The Senior Year That Wasn’t: Chloe C.
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Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was
one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college
acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year
spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we
both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately,
for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by
COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of
the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to
salvage those memories.
Please introduce yourself.
My Name is Chloe C., and I am originally from Taipei, Taiwan. I am currently a senior at the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB).
Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally?
As someone who lives in Beijing, the
Coronavirus outbreak definitely has affected me personally. Not just
academically, but there are also inconveniences that come with it, such
as needing to be quarantined at home. Initially, I didn’t expect the
outbreak to last for so long, as the school hoped to resume
mid-February. However, it is clearly a lot more severe than what we all
expected, affecting students from all over the world, not just China.
Currently, I feel fortunate that none of my friends or family members
have been severely affected by the outbreak. Though, it is extremely
disappointing to miss out on the last semester of high school.
Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately, however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?
Since the outbreak, my friends and I have
been discussing how this semester should have been. We initially
imagined that we would go on a senior trip after graduation, Prom,
sports tournaments, etc. However, now all these are cancelled, we have
been trying to still rearrange events like senior trips. College
decisions also come out during this period of time, which is unfortunate
that we cannot share the excitement with one another in person. It is
certainly harder to keep in touch with each other due to the different
time zones we are in and the fact that we cannot meet each other in
person. Yet, methods like WeChat calls, Zoom and other social media are
helping us to interact with friends during this difficult time.
What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled?
Other than the whole-grade events, the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) sports tournament and events that I wished to hold had to be cancelled too. There’re many projects that I was working on before the outbreak that cannot be continued, such as my Zer0 environmental club.
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Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all? Are you able to take all the necessary High School Exit Exams, College Placement Tests, etc.
Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation?
Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience?
Anything else you’d like to share?
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Photos: Courtesy of Chloe C.
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