Endings are always weird but the ending of this school year takes the crown.
Amidst one of the more eventful years in recent memory, it can be easy for many seniors like myself to feel cheated out of their final year of school. When I transfered to Simpson last year, I had the perfect plan. My classes were laid out for the next two years and the bachelor's degree at the end of the tunnel felt like it would be a cherry on top of a time of fun and growth. Then, Covid-19 decided that those plans should change.
My major, which relies heavily on face to face interaction, had to switch to an online curriculum overnight. Comfortable meals with all of my friends at the table turned into sitting in my room with a styrofoam box at my desk. Giving presentations to my peers and adapting to their feedback on the fly turned into asynchronous writing assignments and a monthly zoom call. A season of swimming went from having countless opportunities to compete to hoping for a single meet to come along and break the monotony of staring at a black line in the YMCA pool. Through all the change I have realized that none of this was going to go away as quickly as it came, so what is there left to do?
Well fellow seniors I am here to tell you that you can still make the most out of your final hours as a redhawk and here is how: consistent effort towards creativity.
As much as it may seem like Covid put a “Do not Resuscitate” tag on all of your favorite things, it really just hid those things behind a gauntlet of inconvenient obstacles. Take spending time with friends as an example. Pre-Covid, this simple part of our lives was as easy as going to the next dorm over and taking a seat or grabbing a bite to eat in the Caf with five of your best buddies. In this new normal though, it is not so simple but it's also not impossible. All you have to do is put a little more effort into finding creative ways to get together with your favorite people. Find some space in the union and play some charades. Drive up to Lassen and find a hike. Break out the spikeball net and go wild. The possibilities are as endless as your creativity is.
As you sing your academic swan song don’t let anything, Covid especially, get in the way of you making memories that will last forever. Keep an eye out in the coming issues of the Slate for ways that you can look past the countless inconvenient obstacles that stand in the way of a perfect senior year.