If you told me four years ago this is how it would end, I would have called you crazy. But here we are, the Class of 2020. Our year is forever etched in history, the end of this chapter, shared with that of millions of other students across the world. In 20 years we can say to our children “this is the year I graduated” when the world was in a time of immense change and conflagration. While driving to school, seeing friends everyday, going to lunch with them, is gone, it is not forgotten. While there was a lot of potential for the end of senior year, our prom, senior barbeque, senior prank and skip day, we will never experience that in the normal way we should have. 

Now is not the time to feel sorry for ourselves, so let’s not forget the good times. The friends we made, the experiences we shared. The field trips, the games and matches we won. As cliché as it sounds, it was never about reaching the finish line that is graduation. It was always about experiences in this chapter in our journey of life. No matter what our new chapter entails, college, careers, service, we shared a common chapter. A chapter that began as freshmen in 2016 and ended in the revolutionary world that is 2020. As we conclude this chapter, and look forward to the next; it is our turn to write the next chapter in history. Those before us have laid the groundwork for us to be pioneers in our chosen paths. We must now go forth, and make sure that their work, toil and sacrifice meant something.