it was not for the reasons you would expect. In fact, my expectations were far different from the reality.
The start of my senior year was not at all what I pictured it to be. My third day into my final field hockey preseason, I was diagnosed with mononucleosis. For those of you who don’t know, mononucleosis is an illness that is spread by saliva. According to the dictionary, mononucleosis occurs with "the presence of an abnormally large number of mononuclear leukocytes, or monocytes, in the blood." In my case, I developed mono by sharing food with one of my friends. It's a sickness that lasts about a month but will have a few side effects afterwards. As stated in the article “Infectious Mononucleosis”, "A blood test can show if you have mono. Most people get better in two to four weeks. However, you may feel tired for a few months afterward."
I was able to find this out after my mom took me into the ER because I was having trouble breathing. I had an IV put into me because I was dehydrated and I had to get blood work twice. This was not a fun experience considering I don’t like needles and they make me anxious.
The worst part of all of this was that I was told I was out of field hockey for at least a month. That is exactly how I felt. For 2 weeks straight, my symptoms included a fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands. Not to mention, I was always tired and was constantly sleeping. I felt as if I let my team down and we did not win the division my senior season even though we had so much potential.
It was around 4:30 when we received a Twitter notification stating that school was closed for two weeks due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Little did I know that those two weeks would turn into the rest of the school year.
As time went on, I tried to overlook missing half of my field hockey season and looked forward to more positive things to come. I knew I had another athletic season coming my way soon, so I thought.
On March 13, 2020, I was sitting in Disney World with some of my best friends. It was around 4:30 when we received a Twitter notification stating that school was closed for two weeks due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Little did I know that those two weeks would turn into the rest of the school year. I never thought the day before we left for Senior trip would be the last day I would walk the halls of Maple Shade high school. As you can see in the video below, the coronavirus is a very serious health concern and why all the effects lead to school being shut down.
This virus literally brought things to a standstill and upended the school year. Upon returning from our trip, we discovered we would be learning virtually for the rest of the year. With school closed, prom would be canceled and graduation put on hold. Life became immediately uncertain. I missed out on quality time with my friends and teachers making memories. Sadly, the softball season I was looking forward to would be cancelled. This meant there would be no Senior night as well.
Upon returning from our trip, we discovered we would be learning virtually for the rest of the year. With school closed, prom would be canceled and graduation put on hold. Life became immediately uncertain.
Luckily, we did end up having a graduation ceremony but it was far from normal. Never did I think I’d be wearing a mask and sitting six feet apart from my classmates. We weren't allowed to throw our caps in the air or take pictures with our friends or teachers. My principal couldn’t shake my hand while giving me my diploma which I worked so hard for during the past four years.
There was also a limitation on how many family members could attend. This meant that I couldn’t even bring my grandparents to my graduation. The restrictions were put into place by New Jersey’s Governor Murphy. This link will provide you with some of the restrictions I may have left out. Although It wasn't everything that I imagined it would be, I was thankful to have a ceremony.
Another thing I missed out on was "Project' graduation. That was supposed to be my final moment and final farewell with my classmates before we all went our separate ways. It was supposed to be the after party of graduation, where we played fun games, received gifts, and shared laughs with each other. Although it was supposed to be rescheduled because of school shutting down, it never happened.
To say that the pandemic has reshaped my senior year is an understatement. That is because senior year is supposed to be the best year of high school and it was anything but that. Even though this virus is out of our control, I just wish it could be gone or better yet never existed. I would do anything to go back to the start of my Senior year and I feel others would too. Students, such as myself, have missed out on so many memorable experiences which is upsetting.
If there is one thing this pandemic and senior year has made me realize, it’s that nothing is certain and don’t take anything for granted. One day I'll look back on this and it will be a great story to tell. I can look at the glass half full or half empty. I can either decide to look at the negative aspects of my senior year such as missing my part of my field hockey season and be the class to say I didn’t get a prom and senior sport season. On the other hand, I can look at the positives such as recovering and playing half of my field hockey season and say at least I got to have a socially distanced graduation and senior trip and went on to college to do great things.
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