EMILY CREPEAU, GHS SENIOR

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), Gorham schools had to close. As a senior, it’s not something you want to hear. The end of the year is a very important time. It’s a time to say goodbye to friends, classmates, and staff that have been there for us throughout the last four years. A time to go to prom one last time.

At the beginning of the year, I had so much hope about how I would spend my last year of high school. Everyone always told me, “This year will be great.” For a while, I actually believed it. I was able to enjoy my senior privileges, spend time with friends, and be around everyone that made high school a great experience.

When they decided to close the schools, I was in shock because I didn’t think it would have to come to this. After everything that we had done to get here, this was the last thing that we expected to happen. It was definitely an emotional rollercoaster.

Adjusting to online schooling was hard at first. It was hard to plan out the week to make sure all assignments were completed on time. It was stressful trying to process everything that was happening on top of doing assignments. It was a huge change for all of us.

Now, I have the hang of things. I have been able to properly plan my week and things are feeling better. Especially knowing that there will still be an end-of-the-year ceremony. Even though the whole class won’t be able to be together throughout the ceremonies, it is still great to know that we will still have something to end the year right.

I want to say thank you to everyone that was there for me and that helped to guide me during these last four years. I wouldn’t have gotten here otherwise.

LYDIA VALENTINE, GHS SENIOR

The only way to start this is with the corny joke my class has heard since elementary: “If we really had 2020 vision, shouldn’t we have seen this coming?” The answer is, of course not. My grade is one of optimists and dreamers that could not have imagined this in a million years. Yet, just before the last little part of senior year arrived, the part we’ve been working towards for 12 years, everything was yanked away.

The worst part is, there’s nothing to blame except for a virus, something that has come and gone throughout human history. We are nothing except victims of circumstance; it’s just the flow of humanity.

In the past two months since school was called off, I’ve found myself returning to that last day. Although it felt extremely weird, none of us wanted to admit that it could be the last. So, let me take you back to March 12, whether you are someone in my class, someone at GHS, or just someone who is reading this.

March 12, 2020 was a cloudy and chilly day, nothing out of the ordinary for the beginning of March in Maine. I drove to school in my beloved red Subaru and parked alongside my friends in the back row of the senior parking lot. Throughout the year, I learned to get there a little early to ease the temptation of staying in my car too long.

Just like every morning, teachers stood along the trophy cases as I entered, some deep in conversation, some saying hello. I walked between the two groups of freshmen clogging the lobby and glanced at the TV that showed announcements of upcoming sports meetings. Incidentally, I planned to race walk with a teammate that day after school.

After a short stop in the library, my friend Gianna and I were off to first period, English. We passed through the cafeteria, saying hello to classmates, and arrived at the news that New Balance Nationals, something a friend was attending, had been canceled. I believe that is when the sinking feeling of reality set in.

It followed me throughout the day, and I couldn’t help expressing to my friends, “Today feels weird.” I repeated this over and over. Alas, no special words or motions were made until the end of that seemingly normal day.

Admittedly, it was not one of our most productive Latin classes, but it does bring me solace that the last memory I have of sitting in the third chair of the fourth row, is that it was a day filled with good-hearted arguments and laughter. As we stood by the door, my teacher asked, “Lyd, do you think we’ll come back after today?” My reply: “I hope so.” And that was all that was said.

I think that is where a lot of my class was left, wishing they had said one last thing, thanked someone one last time, or even just tried as hard as possible to imprint a moment onto their brain. One of my closest friends was away that week and didn’t even get the tiny goodbye that I did.

Although we are very close to finishing off senior year online, we cannot see our teachers or our favorite classroom, or even the freshmen who clog the lobby. It was overwhelming to hear all the cancellations: senior walk through, senior award night, scholarship night, walking practice, senior barbecue, and, of course, spring sports.

Throughout high school, the girls track and field team has come so close to winning States so many times. I truly believed this spring would be it. Our unstoppable distance gang, fierce sprinters, insane jumpers, motivated throwers, and my dearest resolute race walkers would finally bring it home.

I would give anything for just one more practice. One more bad sunburn, one more shin splint, and one more prom talk from Coach Cat. One more long-and-easy, one more trestle day, and one more meet where you could feel the team behind you.

There is so much uncertainty in what lies ahead. Yet, in the end, that is life, and I am positive we will tackle it with as much grace and grit as we did this. I wish our ending was solid and true to what came before us, but, honestly, no one is going to forget about the Class of 2020 anytime soon.

GRACE FLYNN, GHS JUNIOR

If someone had asked me at the beginning of this school year, my junior year, what I thought the spring would look like I would’ve answered: “Lots of AP exams, returning to coach Girls on the Run at Village Elementary, cramming for the SAT, touring colleges, and attending a writing conference in Vermont.”

I probably would have also brought up the Harry Styles concert I was looking forward to attending over the summer. The reality is quite different. The spring SATs and Girls on the Run season have both been cancelled, I’m touring colleges via YouTube, the writing conference has gone online, and I don’t anticipate going to any concerts for a while.

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered lives across the globe. The school cancellation and simultaneous lockdown came suddenly to me, as it did for many others. During the first few weeks of online schooling I managed to avoid overwhelming stress. I was able to plan each day effectively, I could still communicate with my friends (albeit over FaceTime), and I was looking forward to picking up a couple new hobbies.

I also had no clue how long self-isolation would last, and that ignorance allowed me to approach this sudden change optimistically.

Online school was a brand-new experience for me, and many of my classmates. We’ve all had to adjust to having check-ins or sometimes full Zoom classes, receiving and turning in all assignments over Google Classroom, and taking on the responsibility of managing our own schedules without falling victim to complete boredom or obsessing over schoolwork as a remedy to said boredom.

While the first few weeks went smoothly, the routine of sitting in front of a laptop for days on end grew monotonous. Despite adopting daily walks and catching up on several Netflix shows, I simply felt bored. It’s difficult to replace a life of regular face-to-face interaction with infrequent Zoom calls, and not expect individuals’ mental health to struggle.

I’ve had to remind myself that it’s acceptable to experience dips in motivation, and not use every second to be fabulously productive. Although it feels like I have more free time than ever, I’ve learned that balance is just as important now as it was in my previous life.