With all of the ups and downs we have had the past year, I can personally say that our senior year kind of sucks. We have started up sports, which is a good thing, but we don’t get a state series. We get to come to school, but some people don’t have the freedom to come to school because of personal health issues. Being quarantined is also another factor this year because of COVID-19, you could get sent home due to an exposure. Homecoming week, winter formal, junior and senior prom- all cancelled. It is hard for everyone, but as a senior, it hits harder. 

Countless nights in February of 2020, I spent my time looking for a junior year prom dress. I found the dress, and was just about order it online. I was excited for this prom because all of my class would be there, and it would be the year my class was on prom court. I was starting to look forward to senior year prom.  Not having a junior prom got me even more excited for senior prom. Not having a senior prom is disappointing, but it is keeping us safe. It just sucks for us not knowing how a prom is. It was so disappointing when we all got the news that we wouldn’t have a prom, and that if we did, it would just be our class. A lot of us have boyfriends and girlfriends that don’t go to school here, or who are in a different class. It would be sad to not have them as our dates, but making something out of a prom would be fun. Students last year had their own “fake prom” where they all got together and had one outside. Hopefully something like this will happen again this year. 

Starting up sports is exciting, but not having normal games and a state series is very sad. Regionals, sectionals, super sectionals, and state are always a blast weather you are playing, on the bench, or in the stands. Not having these makes this year boring, and we don’t have much to look forward to. 

Student sections are a big deal, especially here in Galena. Everyone comes together and dresses up in the same color, or same theme and all have a good time. This year, only two family members are allowed to go to the games. Student sections were always something I looked forward to. It’s sad and it makes the gym very quiet during the games. “There is no chanting, yelling, or cheers. Clapping from parents is all you hear,” Corrina Noble ‘21 explained. “You have to even make your own cheers and excitement.” 

The seniors are making the best of this situation and they are having their own “student section.” Senior Morgan McIntyre has been hosting them at her house and she said , “I decided that this would be a fun way for people to still watch the games, and I know student sections are something a lot of people look forward to, and it’s sad that we don’t have any.” 

Lastly, the big “Homecoming Week”- where everyone dresses up in fun outfits, play games all week, decorate hallways, a big football game, all topped off with a dance. Senior homecoming is the year your class is on court. You have a homecoming king and queen. Class of ‘21 has never been crowned king or queen for homecoming or prom. Junior prom is normally the year you get crowned for that dance. Royalty has never been a part of my senior class. 

I get that this year has been hard and that it sucks for everyone. All of the younger kids will hopefully have a prom next year, or a homecoming. They will get normal sports seasons, and they won’t have to worry about no student sections. I would never wish anything what we experienced upon anyone. The senior class never got any of their lasts with their classmates, and some of them can’t even come to school and risk the exposure, or even to get COVID-19. The class of ‘21 is drained, and upset with their senior year. But we are learning from it, and hoping freshman year of college will be different.