Coming into the last year of high school, no one expects remote learning, socially distanced sporting events, and the possibility of not getting to walk across the stage in front of all their friends and family to receive that diploma. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s fair to say that high school seniors have been struggling big time.  It started last year with the class of 2020; the cancellation of prom, no senior carnival, and a drive-through graduation.  Everyone goes through 12 years of school waiting for their “ideal senior year” and unfortunately it has been quite the opposite. 

This year has been filled with questions and lots of adjustments.  For senior Camden Ventura,  it has been especially hard to get prepared for college.  “I feel like this year has been tough… it’s hard to get ready for college and feel prepared because we’ve been missing so much.”  Camden plans on attending Christ College of Nursing to pursue a medical career but says he feels “not ready for college because we haven’t received a lot of resources/information on college readiness.”  The pandemic has definitely slowed the role of many high school students, in their preparation for college, big tests, and just future life in general.  Luckily, according to The Washington Post and Fairtest.org, more than 900 colleges around the country are becoming test-optional to help out the struggling seniors. 

Not only are seniors missing out on preparing for their futures, but they are also missing out on many key traditions.  It is safe to say that the Edgewood community is huge on tradition, whether it’s the homecoming parade, athletic booster fundraisers, or pep rallies, there’s always something to look forward to each year; except for this one of course.  For the Edgewood seniors, the cancelation of homecoming was the biggest hit.  In a recent poll on our social media pages, when asked what tradition they missed the most, 14 seniors responded with “Homecoming,” “Hoco. pep rallies,” and “Spirit week.” Senior Alexis Kuykendoll even went into depth stating, “I wish we had some sort of normalcy this year, even if it was just something small like the class competitions during spirit week, or college signing pep rallies.  Just something for the seniors to feel like they aren’t completely gypped of a senior year.”  Even though homecoming activities have already passed, many seniors still have hope for the possibility of upcoming traditions.  “I really hope we are able to do things like the school musical, and maybe even receive our senior carnival or prom, but obviously there’s no guarantee,” says Camden. 

In Governor Dewine’s most recent COVID update on governor.ohio.gov, he announced that prom, along with other events, is allowed within regulation and stadium occupancy went up to 30% compared to the 15% it was at the beginning of the school year. With this news, there can still be a lot of things up in the air, but hopefully, the seniors do get a good last quarter of school and satisfactory final goodbye to EHS.