Add another layer of uncertainty: on top of whether or not 2020 college freshmen will be accepted at the university or college of their choice, the U.S. is wondering whether campuses will be open at all. The Keys Weekly reached out to three seniors to ask about their year, their plans and their thoughts.
Delaina Ross
Marathon High School
GPA: 3.8
“My plan has stayed the same. I am going to the St. Petersburg campus of University of South Florida next year,” Ross said. The senior at Marathon High School is interested in pursuing a degree in marine science or sustainability. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to start classes at the campus next fall and won’t have to do a semester online first. I want to move into the dorm. … I guess we’re just playing it by ear.” For Ross, the pandemic has paused all of the diving trips she had planned to do with friends. Oh, and they were also designing new “coral trees” to grow coral fragments and that experiment has been put on hold, too.
Gabriel Rodriguez
Key West High School
GPA: 3.3
“Because of the coronavirus, I am planning on a gap year to make money and save,” Rodriguez said. His unconventional approach to the pandemic is reflected in his choice of study: theater and music. He’s already sent an audition tape to the New World School of the Arts, but said he’ll resubmit for the 2021-22 school year. The actor and musician will stay in Key West where “rent” is free and head off next year. He’s disappointed by the cancellations that have changed the makeup of his senior year, yet understanding. “There’s a lot of things going on in the world right now; I can’t justify being upset though, because I’m home, I’m safe, I’ve got a family and we’re all healthy.”
Steelman Nicoletti
Coral Shores High School
GPA: 3.7
“I’m a kid who loves school, but is not that good at school work,” said senior Steelman “The Bike Guy” Nicoletti. Not having peers and teachers to interact with in person has been particularly hard, he said. So he’s looking forward to being a part of a very small freshman class (40 students) at the Panama City branch of Florida State University. He plans to get an undergraduate degree in molecular biology and go on to study genetics and gene therapy. He also laments the end of his bike program, collecting used bicycles and taking them to a Rotary Club on the mainland for shipment to Africa. “I’m a little sad that I don’t get to participate in that any more.”
