To The Class Of 2020, From One Of Your Classmates

My name is Mikayla Ide. I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan. And I am a high school senior. I feel lost right now. I do not know what will happen next. I have lost so much of my high school experience at this point. I would do anything to walk into my school building, go to the classroom I sit in everyday before school starts, and talk with my friends about how tired I am and how much I want to go home. It’s ironic, I know. But it’s also true. I would give anything to sit in my AP European History class, laughing at my teachers jokes, while trying to finish an assignment for AP French. It feels like my life has been stolen. I didn’t know that when I walked out of school that day, it was very likely that I would never set foot in the school again as a student. I spent the last day of school doing exams. How funny that this shutdown happened at the same time we were switching trimesters. I walked out, complaining to my sister about how much my hand hurt from writing all day. I told her how I wrote my AP Euro exam essay in a sparkly pen, just to irritate my teacher a little bit. I didn’t know the shutdown was coming. Otherwise, I would’ve savored those final moments. There is so much I don’t know if I will ever get to do. I do not know if I will have a final concert with the school band. I do not know if I will have a prom. I didn’t go to prom Junior year. I was waiting till Senior year. I do not know if I will have a graduation ceremony, or if I will be mailed a diploma. I do not know if I will have a senior skip day, or if I will see my teachers again, in the classrooms I have sat in for 4 years. At my school, there’s a tradition. When the seniors pick up their caps and gowns, they wear the cap for the rest of the school day. I don’t know if I get to partake in that. What about my yearbook? Will I even be able to get it signed by all my friends? These thoughts run through my head endlessly. I feel guilty for thinking them, when I know that in Italy people are dying. I know that’s true everywhere right now. But I also know that there are kids in Italy feeling the same way I am. There are high school seniors across the United States feeling the same way I am, thinking the same thoughts I am. If you’re an adult reading this, try to remember how much those final moments meant to you. Then imagine not getting those. That is what the Class of 2020 is experiencing right now. Try to empathize with them. Yes, there are much bigger things happening in the world than the cancellation of prom. But to us, this is our world. Our world 4 weeks ago was prom and band concerts. Our world 4 weeks ago was essays and classes. Our world 4 weeks ago was worrying about college and moving away from our families and friends. Our world 4 weeks ago was typical. Now it is anything but. And to the Class of 2020, I am you. I know what you’re feeling. It feels unfair. It’s maddening. It feels impossible to get through right now. But just know that we are all in this together. We are all feeling the same things. We are one against our losses.

My opinion of all of this