By: Logan Abbott
On a normal school day, I would be sitting in my classes, learning and corresponding with my friends and my teachers. However, due to the Coronavirus that has swept the world, schools have been shut down, sports have been canceled, and as a result, kids as well as adults, are sitting and learning inside. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 classes will end their learning careers virtually.
For the safety of everyone, it was necessary to shut down schools until the majority of cases have passed through, but we all hoped we’d go back to school. However, the state of Pennsylvania, under the leadership of Governor Tom Wolf, has been informed that PA schools will not be in session for the rest of the school year.

Not being a senior, it’s hard to grasp what a senior’s experience is like right now. It was their chance to suit up and be on the track, diamond, or the shooting range for the last time as a representative of their school while competing with their friends and getting cheered on by their family.

However, many know that these individuals have worked for 13 years and dealt with a lot of teachers and homework for these final moments that complete the educational path of many seniors. These final moments of high school, for the time being, are in jeopardy, because of this global pandemic. Since my brother is one of these graduates, I see what he is experiencing and it hurts to write this, knowing there is nothing that could ever be done to right the situation we are in. These athletes have run their last race, hit their last home run, and shot their last clay target without even knowing it. But, a spring without sports is like a forest without trees, you do not see them.

The school district is currently planning a virtual graduation, but many seniors are hoping there will be more chances to officially say goodbye to their friends and Eisenhower Middle High School. Other options for celebrating graduation included a drive in ceremony, going in one at a time to graduate at the gymnasium, or waiting until later to graduate. Unfortunately, at this time, those ideas have not been approved by either the state or county governments. If the social distancing laws become more laid back, the school district should have an all county ‘senior day,’ in which, all of the senior athletes compete with their friends for the last time and return to a piece of normalcy, which Covid-19 has stripped from them.

As for other senior and spring high school festivities, those will probably not happen on time, or at all. Prom may be canceled or postponed, so you may have to wait to dance with that person, because dancing and social distancing do not mix.
As for Governor Wolf and the other leaders of this state, there is a song lyric that comes to mind in this situation. The lyric says “listen to your children while they play” (Skip a Rope Cargill). The lyric applies to this situation because the seniors are crying out for school to be resumed, but feel as if those making the decisions are oblivious to it.