A Senior’s Story: Fall semester brings change, challenges
Nov. 11, 2020
Editor’s Note: Molly Wetsch is a senior at Lincoln High School and the editor-in-chief of the Statesman. She has agreed to periodically share her experiences this year as a high school senior.
It has proven difficult to find the words to describe just how undoubtedly strange these past few months have been. While I am eternally grateful to be back at school for even a portion of my senior year, it is difficult not to notice the challenges, uncertainty and polarizing atmosphere my time back at school has brought.
We started off strong. Very few COVID-19 cases were reported among the student body. Sports and activities were — and still are — in full swing. You could feel the energy, palpable in the crowded halls on the first day of school; it was impossible to ignore how good it felt to be back. Although we were often separated in our classes by 6-foot distancing, our social tendencies were back. Quarantine had proven difficult for many students, and for everyone to be back in the same space had a liberating effect on the student body.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget my senior year so far, not just because it is my last year as a high school student but because of the ability of the pandemic to drastically shape my worldview.
I’ve seen teachers pick up the phone in the middle of class, glance at a student and tell them they have to leave; the student cannot return for 14 days.
I’ve heard whispers in the hallways: “Did you hear this person has COVID? I wonder who will have to go home.”
I’ve arrived at school to half-full parking lots and a noticeable drop in class sizes. I’ve missed the presence of the people I used to see every day who now have opted to continue online learning.
Before the Sioux Falls School District voted to change the close-contact quarantine rules for students, I sat in class daily, tensed when the phone rang and prayed that it would not be me being sent home. Every week, it seemed like there was a milestone that I could have ended up missing: my last homecoming, the first time my school newspaper went to press for the school year, my last fall choir concert.
With the continuation of the school year comes the continuation of expected controversy. The mask debate has grown more tangible in the past few weeks. I used to be able to count on one hand the students at my school who didn’t wear a mask. That’s not the case anymore. I am not here to comment on the debate concerning masks, but the tension at school is definitely noticeable. It has put a wedge in what used to be a united student body, one that I was proud to be a part of.
In many ways, we are still united. We come together in times of grief, in times of joy and celebration. This is not an easy time for anyone, and it’s impossible to ignore that fact. Teachers have become an invaluable resource during this time, often acting as a sort of second family to students who have struggled with mental health and assignments during the pandemic. The lack of physical and social contact has helped us create a stronger emotional bond; as a student body, we reach out to each other frequently, checking up and making sure everyone is OK.
Regardless of the challenges we’ve faced this year already, both expected and not, it is abundantly clear that this year’s group of seniors will be even more resilient than we thought.
I am incredibly disheartened that this year will not go exactly how I planned, but I keep my eyes focused firmly ahead. I think about how the things I’ve learned this year will carry me to higher education and beyond. I think about my desire to excel this year and all the ways I’m challenging myself.
Above all, I think of my school, the community that I have been a part of for four years. I think about my last football game at Howard Wood Field. I think of my friends who have loved and lost this year beyond measure.
I want us to find a way, whether we move online or remain in person, to find our compassion. I want the student body to think about their grandparents, their neighbors, their lunch ladies. Case numbers are increasing. It is a very real possibility that I will not finish the school year in person. I’ve come to accept anything that happens; no matter the ending of high school this year, I will ensure that it is my own. In many ways, the pandemic and this school year have shown me what I failed to realize before: The worst of times bring out the best in people.
