Chapter 9
Beneen Alzirghani
2020 was a tough year for everyone; what an understatement; am I right? I started quarantine in March of 2020, as most people did; at that time, I was a senior in high school. At first it was all fun and games because we were all “oh yeah, school is out for a few weeks!” Little did we know that school would be out for the rest of the year. Prom was canceled, senior week was canceled, grad bash was canceled, graduation was postponed. As a senior it was hard; we were all extremely sad and angry at the world. “Why us?” we asked, “why did it have to be before all of our important, once in a lifetime events?” It was heartbreaking to say the least. Graduation was supposed to be at the end of May, which coincidentally was two days before my birthday, but it ended up being postponed by two months. The Stanton class of 2020 had their graduation at the end of July—in the morning, in the heat, on the football field. We couldn’t hang out with our friends without masks or social distancing. Some we couldn’t hang out with at all because they were immunocompromised, or they had someone in their family that was immunocompromised. It seemed that something big happened every month of the entire year of 2020; to list them all and explain would take forever, but it was such a tough year. Struggles I had during the year include (but are not limited to), weight gain, family problems, falling-outs, and so much more. I definitely hated the fact that school went virtual, but of course, we had to be safe. I hated it because as a first time in college student, it was hard to be missing out on the college experience. Because of the pandemic, I actually switched schools to save money; I was going to go to the University of North Florida, but because everything went virtual, why spend thousands of dollars when I am not even going to be on campus or partake in any of the activities? So, I enrolled in Florida State College at Jacksonville to get my AA and to save money. I am glad I had the people I had in 2020, because they kept me sane; they are the most important people in my life and I am so grateful. 2021 is slightly better, but it’s still the same stuff going on, masks, racism, violence, etc.