The second half of senior year is the part of high school that everyone can't wait for. Class ranks have already been finalized, the application process to college is done, and as long as you keep a decent GPA you have no worries. It was Friday, March 13th, 2020, and I was excited that the weather would soon be warming up in chilly Buffalo. Our first senior skip day was coming up, prom tickets were going on sale the following week, and the senior trip was approaching in just a month. My high school career was finally about to peak and all my hard work was going to pay off, but what I didn't know was that this typical senior experience would not happen for me. What I didn't know was that I would never step foot in my high school ever again after that day. At first, I was told that we would be out of school for a month and resume classes on April 20th. So, the next day, I went prom dress shopping and spent $350 on a beautiful gown. Our classes transitioned to online and I actually enjoyed my break from school.
Then in mid-April, the governor announced that we would need more time away from school to quarantine before going back. Teachers assured us that we would have a postponed prom and maybe even the senior trip to Cedar Point as planned. We all kept hope as we lounged around home all day, as mandated. It wasn't until May when the governor announced that school would be canceled for the rest of the year when it hit me that my senior experience was officially forgotten. We never got a senior prom, nor a senior trip, nor a senior skip day. Our class officers worked hard to do a senior parade in each of our cars around the campus but it wasn't the same as marching through the hallways on the last day of school. Even graduation was uncertain. There were so many things we were hopeful for. When we would normally be having fun and enjoying our youth, many of us were working the frontlines of a pandemic and had to grow up fast. The sacrifices my class had to make was nothing like those just several years before us. After lots of work, stress, and compromise, we finally were able to hold our graduation in-person on the turf. It wasn't ideal and there ended up having to be two ceremonies since there was a 150 person limit, but it still happened. Each student was allowed to have two guests and it was live-streamed so other family members could watch at home. Senior year was not the best and it's a shame that we had to give up what we did but I am proud of everything that the class of 2020 went through together and I think we really did make the best out of a bad situation.
Below are pictures from my high school graduation. Photos were taken by Rick Penny. The entire collection can be found at https://rickpennyimages.smugmug.com/2020-Alden-High-School-Graduation-1/2020-Alden-High-School-Graduation-6-26/
