Two Seniors Write “When…” Poems About (a COVID) Senior Year

Two+Seniors+Write+When...+Poems+About+%28a+COVID%29+Senior+Year

by Maya Gaines

When you are stuck by a pandemic that will only negatively impact the entirety of your senior year;

when you are no longer able to participate in the same normalities a teenager is supposed to be part of when growing up;

when you are no longer able to participate in sports, the one thing you look forward to throughout the school year;

when you are controlled by an administration that monitors and controls your weekly and daily activities, and continuously puts fear into the entire student body to decrease the number of cases in the school, but by doing so only increases cases of seemingly bad mental health, while ignoring student voices until the students publicize their concerns;

when you now have your only prom under a tent in the parking lot of your school’s gym with the 45 other students, most of which won’t even show;

when you aren’t even allowed to see a few of your friends outside of school without being policed by an administration whom neglected to follow up on the crucial details;

when you turn the corner into the main hallway with blank white walls that hide any expression, feeling as though you are walking through an airport terminal;

when you struggle to make it through the day without shedding a single tear;

when you are stripped of any hope that the next couple months will turn back to normal and you will finally get to live out the final months of your high school experience the way you are supposed to;

–then you will understand why us students feel the need to stand up to the powers that strip us of any freedom we are supposed to have.


by anonymous

When you have seen the disappointing communication from higher powers get in the way of students before covid-19;

when you have witnessed inaction and lack of thought for student decisions;

when you have endured 4 years of this communication (or lack of) to make you boiling with anger;

when you see how the communication has now severely affected how school life is;

when you have seen your entire senior year ruined before it has even begun;

when you start to lose motivation for wanting to be at school anymore;

when you see how bleak and boring life has become;

when you see people not sympathize or think of the students when making decisions;

when you can’t do anything despite your grade being the result for so many of the schools successes; such as sports, clubs, spirit, leadership;

when you aren’t valued as they say you are;

–then you can imagine our frustration.

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash