FAITH YOUNG
GREATER WESTFIELD – With the announcement this week that K-12 school buildings will stay closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year due to COVID-19, many families are wondering what that means for the Class of 2020.
The end of a student’s senior year is typically marked with all the pomp and circumstance of prom, class nights, senior banquets and more, all culminating in commencement exercises.
For the Class of 2020, those things will not happen, at least not in any typical fashion.
Westfield Public Schools Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski said this weighs heavily on his mind as he plans for the remainder of the year.
“We’re looking into online options, but there are technical limitations,” he said. “I feel hopeful that we will be able to do something later in the summer to recognize graduates.”
Czaporowski said right now, he is not sure what that recognition would look like, but he is working on celebrating the Class of 2020 in some form.
“I want to reassure everyone that we are looking at all our options to recognize graduation,” Czaporowski said.
Students and their families reacted to the news this week, expressing sadness at losing out on many senior-related activities.
“I have many mixed emotions on the announcement that Governor Baker made today,” said Westfield Technical Academy Senior Ashley Salvini on Tuesday. “Yes, I understand that it is for the health and safety of all of us in the state, but us seniors have worked a long 12 years for this moment. Many of us seniors were so looking forward to getting all dressed up for our senior proms. Most importantly we were all looking forward to have the chance to have the graduation ceremony that we have all been looking forward to since the beginning of freshman year.”
Salvini, of Westfield, said she feels like her year ended last month.
“I wish my senior year didn’t have to end on March 13, 2020, but I can’t control things that are out of my hands. I still hope that Superintendent Czaporowski will still have a graduation for WHS and WTA Seniors. Only time will tell in this situation,” Salvini said, adding “I hope everyone stays home and listen to health officials.”
Fellow WTA student Aynsley Davidson, of Southwick, said the announcement was not a surprise.
“Honestly, I knew we probably weren’t going to return to school. But now that it’s official, it is somewhat disheartening that this is how it has to end,” she said. “As far as I am aware, we will eventually have a graduation ceremony, but prom has been cancelled officially. I hope that the class of 2020 will get the day that we’ve been working towards for most of our young lives.”
Davidson said she and a group of her friends are having what they call a “mini prom” when quarantine is over. “In the end, I’m grateful that we are getting the chance to finish, even if it’s unconventional,” she said.
Southwick Regional High School senior Elly Hepburn said she and her friends had no idea their year would end this way.
“On behalf of my classmates, I can confidently say that no one was prepared for that to be the last time we stepped foot in that high school building, leaving the making of more memories to be left unknown, such as senior pranks, prom, graduation and all around good times with friends and staff,” said Hepburn, a Granville resident.
She said when they left school, it “was both exciting and confusing not knowing when we would return to a ‘normal’ classroom basis.”
Hepburn said she wished she knew it would be her last day inside the school.
“Knowing now, that it would have been our last day of officially being the seniors of the school, is weirdly heartbreaking,” she said. “I was never really planning on going to the prom, as I didn’t last year, but I’m upset that the opportunity feels like it has been taken away from me. Had I known that would have been my last day, I definitely would have said goodbye to my amazing teachers and friends who pushed me through the last eight months of my high school career. This is a very confusing and sad time for my classmates, and I’m sure all of the hardworking seniors around Massachusetts, but The Class of 2020 will surely not be forgotten.”
MORGAN DANEK
Westfield Technical Academy student Morgan Danek said online learning is an adjustment.
“I am handling online schooling well. I find that it is actually easier than in-school learning,” said Danek. “I used to do online schooling so I find the work easier for my brain to work through while not learning in school. Unfortunately, with online schooling, it makes it easier to procrastinate or forget about assignments because the reminders and resources of school aren’t as easily accessible.”
While Danek is doing well academically at home, she does miss finishing her senior year with classmates.
“Upon hearing that I wouldn’t be going back to school for the rest of the year, it was really upsetting,” she said. “Even before this, when our senior trip was canceled, it was upsetting. I’ve been counting down the days until our senior prom, our picnic, graduation, everything. I’d been waiting since my freshman year to do these things.”
Danek is hopeful there will be some sort of celebration to recognize the Class of 2020.
“I hope that we can still have graduation, whether it be in July or even during the summer. I want to graduate like all of the other classes and throw up my cap in the air next to the people I’ve spent the last four years with and celebrate all of our accomplishments together,” said Danek, who will be attending the College of Saint Rose in Albany, pursuing a a degree in Forensic Science.
Danek feels passionately that everyone should adhere to orders to stay apart.
“People still continue to go out against the warnings made by the CDC and continue to put other lives in danger. There are people dying every day from this virus and it is a bigger deal than what people are making it out to be,” she said. “We as a city and a country need to take the precautions and be proactive to stay healthy and keep everyone safe so that we can go out and enjoy our summer, instead of risking it to the point where we are trapped inside for the rest of 2020. As an essential worker in the healthcare field who is required to go out, seeing people who CHOOSE to go out in really upsetting. I wish I could be at home, instead of putting myself and those who live with me in danger. Working during this is terrible but if people stopped being, for lack of a better word, selfish, this would all get resolved much quicker.”
Faith Young, of Westfield, agreed that online learning is “less challenging” for her than traditional learning.
“Because we are given a due date and an assignment but not anything more, it’s more of a self-paced environment which I personally find easier than in school learning,” she said. “The hassles of not having a teacher on hand at all times, not having classmates to confer with, and the inability to experience hands on learning as members of the technical school are definitely major downfalls.”
Young said the cancellation of the fun senior activities “feels like a punch in the face. Us seniors have waited our whole lives to participate in these activities and do the traditional senior things and now it’s all been taken from us. The guarantee of a graduation makes it hurt a little less, but not by much.”
Young hopes that whatever form graduation takes, it has the same feel.
“I hope when we get to graduation, it’s no different then what it would be like normally,” said Young. “I still want to walk with me friends, throw up our caps, and be handed my diploma like the classes before me.”
Young will be attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to pursue a degree in aeronautical engineering and had hoped to end the year with fun with friends before entering the rigorous program. She said she hopes people take the pandemic seriously.
“I feel that many people, not just in Westfield but in the country as a whole, are not taking the pandemic seriously. I see a lot of people on social media who are still hanging out with their friends regardless of the warnings given about social distancing. Even adults pass it off as a hoax or don’t think it’s anything to shut down over,” she said. “But they don’t realize that their refusal to cooperate with the quarantine affects more than just them. These people are the reason the class of 2020 no longer has a senior year. As an essential worker, I’m out on the frontlines working with the public and putting myself in danger almost every day. For people to outright ignore the warnings not only do they ruin my senior year, but they also put my life at risk. I am deeply saddened but I am also deeply angered about the situation and the response to it.”
Students are not the only ones feeling the strain of a shortened senior year. Many parents are finding it a difficult time.
“Speaking as a senior parent, I am so sad for all the seniors,” said Stacey Perlmutter, of Westfield. “Each and every one of them worked so hard to get here. The last few months are supposed to be the best as they hang out with their friends experiencing all the fun things about the end of senior year. They really can’t even say goodbye to favorite teachers and friends. I truly hope the seniors can participate in some kind of graduation exercise to receive their hard-earned diploma.”
