I don’t know about you…

The last class standing with one normal year, and, from my senior eyes, freshman year now feels like a blur. It seems so distant. It sounds cliche, but high school changed after March, 2020. Duh, Jeremy that is a given — but, more than just the fact that mask mandates have come and gone. And come and gone…again. High school has shifted beyond the obvious online-school-woes and the unnecessarily-controversial decision to vax or not. School does not feel like school anymore.

Even to this day, a late night in April, 2022, I do not feel like a true Raptor anymore. We have finally gotten our assemblies back, but it seems like most students do not fully understand them. School spirit has gone out the window as swabs entered our noses. I remember the class of ‘20, and even ‘21, so vividly. They were rambunctious and filled stadiums with What is a Raptor. Yet, the pandemic changed all of that and this year’s senior’s outlook on high school.  

“I think, especially with senior year, I’ve just decided to go all out. Knowing that for the past two years that we haven’t really had time to feel the spirit of things, it makes this year even more important to do even more,” Katelyn Urbanski said. “I just want to show underclassmen you can have so much fun and there’s so much potential with the spirit in high school for four years.” Like Urbanski, many seniors felt a new sense of community getting back into The Nest.

“I think, on one hand, [Covid] kind of made us appreciate the value of what we do as a community more. Since we had those years where we were very isolated and not really connected as a school, you can tell this year that people want to be part of that community,” Tess Rosen said. “When we came back there was a higher participation rate in events and I think that really shows how desperate people are to be part of that community again.”

Yet, the class feels divided; those whose spirit was suppressed for too long in quarantine or those whose Raptor pride flame fizzled out. Those who sat front row at the last few assemblies. Or those who dipped out after the second period attendance. 

“I honestly think it’s split. I think a lot of people kind of lost it all during Covid, but there’s still some people, like me, who are like, ‘let’s get back into it,’” Urbanski said.Deciding which half each individual senior falls under is a subconscious decision. 

Along with this decision, seniors had the difficult task this year of going head first into their various activities. Urbanski is theatre president. Tess is involved in every honor society imaginable, among a plethora of other activities. And Braden Miller is committed to a D1 school for football, but has some advice for incoming seniors and underclassmen. 

“The transition to high school sports has been relatively easy. Coaches here are always very welcoming, especially football coaches. I’m gonna go to Michigan State to play football there. I’m not sure what I want to major in, but I’ll figure it out when I’m there,” Miller said. “To the other classes: I’d say to just try, honestly. High school is not that terrible. It’s not very difficult, unless you make it insanely difficult on yourself. So I would just say just try.”

Trying is possibly the most difficult part of high school. Trying in the things that you really just do not care about. The class of ‘22 now gets to worry about the things that they care about; and that they are not split on.