For Seniors, 2020 was supposed to be their year. The year where they would be able to dominate in sports, perform in front of hundreds, and say their final goodbyes to those activities that filled them with joy and made them whole. This opportunity to say goodbye was taken from them before they even realized what had just happened. 

Before COVID-19 took hold of people’s lives and confined everyone to their homes, seniors had been in the midst of preparing for their final semester of high school. Going to afterschool and weekend practices was seen as a necessary sacrifice to ensure that when the day finally arrived for them to perform, they could do it to the best of their abilities. For many it would be the last time they could train with their teammates, dance with their girls, and be a part of a family at school. 

Senior Daniela Flores, MCHS Dance Team Captain, shared her feelings about her final semester being taken away from her. 

“We were training for the end of the year performances and then all of a sudden we started hearing the rumors that they could possibly be canceled due to the fear of spreading the virus. I was crushed because I love dancing and these performances were going to be some of the final opportunities I had to dance with my team in front of people,” said Flores. 

This suddenness of the possibility of everything being canceled hit everyone hard. Especially for seniors who already had so many questions regarding their future. Then to have the one thing that kept seniors centered and involved in high school stolen from them really made this whole time that much harder. 

Senior Jesus Ramirez revealed his thoughts during this traumatic time period. 

“I was in the middle of training for Wizards for Water and starting to work on obtaining donations in order to donate to Africa for clean water. The entire team was training really hard to get in the best shape possible for the half-marathon and getting the most donations. I’ve ran with the team before and my favorite part was always donating all the money because I knew that those funds were going to a great cause and we were really going to make a difference in the world. It really hurt me that I won’t be able to do that this year,” said Ramirez.

Traditions are an important part of high school; losing these traditions is what makes leaving so difficult. One of the main MCHS traditions is the small school tournament in football, basketball, and soccer. The soccer tournament was canceled this year due to COVID-19.

Senior Bryan Granados, MCHS soccer captain, shared his opinions on losing his final year of being able to play soccer due to the virus.

“It honestly sucks because we had a really good team this year and had a real shot of winning the tournament again this year. Plus a lot of the seniors on the soccer team were also on the basketball team that lost last semester so this was their opportunity for redemption to leave MCHS as winners. We were two weeks away from the tournament and then the virus came so I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to my teammates and coaches,” said Granados.

This sentiment of not being able to say goodbye is one that is being shared by millions of seniors across the nation. That inability to have not gotten that proper farewell from that which made so many holes is what hurts the most. Due to the unexpectedness of the COVID-19 pandemic many were not given the opportunity to truly appreciate that which made them happy and complete. The legacy of the 2020 senior class won’t be COVID-19. It will be remembered as the strongest class as they were the ones willing to stay indoors and give up what they love most in order to save the lives of those they love most.