Quarantine
Everyone has a different idea on how everyone else is handling it because, let’s face it — we’ve got the time to think about it. So I thought I would share a little bit of my perspective on quarantine.
My name is Anaya Armstrong. I have worked for Bella for some months now; among other responsibilities, I am in charge of the Bella Buzz Community Calendar. I am a graduating senior at South Aiken High School and I turned 18 in February.
For me quarantine has been a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings. As a senior in high school, my experience with quarantine was at first very hard. I was angry and confused because I felt that my senior year was being ruined by something that I had no control over. It was very hard to deal with that feeling and to have others who were not seniors understand.
When you’re in high school you look forward to your senior year — your last year with the people you grew up with — the year you become an adult. You pass through many important milestones: senior prom, graduation, and for me, my final dance season. These were very important events that I was looking forward to. Since I won’t have these memories, I thought that I would share how I imagined they would be.
Prom
The theme for our prom was to be “A Modern Vision”. My boyfriend had asked me to prom, and I was super excited to go. We had plans to go with some of our other couple friends, to get ready and go out to eat together first. I envisioned getting ready with the other girls, doing our hair and makeup and nails while we sang along with our favorite songs. Then we would all meet up to take pictures, probably downtown. We would see the guys and they would be messing around while waiting for us. All the moms would be there directing us on how to take our pictures, and we would be difficult as always. Then we would go to the restaurant, and the girls would take mirror pictures together, and then we would head to the prom. It would be nicely decorated, and our teachers would be there telling us to behave appropriately. We would all have an amazing time and celebrate our last school dance.
Recital
I danced at Crosby-Miller School of Dance and I was a member of the Aiken Civic Ballet Company. At our recital at the end of the year we all perform our dances, and seniors get to perform their senior solos. Your solo can be whatever you want. I had a really hard time figuring out what my solo should be, and I finally knew what I wanted to do. I was going to create a contemporary solo to the stripped version of Matt Maeson’s Cringe. This was a hard decision to make but I chose it because it means something to me.
I imagine that our recital would have been similar to past ones, but at the same time it would have been completely different because it would be my last recital with Crosby’s and ACBC. There would have been laughs, freak-outs, quick changes, snack runs, cheering our friends on as they danced, and lots of tears. Most of all there would have been love for everything that we where doing, for our dancing, for our teachers, and for each other. We would have loved every second of it. We would have remembered that last recital for the rest of our lives.
Graduation
Graduation would have been the most stressful of all the milestones in my senior year. You can say you’re an adult, and act like you are, but until you graduate, you are still a high schooler. I think I would have been stressed because graduation is very serious and there are lots of rules and protocols and rehearsals to make sure everything goes smoothly. I imagine it would have been hot in the gym, and I would have heard Mrs. Redd and Ms. D shouting orders and places. I probably would have been looking around for Ashley so we would make faces and mouth words to each other during the whole ceremony. I would have thought to my fellow classmates, “We did it guys!!” I would have walked across the stage to receive my empty diploma cover and seen my family waving at me. I would have remembered the random kids who I never really knew come up to me after graduation and say how they loved being in high school with me, and I would do the same.
After the ceremony I would probably go take graduation pictures with my friends and family, then we would all go out to eat and recall all of the mistakes made during the ceremony and laugh. Ultimately we would be relieved that the stress is over and we are done. It wouldn’t hit us until later that this was the last time we would be considered a child — from then on we were adults, and our childhood was over.
I know there are so many other seniors around the world who feel the same, that they have lost this huge part of their lives, so I encourage you try to make the most of the situation. If your senior lost that senior prom or concert or performance, let him or her have a mini prom in the back yard or perform that solo for family and friends. Although it won’t make up for the lost memories, it will mean the world to know that their family is there to understand and support.
