COVID Experiences

walk down this side of the hallway, they got things in the hallway, ’social distance,’ no lockers to put any of your books or anything so you had to carry heavy books in your bookbag all day, at lunch, all day,” she said. “Then, it was like you couldn’t sit close to anybody.”

Many students switched to the virtual option, Crim said, and she decided to make the switch herself for the second semester of the senior year.

“My goal is just to graduate,” she said. Crim said

that she originally wanted to go back to the in-person option in August, because she has always been a social person.

She tried the virtual option at the start of the second semester and decided she preferred in-person, asking to switch back, but the option was no longer available.

So Crim finished her senior year virtually, away from friends and any sense of normalcy that most seniors have.

“I haven’t had a pep rally, I haven’t had a homecoming, I haven’t had anything,” she said. “And I wanted to go back to school to spend my last semester of high school with my friends. I was just virtual for a couple days. And I was like, ‘okay, this is not it for me.’ I wanted to be around people.”

Crim said she lost her motivation to do work to finish her senior year.

There are things she will never experience — senior prank, senior skip day, the parties.

“It feels like all the dreams that I had while being a lower classman have been ruined because of the coronavirus,” she said. “But, I can still say that we tried to make the best of it.”

Crim said she felt there was not a lot of support for graduating seniors in 2021.

“I feel like I don’t really understand what a senior year is supposed to feel like because I’ve never experienced it fully,” Baldwin said.

AUBURN HIGH SCHOOL

UBURN HIGH SCHOOL

This school year has presented many challenges, but the spirit of Auburn High School never wavered as students, faculty and staff rose to the occasion to make this another successful year in Auburn City Schools.

I first want to congratulate this year’s graduating seniors; they are now part of the Class of 2021; I hope that they will all excel in their future endeavors.

Second, I want to convey my admiration for the resilience of this particular group of Auburn High graduates for having faced unprecedented times, rising to the occasion and now earning a diploma.

I am proud to have the opportunity to lead as Principal at Auburn High School, and I would like to commend all the role models in the lives of our students, including their families, teachers, coaches and peer groups. It truly takes a village, and I am glad to be a part of ours.

It is always bittersweet to see yet another amazingly talented class of graduates go out into the world to do great things, but now is the time for these young people to take the next step in their lives and make a positive impact.

I wish them all the best.

- Dr. Shannon Pignato AHS Principal