Senior Spring Events are Canceled

How are schools responding to the loss of these canceled senior spring events?

Graduations, proms, senior prank days, and much more were canceled or postponed due to quarantine caused by COVID 19. Graduation ceremonies prove to students that all of their hard work paid off. Many girls dream of having the perfect prom in an ideal dress. Senior prank days were planned months in advance, but now they are unable to happen. Whether someone is in high school or college senior year, it is a year that everyone remembers. Now due to social distancing laws and the shut down of schools, these memories will never be made.

Students across the country went to celebrate spring break, not knowing their school would be shut down when they returned. The news that school would now be taking place online was devastating to many students. When seniors left for spring break, they didn’t know it was going to be their last time being on the campus as a student.

Allyson Imo, a senior at Ursuline Academy, said, “I thought it was fake. They told us at the beginning of spring break; they weren’t planning on doing online schooling. When I got the email, I was thinking it was going to be a week max. When I realized this was real, I was agitated. The emotions flooded in of what I was missing. We don’t get the ending that we planned we were going to.”

Many rules have been put in place that restricts anyone, let alone a full graduating class to celebrate. Receiving a diploma in the mail is a lot different than getting on stage. During the beginning of COVID 19, when everything was new, school leaders didn’t know when this would end, so some made a fast and safe decision, like the President of Saint Louis University Fred Pestello. On April 2nd, 2020, 3 weeks after school was moved online, and President Pestello sent out an email regarding commencement plans. Pestello said, “I want to share a video, in which I announce our decision to postpone the May commencement ceremonies in St. Louis and Madrid.” He also shared how he felt about this decision. He said, “No one loves commencement more than I do. I am heartbroken to have to postpone this opportunity to witness one of the most joyous days for our graduates and their families.”

Lauren Mershon, a Senior at SLU, said, “Overall I am feeling bittersweet about it. This time has been so valuable in regard to spending quality time with loved ones while at home. It’s been years since we’ve been forced to be under the same roof for an extended period of time and we probably won’t ever get this opportunity again. On the flip side, my heart is broken that my college experience was cut short. I never got closure, nor any goodbyes. It still doesn’t feel real to me.”

Ursuline Academy had a different approach to this situation. The President, Peggy Slater said, “I don’t know exactly what we are going to do or when we are going to do it, but I know I am not sending those girls out into the world without walking across our stage.”

Imo said, “They most definitely did the best they could, but you could tell that the administration was not set up to do this.”

Mershon said, “The school I believe handled it the best they could I can’t imagine being in that position and being responsible for so many moving parts. However, they haven’t seemed to make seniors feel appreciated in my opinion. Maybe I am selfish though.”