Andrew Celedon has been making the best of the last months of his senior year, but he isn’t going to lie.
“It’s been difficult, for sure,” said the member of MacArthur High School’s Class of 2020. “It’s almost a day-by-day battle.
“Everything is so uncertain for the last couple of months. It’s kinda hard, a difficult ending to what’s been a great, amazing last four years of my life.”
Celedon, like most members of the Class of 2020, saw his senior year in high school cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic as entities across the nation curtailed or stopped most activities in a bid to stem the rising tide of positive cases. High school seniors in Lawton haven’t been to traditional classes since March 12, when Lawton Public Schools broke for Spring Break. The original intent was to come back March 23, but the State Board of Education ultimately decided in-building classes were over for the 2019-2020 school year and students would finish their studies through distance learning.
For seniors, it has meant no prom, no end-of-year activities and no graduation. More importantly, students say they are missing the interaction that comes from going to school with friends and other classmates.
“Although we will have a virtual graduation and, possibly, will have a graduation in June or July, it’s still difficult. Some kids won’t be able to make it,” Celedon said.
Celedon said he and many of his classmates have been finishing their classes virtually, including those they attend concurrently at Cameron University (where he is taking photography courses) or through Great Plains Technology Center. He said students are trying their best to relax and find activities that take their minds off the current situation.
“I’ve been trying to learn,” he said, explaining he has added learning Italian to his class schedule to complement his plans for college. “It’s very difficult, but a lot of us are choosing a project to do. That was mine.”
Technology has made the transition easier for many students who no longer have day-to-day direct interaction with classmates. Celedon is no different, saying he keeps in constant contact with his friends “and even kids I don’t usually talk to as much, just to see how they are doing.
“I’ve been keeping up with a lot of people, making sure they are OK, that they have something to do.”
So, how is everyone doing?
“Everyone kinda says the same thing: It’s been difficult, but after a while, they got into some type of routine, something that reminds them of comfort and normal,” he said. “Everybody shares the same feelings. It’s been a tumultuous two months. I think everyone is taking it a different way; ultimately, we are all sad about it.”
Celedon said the experience also has been a window into adulthood, which is something he will remember about 2020 in the years to come.
“I’m going to remember the constant change,” he said, explaining that constant change is indicative of how things will be as an adult. “Just as adults do, we just keep chugging on, learn to adapt to a new environment and make the most of what we have right now.
“It’s definitely something I will be telling my kids, and my grandkids. It’s very historical.”
Celedon was an active senior, playing soccer (he was an honorable mention by the Oklahoma Soccer Coaches Association), participating in Key Club and other activities, focusing on photography through concurrent enrollment at Cameron University and winning admission to the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute this summer (that experience now will occur online), and attending classes.
Even if Celedon had known what was coming, he isn’t certain he would have done anything differently during those last months of “normal” school.
“I don’t think so,” he said, of changing what he did. “I believe everything I do has a reason.”
But, he concedes he might have spent more time with people, “instead of doing so much time on homework, worrying about grades. I would have strengthened the relationships I had with people.”
Lawton Public Schools has worked to restore a degree of normalcy for its seniors; last week, each high school set a time for seniors to drive to their front door and pick up the caps and gowns they would have worn for graduation. Celedon wasn’t among those students; his adviser already had dropped off his cap and gown so he could wear them to do the video recording Celedon is presenting.
“I didn’t even get to see a lot of my teachers,” he said. “I didn’t get to see any of the kids. It was difficult. If I was at school, it would have been a lot more special.”
Adults aren’t the only ones making plans to mark the senior year. Celedon said he and his two best friends are making plans of their own.
“We’re trying to find some way to travel down to Florida or New Orleans,” he said, of plans after quarantine has lifted.
If that doesn’t happen, he said members of the Class of 2020 will try to spend as much time with each other as they can, wherever they can.
“We’ll plan to do something,” he said. “We have been making plans. We’ve been imagining what life would be like if we could go out.”
Celedon remembers that his last regular activity at MacArthur High was just before Spring Break. He was in choir class and his soccer team was getting ready to travel to Clinton to play a game, “when it went over the loud speaker that all after-school activities were canceled.
“I was kinda sad and a little bit happy — I had the weekend to myself. And then, the coronavirus pandemic happened and that’s when everything got locked down. It was the last time I saw a lot of my friends.”
Right now, Celedon continues to play things by ear. He has tentative plans to major in international business in college (that’s why he’s learning Italian), but “I haven’t decided just yet,” he said.
“I kinda let life take me where it can take me.”
"traditional" - Google News
May 10, 2020 at 01:00PM
https://ift.tt/35MvAst
Celedon making the best of non-traditional senior year - The Lawton Constitution
"traditional" - Google News
https://ift.tt/36u1SIt
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Celedon making the best of non-traditional senior year - The Lawton Constitution"
Post a Comment