Why the Junior (2021) Class Of High School Was More Screwed Over by the CoronaVirus Than the Senior (2020) Class

This is a somewhat bias analysis of the end of this school year, as I am currently a junior in high school. While I understand that the senior class missed out on the promises of senior prom and the liberating walk across the stage to receive their well-deserved diploma; their school year practically ended in March! The juniors were the real pioneers! We had been battling the pressures of school work, college expectations, and the inevitable reality that we have to grow up all school year!

As for the freshmen and sophomores… hush. Please, don’t say anything.

Hear me out, the juniors had it WAY worse than the seniors!

Workload Transferring Online (no bueno):

It is a universal agreement that junior year is the absolute WORST year of highschool. The unforgiving amount of workload, whether you’re in AP or regular, is enough to make any badass bully want to cry. But due to the COVID-19 crisis, school assignments were transferred online. So, with this decision, you would think that the assignments would become easier!

HAHAHA, that’s funny.

I’m pretty sure all the instructors that teach the junior class set up a meeting before the Corona break to ensure that every junior continues to feel the pain of overbearing schoolwork. And they succeeded!

In a classroom setting, it is 10x easier to complete schoolwork on time because the academic environment allows us to remain on task. At home, we are way too comfortable or way too busy with family affairs to deal with the workload that was assigned to us. Not to mention that some of us are not fortunate enough to have internet access or a computer at home. For many of us, focusing on completing our schoolwork was NOT an easy feat.

And to all the parents reading this; no, the work was not for a completion grade!

To add on to the pressures of being a junior, our grades had to be in tip-top shape. As we all know, colleges tend to look at our grades from junior year, which is a big yikes! So, it was important for us to finish off strong no matter how exhausted, stressed, or annoyed we were.

But the seniors were marching to a different tune. I’m not saying that they did not have any work to do, because I’m sure they did, but it is incomparable to the number of assignments that were given to the junior class. Also, the seniors did not have to worry about colleges or their GPAs because many of them have already heard back from institutions and their eligibility for scholarships. The seniors were almost free sailing!

Summer Conservatories and College Visits:

Fine Art students and athletes, I’m looking at you. Many of us juniors had already made plans to attend a summer conservatory of some sort. Some of these conservatories are located at the college of our dreams! Seniors (if they were given the chance, of course) had already experienced the magic of traveling outside of their town, meeting other scholars, talking with admission advisors, and gaining more knowledge for their future field of study. And the juniors (myself included) wanted to undergo this adventure for themselves! But lo and behold, Miss Rona felt that the 2021 class did not deserve such treasures, so she shut that down real fast. In response, some conservatories moved to an online platform to provide a similar summer experience to those who were going to attend the conservatory in person. The problem with that is the online experience will not have the same lasting effect as the face-to-face experience. Personally, if I wanted to watch a 30-minute speech on the fundamentals of screenwriting, I would just look it up on YouTube instead of snoozing on a Zoom call with a bunch of people that I don’t know. No offense. While we appreciate this effort to give us a summer to remember, it’s only making us depressed.

On top of all that, guess who doesn’t get to attend any college visits this summer? The class of 2021! Some colleges have also transitioned online to give a virtual college visit to aspiring students. While this is nice, it takes away from the larger-than-life emotion that floods through our bodies when we step onto the campus of our dreams. The emotion that the seniors had the privilege of experiencing in their prior years of high school. Great. Awesome. Can we have that? Can we please have that?

Senior Alternatives:

We all know that the class of 2020 missed out on a lot (prom, graduation, senior banquets, etc.) because they won’t stop talking about it. But, once they stopped crying and complaining on their private Instagram stories, they realized that they could hold these memorable events in private! Who knew!

I mean, it seems to have been the better option if you ask me. Holding a private prom or whatever is less expensive, less crowded, less expensive-- I see no cons (unless you crave the attention of the entire school board)! The point is, the senior class didn’t truly lose anything because they could have either rescheduled the events or held them in a separate manner. Some of the seniors at my school decided to take a trip to a beach in Florida, while others went on cross-country road trips with close friends. So, from what I’m seeing, the class of 2020 got the memorable senior year that they were promised.

Not to mention that some social media users launched an “adopt a senior” charity fund where people can send certain amounts of money to donate a senior gift bag with letters and goodies inside. I had to write 5 synthesis essays in the course of three weeks, balance foreign language projects, and find my way around 4 new chemistry concepts! Where the heck is my goodie bag!

All jokes aside, the seniors managed to find their way around their sudden misfortunes caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. It goes to show that you really don’t need a prom or in-person graduations to experience the freedom of leaving high school and entering the real world. All you need is the people closest to you.

What did the seniors lose? Answer: almost nothing. Their school year was over by the time COVID-19 hit hard, and everything that they lost they made up for in field trips and get-togethers. Us juniors were the ones that really suffered. With the extra pressure of at homeschooling and canceled summer plans, the class of 2021 were practically begging for a break. The only reward that we got was the fact that it’s FINALLY OVER!

As for the freshmen and sophomores… please be quiet.