By Molly Boothroyd • Guest Columnist | Who would have thought the year 2020 could be so negative, life-changing but also filled with so much joy? 

I have patiently waited my turn for the many celebratory Pisgah High School senior traditions. Wearing a red cap and gown as my fellow seniors walk down the halls to loud cheering in our previous elementary and middle school. Hugging our teachers and giving high fives to younger students telling them to “work hard and graduate!” The senior picnic celebration after the group senior 2020 class photo. Spending one last day together eating and hanging out before heading off in different directions. 

The Class of 2020 will forever be remembered as the “asterisk” class. Whether it be high school, community college or university, the instructional disruption that came about in North Carolina in mid-March as the result of the COVID-19 outbreak will be as much a part of their permanent records as their marks in reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. 

Trey Woodard has been playing baseball as long as he can remember and was looking forward to being a part of the starting lineup for Franklin High School’s varsity team this spring. 

The arrival of COVID-19 in the United States caused a storm of cancelations, closures, warnings and fears, but there’s one in particular that hit home for Smoky Mountain High School senior Ryan Holler. 

As February melted into March, Raylen Bark was so busy she had little time to think about the fact that her senior year at Cherokee High School was coming to an end, and her long-anticipated freshman year at Dartmouth College drawing ever closer. 

For years, Stephanie Morton had focused her daily energy on homeschooling her four kids, but as the children grew into teenagers and young adults, Morton started thinking about her own education. Two years ago, she enrolled in the nursing program at Southwestern Community College. 

Canton native Lily Payne still remembers her last day of school at Haywood Early College. 

As the Coronavirus Pandemic developed and schools shut down, senior year began to look drastically different for high school seniors across the country. At the Haywood Community Learning Center, graduating seniors like 18-year-old Jadynn Schmidt were uniquely well equipped to handle the coming change. 

Colby Taylor, a senior at Swain County High School, hasn’t let the COVID-19 Pandemic derail his future goals. Even though the final semester of his high school career has been atypical to say the least, he is moving forward with no regrets and only fond memories of Swain County. 

The Class of 2020 — what a year to be alive, much less graduating high school and heading out into the real world.