Added on April 13, 2020  Marsha Chartrand

Senior class of 2020–missing the “Lasts”

It’s been a strange couple of months for the Class of 2020. And the ones ahead promise to be equally challenging.

Hollie Kolcz, guidance counselor at Manchester High School, should be experiencing her busiest time of year right now. But instead of her office bustling with students printing and submitting their scholarship applications, they are all being submitted electronically. Teachers, also, are submitting their recommendations remotely.

“We had already extended the deadline from March 27 to April 9, thinking we would be back in school by that time,” she says. “But since that’s not the case, we’ve had to adjust our plans.” She has made arrangements with each of the local scholarship committees to mail the applications or deliver them personally.

“One community organization offered a late-breaking opportunity, where seniors wrote an essay about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their senior year,” she says. “I’m telling you … those are tough to read. They are heartbreaking, but they also have an unmistakable tone of resiliency. They are trying to make the best out of this situation.

“Instead of focusing on all the things that they have lost, they are finding things for which they feel thankful. Several talk about falling back in love with hobbies that they didn’t have time for,  because of their busy high school lives. They enjoy spending time with their family. They are learning new things like sewing and Sodoku. Many talk about how this is making them understand how strong they really are, and how little they actually need.”

While Kolcz has already sacrificed a few boxes of Kleenex over the Class of 2020, she probably has a few more of them stashed in her storage closet. The traditional “lasts” that these kids are missing hit her hard as well.

When the seniors walked out the door for the last time on March 13, none of them knew it would be their last day of high school ever.

Senior Gibson Pope said, “There are so many things I missed out on or wish I would’ve done before my last day in high school!”

Besides the obvious “big things,” like senior prom and graduation, it’s the smaller last things that she knows she is going to miss out on.

“It’s decision day, where all the seniors proudly present where they will be continuing their lives,” she said. “It’s senior skip day, which is talked about since beginning high school, that we will never get the chance to make up. Another thing I know many students look forward to is the senior walk-through, where we get to say our goodbyes to old teachers, classmates, and friends.

“It’s hard, because we never really got to say goodbye … it’s almost like we’re just expected to move on with our lives.”

A letter from High School Principal Eric McCalla to parents and families of seniors, sent out on April 9, included three potential dates for a traditional graduation ceremony: May 31 (original date according to school calendar), June 19, or August 2. “Other than graduation, all spring events are indefinitely postponed,” it says. So seniors won’t be deprived of a graduation ceremony, but there may not be a prom, a senior walk-through, honors night, or many other events that students look forward to throughout their high school years.

No decisions have been made on most of these events, although some staff are hoping to make some of the events happen in one way or another, and parents and students will receive updates as these important determinations transpire.

“This is a huge transition for our class and although I am excited to be continuing my education, it’s difficult … I never got closure from the last 13 years of my life,” Gibson said. “There may be some kids that I’ve spent the majority of my life with that I will never see again; and while COVID-19 has (in some ways) torn us apart, I feel in a way it brought us together through our struggle.

“I am thankful to be apart of such an amazing graduating class and wish our days had not been cut so short.”

Some of the major events, Kolcz said, although they’re not strictly “her call,” she and other staff members will work hard and “do everything in our power to make sure these students are recognized and celebrated.”

“We will just have to figure out a creative way to make them happen,” she says.

One creative way was a Zoom class meeting last Wednesday, in which most of the seniors participated. ”

“I’ve heard from many of the seniors,” she said. “I’ve had a few single Zoom meetings with kids just because they wanted to check in. I think they really all do miss school. And I know school misses them. They are such a great group of humans.”