COVID-19 has now affected two different groups of seniors, the class of 2020 and the class of 2021.
Class of 2020 losses
The class of 2020 lost the whole second semester of their senior year. Whether it was elementary school, middle school, high school, or college, all of those graduates lost something. For high school 2020 graduates, they lost both their prom and parents at their graduation. When the news came around that they would be losing these memorable experiences, everyone was heartbroken for them. There was a program across the country called “adopt a senior,” where families in a community would choose a senior to adopt and buy them a gift.
These high school seniors lost most of the events they spent their whole high school lives dreaming of. During the last semester of senior year, there are more activities than just prom and graduation. These seniors lost their senior luncheon, spring sports season, spring play, etc. The news that they were losing everything all hit them at once. One minute they were preparing for the last few months of their senior years, and the next they were hit with the news that it was taken away from all of them.
Class of 2021 losses
The class of 2021 lost more than they expected. At first, they expected that they were just going to lose the last half of their junior year. During junior year, they lost their junior prom. Even though junior prom is not the biggest deal, it was still hard for those who had already bought their dresses. Usually junior prom happens earlier than senior prom, so the news that junior prom was cancelled came a week or two before the scheduled date. Those who play spring sports also lost their spring season, which is crucial for recruitment.
They then lost the whole entirety of their senior years. Most schools were fully remote this year, which led to seniors being stuck at home the whole year. Some schools were able to have their fall and winter sport seasons, but some cancelled them. These sport seasons were nothing close to normal either. Parents were not allowed at these events, and it was only the teams. Not only were their sport seasons affected, they also lost their whole year of senior activities. Homecoming, spirit week, pep ralleys; these were all taken away from the high school class of 2021. Most schools around the country are able to have a prom and graduation this year, but not all schools are.
Who had it worse?
This debate is all over the place, both groups feel like they had it worse. Both graduation years had a terrible outcome and they deserved to have a normal senior year. In comparison, the class of 2020 only lost the second semester of their senior year, while the class of 2021 lost the second semester of junior year and their whole senior year. So, the class of 2021 definitely lost more than the class of 2020, but that doesn’t mean that the class of 2020 cannot be upset about it.
