Their eyes were watching zoom; Senior year at a distance By Alexandra Fry ith the academic school year coming to a close, seniors have been carving out ways to celebrate the silver linings despite what was lost. With events and social contact relegated to the realm of technology, many struggle to balance mourning the loss of senior experiences with celebrating the next step of their futures. Justine McOuat was looking forward to her (now cancelled) final season of mountain biking. “Biking alone just isn’t the same. I need human contact!” Human contact now consists of scheduled zoom classes. Classes often overlapped before the implementation of a schedule. This made tardiness still possible. “In quarantine... a normal day W looks like getting up at 10:25-five minutes before zoom class-, and barely making the class on time... when I do make it on time.” McOuat. said McOuat reasons that one small benefit of online school is the money saved on gas and lunches. “I find myself being able to focus better in a [physical] school environment,” McOuat said. Motivation isn’t easy when everything is self directed, especially with stereotypical teenagers’ sleep schedules. “I know that for the past three and a half years, I’ve been looking forward to this specific semester,” she said, frustrated. She looks forward to the senior class having a goodbye. “Obviously, this is not the biggest issue at hand, but we can still feel cheated. Even though we know there are bigger issues happening in the world right now, our feelings are still valid.” Even activities that hypothetically work on digital platforms, are still lacking without the benefit of in person interaction, such as senior Sydney Thompson’s AP art class. “It is my favorite class this year, as it was last year, and it’s a very creative and interesting community.” Thomson said. Thomson mostly misses AP art nights, an after school event in which students work in an open studio. AP art nights fostered a creative environment for anyone interested, including Thomson who only got to attend a handful before the shelter
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