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CONTRIBUTED BY ANDREW SMITH

Usually, this time of year would be a very exciting one for high school seniors. The excitement and preparations for prom would be at an all-time high, and the finish line of graduation would be within reach. 

However, as everyone knows, that is not happening right now, as schools across the country have been shut down for the year, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For seniors, their years of hard work feel unrewarded.

Among those seniors is Hampton High School student Bree Ward. Ward will be attending ETSU in the fall and plans to study psychology.

After finding out schools would be closed for the remainder of the semester, Ward said, “I was sad, I didn’t expect my senior year to end so soon, especially under these circumstances.

“But, I keep in mind that it’s a part of history and I get to say coronavirus impacted me like that.”

Ward also wanted to tell the Class of 2020, “Keep your head up, just because things ended sadly doesn’t mean we won’t achieve great things from it!”

Another Hampton senior that was affected is Allyson Lynch.

Lynch is going to attend Northeast State and is seeking a nursing degree after high school. Lynch said, “The thing I’ll miss the most from what was missed this school year is probably not being able to cheer on our boys at state.”

Lynch added, “I feel like I’m missing out on some of the most important experiences of senior year. Not being able to dress up and go to prom and have fun with friends, and not being able to walk across the stage and receive your diploma is extremely sad and frustrating.”

“We’re all in this together,” Lynch tells the senior class. “Don’t let the fact that our senior year got cut short bring you down. There’s still so much ahead of us and so many more memories to be made.

“We may not have gotten graduation, but we still made it!”