Area High School Seniors Reflect on Spending Final Months At Home

UNDATED -- While spring is typically an exciting time for high school seniors, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken the wind out of their sails.

Students have been out of the classroom since March 13th and earlier this month found out they would continue with distance learning for the rest of the year.

Gavin Fuchs goes to Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. He says the shift from learning in the classroom to learning online was an adjustment.

The first two weeks when the first canceled school, we had no idea what was going to happen. But it gets easier each week to get into a routine of distance learning and know this is how it's going to be.

Fuchs says while it has gotten easier it doesn't replace going to school.

As the calendar continues to turn, many seniors are started to feel the reality of missing some those special senior moments.

Sauk Rapids-Rice student Ally O'Brien says like many of her peers, she was looking forward to senior prom. So her her family stepped up.

My family threw an at-home prom and that was really cool. I know a bunch of other kids from our school did that.

Even with missing out on those experiences, the hardest pill to swallow is the uncertainty surrounding a graduation ceremony.

Breanna Westby is the 2020 class president for Sauk Rapids-Rice. She says graduating from high school is a little more personal for her family, and given the circumstances feels a little incomplete.

I'm going to be the first person in my immediate family to graduate and so senior year was a huge milestone for my family. Now it doesn't feel like I reached it as I can be there physically.

Students says they understand each school district is working hard into finding a way to hold a graduation ceremony.

In the meantime, the community has come out showing support for their beloved high school seniors, which Apollo High School's Nick Blommel says is appreciative.

The graduation problem doesn't seem like a huge deal given everything else surround the coronavirus. But it's nice for them to see that for us it is a big deal and realize the situation we are in because of it.

Even though the end of the year may not have been what high school seniors expected back in September, many students like Sartell's Libby Crandall are just thankful for the memories they did make.

Playing my senior year of basketball I think that was one of my highlights. Playing the sport I love with all of my friends and I'm just glad that experience wasn't taken away from me from this pandemic.

At this point it is too early to tell if distance learning will continue or if students will be back in the classroom to start the 2020-2021 school year.