CCHS Class of 2021 reflects on final year

By Sarah Howlan

March 12, 2021

With the cancellation of homecoming and sporting events this past fall, Colonie HIgh School seniors were looking forward to prom and graduation. As of March, there has been no announcement of whether the school will be moving forward with these events.

South Colonie seniors have experienced a very different version of what the typical senior year looks like due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With the pandemic continuing, students were forced to take part in online learning, cancelling most of their normal school activities.

“It’s a big to me that I’m missing out on my senior year because I was looking forward to all of the senior events. I feel like I’m missing out on a big part of my senior year,” said South Colonie senior, Jackyln Mantica.

“We don’t get to experience all of the fun parts of our last year,” she said

Mantica said she has been looking forward to her senior prom since she was in seventh grade and is disappointed there has been no word on what is happening.

“I have been dreaming of prom for years,” she said. “I wish the school would give us a yes or no, or even just a maybe on whether it could happen.”

Cassidy Phillips, a Colonie High senior, said that she wishes that our school administration would do more for the seniors.

“I understand that prom may not be a possibility, but I wish that someone could come up with something to give us a happy memory of senior year,” she said.

Vincent DePalma, a South Colonie Senior, said that although he was never one to fantasize about the perfect senior year, he was surprisingly upset about the way everything has played out.

“Going into this year, I wasn’t really concerned about how this new schooling would go, but as time went on, I started to miss seeing my friends, my favorite teachers and the Friday night football games,” he said. “I never realized how much I enjoyed it until it wasn't an option anymore.”

Along with the cancellation of events, seniors have been struggling with classwork that may affect their grades and future.

Phillips said that she wanted to use her senior year to figure out what she really had a passion to go to college for, but this has been very difficult due to the way schooling has changed.

“I have no idea what I want to do for college. I took a lot of electives to try and help finalize my decision, but they don’t help at all because the classes are way less demanding, so I am not really experiencing what they truly have to offer,” she said.

When most people think about their senior year, they picture football games, prom, senior picnics, graduation and more. This year's seniors had high hopes for that, but were crushed when they realized they were no longer possible. Even though there has been no word on what will happen within the next three months, they are all hoping for some sort of change to turn this year around.