Dear Class of 2020,
This is not how we wanted it to end.
I’m sure a lot of us doubted it even as a possibility. How could we have predicted that coronavirus would have spread so quickly? That it would impact so many people in every corner of the world?
I certainly wasn’t prepared. Just a couple weeks ago I made a casual joke about the hoarding and the impending apocalypse. A couple weeks before that I remember reassuring myself that I was “totally ready to graduate and move on to the next chapter of my life.”
The irony, right?
Fast forward to the present, where everything we were looking forward to—big games, student showcases, spring fest, senior week events, late night shenanigans with our friends—has been canceled. Our senior year was brutally dismantled right before its peak, and there was nothing any of us could do to stop it.
We left for spring break not knowing that we wouldn’t be able to return. That we had spent our last night in the dorms. That we had attended our last in-person classes (maybe ever). That our internships would soon be moved online or terminated completely. That the blood, sweat, and tears we spent preparing for one more game, one more meet, one more performance, one more art show, one more push before our college experience is over would be brushed aside by an invisible enemy. That our “see you next week” to our classmates and friends would be extended to an actual goodbye for the foreseeable future.
And we do know that this response is what’s best for everyone, given the situation. The last thing we’d want is to risk an outbreak at school or to spread the virus among our family and friends. We want to protect the older members of our community and those with compromised immune systems. We want to do what we can to lessen the burden of doctors and nurses. We want to help flatten the curve.
And yet, the disintegration of our final days at Naz has left a very noticeable gap in our plans for the future. Everyone is struggling in different ways right now, but that doesn’t invalidate how you are feeling about your personal situation.
It’s okay to mourn the stolen time for living in a tight-knit community with your favorite people. It’s okay to feel angry that the opportunity to celebrate our four-year journey was ripped away. It’s okay to be frustrated that people still aren’t staying at home. It’s okay to be overwhelmed by anxiety about the uncertainty that lies before us.
You are not being selfish for grieving over what you have lost.
This isn’t the end that we wanted, but this pandemic is one more twist in our lives’ journeys. For each of us, life so far has been full of bumps in the road and unexpected curves, and we have made it this far—you have made it this far.
This may feel like a complete uprooting of your path in life, and we may not get the opportunity to get closure through the traditional last days and senior week. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a “good goodbye” to college life.
With all the nothing currently going on, set some time aside to check in with yourself and just reflect on how far you’ve come and how your experiences at Naz have changed you. Because you’re a lot more resilient than you may think. In the past four years, you have grown into a new person, and I hope that you are proud of that growth. All that change you’ve embraced, all the relationships you’ve built, all that you’ve accomplished cannot be erased by a virus. You deserve to celebrate that in some way.
I’m devastated about leaving behind all the good I’ve experienced at Naz, but looking back to appreciate those good things has given me a sense of peace about the situation. This isn’t the end I had hoped for, but I’m lucky in many other ways.
I hope that you can all find some closure and peace as well. And I still have my fingers crossed that we’ll get to wear our caps and gowns in July.
But for now, remember that you are not alone in this. You have a lot of people in different corners of your life who care about you and want to support you and lift you up.
We are in this together. Keep spreading compassion and positivity in whatever ways you can manage. We are in this together — as a class, as a Nazareth community, as a country, as a world. Showing patience and compassion for others will go a long way in a time of crisis. It can be as simple as smiling at the person ringing you up at the grocery store or reaching out to FaceTime your friends even if you can’t meet up. Heck, even just tagging somebody’s instagram to draw a carrot in their story can make another person’s day a tiny bit better. Every good act counts.
Take care of yourselves. Stay healthy. Stay safe. Stay kind.
Keep flying,
Donovan Enriquez
Class of 2020
