When I walk down the hallways this year I tend to see only a few faces I recognize. This seems to be a new concept, in years prior it felt like not only did I recognize everyone I saw, but I knew at least one obscure fact about them as well. When thinking deeper about this I realized the senior class is the only grade to have an entire, in person school year together. While the class of 2023 did have the majority of their freshman year together, they missed out on the spring. I found the spring was an essential time for me of forming friendships, and also where I found my favorite sport. The class of 2024 on the other hand technically had their freshman year, but didn’t get the usual experience. The implementations of masks and social distancing made it harder to form friendships and branch out, making it an especially difficult transition for new students. Although these protocols were strenuous for the class of 2022, we were still the luckiest.

Although the impact of COVID-19 in 2020-21 wasn’t easy for the class of 2022, there were some advantages. For example, students who would have been capable of getting their ACT/SAT tests accomplished weren’t required to submit their scores, because most universities decided to extend their test optional policies for the 2022 graduates. Along with escaping some of the pressure of standardized tests, we were also able to have a slightly easier junior year in-school. Everyone always talks about how challenging junior year is, because kids are trying to ramp up their course schedule, boost their gpa, or make one last attempt to get more involved before having to begin crafting their resumes for colleges. As for the expected rigorous year, it turned out to be a lot more manageable because students were only taking four classes at a time, along with most teachers being a lot more lenient about using notes or minimizing the number of tests students had to take.

COVID-19 helped the class of 2022 bulk up their resumes before beginning to apply to colleges by making everything slightly more accessible. Kids were able to join more clubs because the majority of meetings were done online, thus requiring less of a time commitment. Although COVID-19 brought the class of 2022 many challenges it just made it possible for current seniors to get through what was supposed to be their most challenging academic year with slightly more ease. The pandemic created new challenges and had an impact on all the grades in different ways, but the transition from an abnormal school year to this year has been most forgiving to the class of 2022.