Attending West Chester University

As a senior at Central Bucks South, not once did I ever imagine these days to be my final days at South. It didn’t cross my mind until too late when I walked out on March 12th, 2020, that that might be my last day at CB South.

I thought I had more time.

Growing up, I watched older cousins and friends graduate and have their senior year, and I couldn’t wait for my turn. This was my last year in high school before the real world. I sat there and wondered “Why me?” and thought over and over that this isn’t fair; I waited 12 years. I worked hours on end over desks for 12 years of my life, just for this year. This was supposed to be our year, and yet it was being ripped away from us, and all we could do is sit and watch. I sat there looking at my senior prom dress heartbroken at the fact I could possibly never wear it, or wear West Chester University apparel on May 1st and sign the poster, or have my entire family watch me walk across the stage to receive my diploma, or even visit my elementary school teachers in my cap and gown to show them I made it, was heartbreaking, especially because some family members have a slim chance of being around to see me graduate college. This was their chance too.

It felt like a milestone we all deserved to reach but didn’t know if we could. I thought about this and realized that even though all of this was so unclear, and no amount of crying or anger could change the circumstances, I decided to reminisce on the good parts of CB South. The chance I got to attend Sheppard Project, all the homecomings, Junior Prom, and all the crazy football games and hockey games where our student section even got yelled for being too loud.

We created a family.

And while I think about all of that, I’m going to steal some thunder from Winnie the Pooh and think “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?” I am so beyond lucky to have attended CB South, and met all the great faculty and staff, especially the students. So as we move through these unprecedented days, I just think to myself that even though this is probably the toughest thing we will ever have to go through, like muscle, when torn, we only come back stronger. This will teach us the most valuable lessons of our life that we will carry forever.

So even though this is not how anyone expected our senior year to go, it’s still our year, and the class of 2020 will forever be one big family, and not even a global pandemic can ever take that away from us.