Dover has faced weird challenges before. You may remember the infamous power outage that shut school down for the day and relocated finals last May. However, with the global pandemic that’s sweeping the nation, this closure is unprecedented for Dover.

COVID-19, or coronavirus as it’s most commonly referred to, has shut down the majority of schools across the country, including ours. Many colleges are shut down for the rest of the year and some states have shut down public schooling for the rest of the year.

This closure is certainly taking a toll on everyone. For starters, we’re all quarantined in our houses, and we’re not allowed to leave. This is causing a lot of emotional distress to social people, such as myself, who thrive off of social interaction. I am already witnessing students, including myself, fall into the summer slump, and it’s only been three official days of this quarantine.

On the other hand, this closure isn’t a vacation to me. I’m a senior, and this is impacting everything that I worked hard for thirteen years for. It’s valuable time that I’m losing to see my friends one last time. It’s my last time to play in band, go to club and organization events, or play in high school sports. It’s my last few months of truly being a kid until I’m out into the unknown. I waited thirteen years to get my five seconds of fame and walk across the stage at graduation, and now that’s an uncertainty.

If you ask any senior, I’m sure the majority of them will feel the same way I do. We’ve been ready for graduation, we’ve been counting down the days, but now, we’re sad. We don’t know what’s going to come out of the end of our senior year. We could’ve walked the halls one last time. We could’ve already had our final lunch with our friends, said our final goodbyes to our teachers, or worn our sports uniforms one last time, and not even known it. It’s a different feeling to be robbed of your senior year. I just hope that the world can get over this disaster, people can get back on their feet, and life can start to become normal again. I hope I can go back to school one last time.