As I was just about to enter the final quarter of my time at Canisius, disaster struck with the outbreak of Covid-19. All classes were suspended and transferred to online instruction only until after Easter.

As a senior, this is not at all how I expected I’d be spending some of my final weeks at CHS. I expected my classmates and I would be continuing the traditions established by the senior classes of years prior. I will certainly miss coming to school and seeing my friends daily. Looking ahead, I was most excited for Senior Prom and the Senior Cookout, which were set to happen in the coming month or so, but now very likely won’t happen at all.

Instead of enjoying my final moments of high school as it comes to a close, I am inside, taking care of work and only leaving the house to exercise. It feels like we have so many options to entertain ourselves but simultaneously, nothing is entertaining. Cabin fever is beginning to set in.

Online classes are probably not ideal for anyone, but thanks to technology I’m continuing to see my classmates although it feels foreign and disconnected since we’re not at school together. And, like many of my fellow seniors, I realize that no virtual connection can take the place of the once-in-our-lifetime events and traditions we’ve been anticipating for four years that are now gone because of an ill-timed virus.

Of course missing out on senior traditions is, in the bigger picture, a minor casualty of the coronavirus, and my friends and I are certainly willing to do what we can to prevent the spread of this health crisis. I am also looking to the future and anticipating college in the fall, but I’m still holding out some hope that the coronavirus will pass before more of our senior year traditions are dismissed. Canisius High School has been our home, and this is not the way we want to leave.