March 2020: a moment when everyone’s lives changed, the novel coronavirus spread to all parts of Earth leading to a worldwide pandemic. The unexpected took us all by storm, even more so, taking the lives of millions of innocent people. Schools and businesses were forced to shut down, millions were without jobs, and hospitals were quickly overcrowded.
At the time, I was a junior at Marathon High School, excited about spring break just around the corner. I didn’t know that this would be the longest spring break I would ever have. A few months passed and virtual learning was put in place for all Florida students. These final weeks of junior year were the hardest, not only for me, but for my entire class as a whole. Adjusting to learning online was not an easy task; attending live meetings and keeping up on classwork was mentally exhausting for many of my classmates and me. At many times there was a feeling of defeat in the learning world and led some of us to almost give up completely.
(Although it was an awkward way to end our junior year of highschool, this situation was not entirely new for the class of 2021. In 2017, Hurricane Irma struck the Florida Keys, cutting our freshman year almost in half, leaving many of my peers without homes, clothes, etc.)
Our senior year has been in complete chaos with the pandemic still present. As “normal” school resumed, our class was put on an “A/B” schedule, which meant a group of students would attend in-person classes on their given A or B day, followed by a day of virtual learning at home. Many events were canceled or changed beyond recognition, like grad bash, prom and homecoming. It made my class lose all sense of hope on enjoying our final year at Marathon. Not going to lie. It hurts. Our senior year was taken away from us. I can’t even imagine all the fun memories that we missed out on.
But we have come together as a class and created a sense of unity that we are still here for each other, even though we didn’t get to see each other as often as we used to. Some takeaways from our final year taught us to not take life for granted, stay devoted and overcome obstacles. The struggles have made a graduating class that is up for anything that comes our way. Even though our senior year wasn’t as planned, the class of 2021 still made the best of what we had and the many valuable lessons we learned along the way.
— Marison Chavala graduates on May 27. She intends to enroll at the College of the Florida Keys and study to be a nurse.
