The chaos began earlier this month on March 10, when Roseville Joint Union High School District announced that all student events and gatherings had been canceled. The news struck us with heavy hearts and feelings of remorse as the senior class realized that the virus was now taking away their final year of high school together.

We were informed that we would not get to experience the events we had been anticipating such as: senior prom, senior rally, senior nights, and so on–perhaps even including graduation. It was announced that we would maybe not get to create lifelong memories that we had been looking forward to since the first day of freshman year. That day when we were told these next four years would feel like they were going to flash in front of our eyes and be gone in a matter of seconds, in one email.

Heavy news hit the class of 2020 again on March 13, right after our last high school midterm, when we learned that our limited time together had been cut short once again. RJUHSD had made the informed decision to cancel school for three weeks, in an effort to protect the student and staff’s health from the pandemic virus spreading around the globe. 

While underclassmen may have taken this as an opportunity to catch up on sleep, binge-watch their favorite shows or do whatever it is that they do, the senior class read the news realizing that the cancellation of school took away a month that they could not get back. It took away a month of spending their final high school moments with their favorite class, favorite teachers, best friends, and reminiscing in the nostalgic feelings that Oakmont has become their home for these past four years, that have seem to fly by in the blink of an eye. 

Going into senior year, we knew our time left together was short. We knew this was the year that we would be making some of the biggest decisions in our life. This was the year we would be applying to colleges, looking into careers, and taking some of the final first steps into our transition into adulthood. 

What we did not know was that it would be cut short. We did not know that a virus would take away the experiences that are so glamorized in American culture, that teenagers look forward to from the first day of high school. We were blind-sighted by having to accept the fact that midterms may have been our last class with our peers, and that we may not see each other again before we all set off into our own career and educational paths. 

Although no one expected 2020 to hold this type of uncertainty, what we do know is that the class of 2020 will make the best of the worst situation. The class of 2020 was born in a time of national emergency months after 9/11, and are graduating as the world endures a pandemic. Their two largest jumps into freedom have coincided with tragedy, and it has proven that nothing will stop them. 

The class of 2020 is driven and will continue to do amazing things, no matter what the world may throw their way.