Shayla Miller, Class of 2020

To say the least, this pandemic has been extremely difficult for me. 

Although I understand that the current pandemic affects everyone, and many people are affected in much more severe ways then I am, these past few months have been some of the hardest of my life. 

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, I was traveling to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities to take my courses as a PSEO student. Being a PSEO student had been an amazing experience all year. I enjoyed being on campus and the feeling of being a college student (minus the expenses). After the COVID-19 outbreak, my classes were switched to online instruction and I no longer got the experience I had enjoyed all year. Not only was I lacking the experience, I quickly realized taking college courses online was much more difficult than an in-person course. Communication from instructors was often confusing, the amount of coursework increased exponentially, and getting myself motivated to get up and get going became increasingly difficult. To look on the bright side my courses end May 12th, therefore I only had to endure a month and a half on online school, however, looking to the future I hope that the fall semester will not consist of online learning. In my opinion, the experience of school is just as important as academic learning. Therefore, without the experience students will miss out on a key feature of schooling at all levels. 

Along with missing out on my school experience, the COVID-19 outbreak and corresponding quarantine have caused me to miss out on spending time with family and friends, specifically my grandparents. Before the quarantine, I saw my grandma at least once a week. Because of the outbreak, I have only seen her when my family dropped off her groceries and for a socially distant Easter dinner. Although she is healthy, she is at an age where I wonder how many more years we will have together. I have often questioned whether staying away is the right choice. Is the potential of getting sick worth missing all of this time together? She has expressed how she has been struggling which makes me so sad. Thinking of her all alone is very difficult because prior to the pandemic she was busy almost every night with her grandchildren’s events. This past year, my family had also started to spend a lot more time with my grandpa, they were even planning to go visit him in Florida for spring break. Not being able to see him again makes me wonder if staying home and away is worth all the quality time we are missing. 

Although there have been a lot of negative consequences related to the current pandemic, a few positives have come out of it as well. My parents, sister, and I have been able to spend a lot of time together during this pandemic and although it can be too much at times, I am extremely grateful considering I will be headed off to college in the fall. With our newfound free time, we have gained a few new hobbies. My mom and I have completed five 1000-piece puzzles since the outbreak began and are currently in search of our next one (who knew puzzles would ever sell out.) My dad and I have a daily badminton game which often turns into three or four because we are both so competitive. I was also able to go golfing with him for the first time and am now able to confirm, he is as good as he always says he is. My sister and I have been running together which I can honestly say I never thought would happen. As a family, we have also been watching a few shows together, and I have found that I should be a judge on the Masked Singer because I am 4/4 in the last 4 episodes. 

Looking to the future, I hope that my class will be able to have a graduation ceremony on the field just like every grade before us has. I understand that it may not seem like a crucial experience to everyone, however, I would be extremely upset if it were to be online. Graduation is an experience I have looked forward to since I was in elementary school, and being a valedictorian means so much to me, without the true ceremony I would feel like my high school experience was not complete. I also hope that in the fall schools will open for in-person instruction. I will be attending the U of M and hope I am able to get the freshman experience I have heard so many people talk about. I have also seen how difficult it is for my parents to help my sister with her schoolwork, neither of them is a licensed teacher, and therefore, they are not qualified to be teaching her. Thankfully, I am here to help her as much as I can but moving forward it is unrealistic to expect families to continue to do distant learning. 

To conclude, I wanted to leave a message for my class. I understand completely that many of you are feeling you have missed out on crucial high school experiences; I am in the same boat. I assume many of you have been feeling guilty (like I have) for being upset when other people are fighting for their lives due to this pandemic. You are justified in your frustration or anger, however; I encourage you all to think about all of the memories and experiences you had before the outbreak and hold onto those moments instead of dwelling on the few moments we missed. I also want you all to remember the class of 2020 will never be forgotten due to this pandemic. In twenty years if we were to go back to Mr. Millers APUSH class I bet they will be learning about 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic we are quite literally making history!

Submitted May 4, 2020.