Since I was a little girl, I could not wait to graduate. Growing up with older siblings and relatives graduating almost every year; I was so excited for it to be my turn to walk the stage. I was eager to go out with a bang, to have my last prom, to have a graduation party. I had such a rough time throughout high school, being homeschooled my junior year. I saw my senior year as my opportunity to make up for lost time, and I did just that up until spring break. 

From the beginning of senior year, I attended every home football game, almost every basketball game, and Homecoming with my best friends. It seemed almost too perfect. Soccer season began the first week of March and we had one week of tryouts and one week of practice. During this, I heard about the coronavirus, but never understood how fatal it was and how fast it was spreading. The evening before our first game, IHSA cancelled all spring sports until further notice. Within days, my mom suggested I take a personal leave from work considering I am an essential worker at Walmart and have existing health problems. That is when reality set in. 

Next came an extension of our spring break. At the time, I thought we would be out an extra week at max and we would be back in school. I was very wrong. Now that I did not have school, work, and soccer to keep me busy, I had so much free time on my hands. As numbers rapidly grew and the lockdown of Illinois occurred; the possibility of my senior year being over rose higher. To think I would not be able to walk across the stage after the longest four years of my life. To think my family who had plans to fly from across the world to celebrate with me had to cancel their flights sucked. To think my parents had spent so much time, effort, and money into a graduation party that now does not exist.

As time went on, it only got worse. The Act of God days were extended until April 30th and here I am doing online school in self quarantine until further notice. It is disappointing knowing we seniors worked extremely hard to possibly not get a traditional graduation ceremony, a prom, and a last day of school. Despite our losses, my real worry is how long this virus will affect everyone’s lives as a whole.