Difficult Year Brings New Beginnings

May is always a bittersweet month.

Spring has sprung, brain-dead students cram for finals and Advanced Placement exams (or don’t), and many look forward to the summer days lingering in the distance. But to make it into the safe zone of June, we must cross the finish line of yet another school year and say goodbye to the class schedules we’ve memorized to make room for the next one.

And while this is my last Letter from the Editor after my 3 years writing to you all, after countless hours hustling over assignments, articles, and applications, I am sad to see it all go. Despite power outages and neighbourhood fires, a pandemic and distance learning, it has been a senior year chock-full of growth.

It would have been nice to have a prom or ball, but I’m honestly just relieved to have made it through. Although I believe that the incoming seniors and juniors can have a prom of their own, with the end of the cataclysmic 2020-2021 school year, the fall will bring lots of unknowns. Rather than fear a future more chaotic than the present we’ve experienced, I say we forge ahead with hope rather than hesitation.

Here’s to the new beginnings. April showers have brought not just May flowers, but accessible vaccinations for students and adults alike, the plan to return to a fully in-person learning model next year, and relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions for fully vaccinated Americans.

So when you log off of your last Zoom class on May 27 or are presented with a diploma on May 28, take it not just as a medal of honor for surviving the most tumultuous time of the 21st century, but as a promise that better things are ahead.