Jiseon Lee

Senior Trip: Gone. Senior Field Day: Gone. Multicultural Day: Gone. Prom: Gone. Graduation: Gone. Despite all of these things (and more) that my class and I have lost due to the COVID-19, I felt that this virus has also impacted me in other ways. This virus has helped me to realize all of the things I took for granted, especially during my senior year. Yes, of course I am very upset that my fellow classmates and I lost our senior privileges and all of the fun events that we have been looking forward to the past four years of our highschool journey. However, I have learned that there are so many people out there who are in a worse position than where I am. There are people out there who are losing loved ones, losing jobs, and even losing their lives. This time of social distancing has also impacted me by teaching me to be grateful for what I have. I did not realize how grateful I should have been to have the privilege to wake up and go to school everyday, hangout with friends, get groceries without having to wear masks, and being limited to our resources. I always thought that having online classes would be so much better than having to physically get up for school and make it to classes on time. But what I did not realize was everything else that I would also be losing along with it. I lost all of the memories I could have made with my friends: getting ready for prom, signing yearbooks, and walking down the aisles of Temple University and receiving our diplomas during our graduation day. Although it is not 1000% certain that we will not be having graduation, I can’t help but wonder if it is really going to happen. A couple months ago today, I would not have even imagined that this would have happened to us. This was nowhere in my list of worries. But now it is. Now I am sitting here, worrying about things that I wouldn’t have been worried about back then and worried about things that I am losing that I took for granted. Right now, I am sure there are many other seniors who are also in grief, hoping this virus would quickly pass away. It has impacted all of us negatively, but has impacted us in ways we couldn’t have imagined. It has taught me a lesson.