The newest world pandemic, COVID-19, caused Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to issue an executive order to close all public schools, elementary, secondary and post-secondary, until at least Mar. 31.
Students will continue their virtual learning in order to participate in social distancing, meaning no school sports, no clubs and no in person learning. To a senior, this means their “lasts” may not be what they originally had in mind.
Currently, the school is unsure if any sports will be able to continue when we return. Senior Jacob Woods plays varsity baseball. “It’s really sad because me and the rest of the seniors have been playing baseball for basically our entire life and some of us will never play competitively again” said Woods. “We had fun this season though and made lots of friendships that will never end. If we have played our last game at McIntosh, at least we will go out knowing that we ended our high school careers with a win.”
Senior Skylar Dzenis is a four year varsity member of the soccer team. “I am going to be devastated if I don’t get to play Starrs’ Mill one last time or have that rush when you step on the field for every playoff game or the excitement of experiencing senior night,” said Dzenis. “I have been waiting to walk across the field with my senior stuff on with all of my best friends since I was a freshman. This was supposed to be our year and it is being stripped from us.”
Senior athletes are not the only ones with the chance of having “lasts” taken away from them. Prom was rescheduled for May 15 at the Fox Theatre, but that is also the senior class’ last day. While previous senior classes got to walk down the hallway in front of all the other classes before crossing the stage as a graduate, many seniors believe they may not get the chance.
“It is sad because we have looked up to the classes before us and looked forward to getting to do all these things as seniors and now everything is slowly getting cancelled and pushed back,” said senior Emily Johnfore. “We do not even know if we are going to get to do any of it.”