by
Halie Kay Vermillion
I sped into the parking lot three minutes before the bells rang. I grabbed my book bag from the passenger seat filled with granola bars and the textbook I meant to read but hadn’t touched since first semester. My plan was to dodge detention and rush through the door on time – if not totally together.
It was a Friday like any other. I made it through my first few periods and gulped the cold coffee I frantically made just before I dragged out the door. I joked with my best friends, “I get it. Teachers are right. Senioritis is so real! I am SO ready to be out of this place and on to college!” I raised my free arm as if I was going to lead a march out the door.
I heard about corona virus from my parents groans as they watched the news. Yet, I never imagined it would affect my life. Until… I stared at the mass email that would steal the Senioritis I had come to enjoy.
“Due to the new and ever-changing state of COVID-19 in our country, the high school will be transferring to online classes. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but it is for the sake and health of both the students and faculty that we take this time to social distance ourselves in hopes of stopping the spread of this virus. Thank you.”
As if a 90 MPH baseball was thrown into my gut, I buckled in shock. No, no no! This must be some kind of mistake. No, No, No! The school must have meant that it is just for a few days. No, no, no!
I paced and struggled to think of how to handle it. I remembered how I flaunted those words…“Man, senioritis is so real! Like, I am SO ready to be out of this place and on to college!”
And now that it had happened to me, I was forced to eat my own words.
March 13 started as a happy day but became the perfect storm that stole my “last moments”. All those last moments I wanted to enjoy were taken away. It’s not fair!
It was the last day I sped into my familiar high school parking lot.
The last day I joked with my friends in between classes.
The last time I sat in those crowded desks from 8 am to 3 pm.
I didn’t realize how much I would miss all those days.
So often, we go through life (high school especially) looking ahead to the future while we blow off the present. Senioritis became the acceptable term for “A lack of motivation due to a desire to be done with high school.”
Teachers joked about it and gave detention for it. Juniors longed for it and Seniors accepted it. After all, it’s normal to look for an ending, an acceptance of our accomplishments.
The truth is that there can’t be an end without an in-between. And now my in-between was missing.
Matthew 6:34 reads, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Seniors often worry about college, scholarships and graduation, yet we forget that it is the smallest details of the in-between days – the March 13ths – that get us to the celebrations of our accomplishments.
I finally calmed down long enough to ponder the joys that disappeared with a simple e-mail from my high school.
* I won’t be a “high schooler” again.
* I probably won’t go to my senior prom.
* I won’t finish my tennis or track season.
* I will never take my final bow in the theatre performance I worked four years to reach.
* I may never walk the stage and shake the hand of my principal as he hands me the diploma I worked 12 and a half years to obtain.
It ended all too fast, and within twenty-four hours, my definition of Senioritis was flipped on its head. Instead of a disease that made me want to be done with high school, it was now a longing to return. I now have Senioritis in the sense that I yearn to be a senior once again! So to all my friends, let’s not conform to the worldly definition of Senioritis.
As Romans 12 verse 2 states, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
I’ve decided not to conform to society’s timeline, but instead, to live every day as a God-given gift. I believe God has a plan for me and for you. As a member of the class of 2020, I can full-heartedly say that these are not easy times. It is not a fun thought to realize that some of the greatest moments in my life are over. Yet, here’s what I do know.
God is greater than COVID-19.
God is more powerful than the infection rate of any virus.
God has a plan for the future and corona was not a surprise to Him.
And God’s got this.
From this disappointed high school senior to you, slow down. Enjoy the little moments in life because those are the times that you can’t get back. Embrace every second as if it were your last, and never forget that you are loved and cared for by the God of the universe!
We are in this together Class of 2020. We can do this!
Love, Halie Kay
Halie Kay writes a weekly blog at Halie Kay.
She will attend Olivet Nazarene University in the fall. She plans to study Public Relations and Intercultural Studies and will cherish each in-between moment as she pursues her goals.