This year has been one of the worst for me. There was buzz how there was going to be a third world war over social media in January. I did not believe that any tension would escalate to that degree, but at one point, things did not look good between Iran and the United States. Tensions soon died down and things returned to normal through my perspective. Then I received some of the most destructive, saddening news at the time. The news was about the helicopter crash that killed nine people, including Kobe and Gianna Bryant. That crash put families and friends in such distress and disarae. The crash took a hold of the basketball world, the entertainment world and reality for the month of February.I would like to mention that it felt like Kobe helped us through our incredible basketball run,or at least it felt like that to me. I would also like to mention a few interesting parallels between the lakers, Kobe Bryant and us Big Sandy Pioneers. The last time Kobe Bryant one a title was back in 2010, which was the same year that us Pioneers received one. The following years, Kobe had success, but could not get back to winning another title, which was how the following years for the Pioneers were. Then Kobe and the Lakers had some of the worst years in franchise history, and it seemed the same for us in my perspective. Kobe sooned retired from his storybook career in 2016 in the best final game in NBA history when he dropped 60 points against the Utah Jazz. The Lakers still had some misfortune until the 2018 offseason. That is when the Lakers signed Lebron James, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. The 2018-2019 NBA season held a great deal of success for the Lakers. It was refreshing for the whole fan base as there has not been a decent amount of success since 2013, which was around the same time us Pioneers had a great amount of winning. The 2018-2019 season for us Pioneers saw us have a season that showed a lot of promise for the next season, as we lost in districts, but yanked a win out of that tournament. The Lakers in 2019 could not make the playoffs, but made many offseason moves that built the team into a juggernaut, headlined by the Anthony Davis trade. The 2019-2020 season for the Lakers turned out to be as good as it seemed. The Lakers had one of their best seasons since 2010, while holding the best record in the west and wins against the number one team in the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks, and their rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers, who were also title favorites for the season. The 2019-2020 season for us Pioneers saw us take the 3rd seed going into tournaments in 9C and saw us have the Cinderella run of tournaments. We kicked ass quite frankly, but a challenge game ended our run. But we did not expect to see the state tournament be cancelled because of Covid-19, A.K.A Coronavirus. The same can abe said about the NBA as the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, decided to suspend the season to stop any further spread of the virus in March. This brought the Lakers title run to a screeching halt. From Coronavirus, the whole basketball world is frozen, as titles still need to be played for and some titles will never be received. It is sad because all of these titles were most likely going to be dedicated to Kobe. That is how much Kobe Bryant impacted the sport and athletes all around the world. Those were all the parallels that us Pioneers and the Lakers shared from 2010 through today. I miss sports a lot, so I felt like writing a lot about the sport I love. Please forgive me:)
Now for the main topic of the article. 2020 is my senior year, along with my classmates and any other student who was born in 2001 across the country. Because of Coronavirus, all of our senior years are being altered in the worst way possible. We have to self quarantine, along with the rest of the world so we can stop the spread of the virus. This is the last thing a senior wants to do, as these are the final few months we have together. We want to be out and about, having fun with each other, making memories that will last forever. We want to go on our sneak trips. We want to go to our homecomings. We want to travel and see new sights. We want to have a summer where we get to take opportunities and run with them, but we can’t until Coronavirus passes. I would also like to mention, school from home as a senior sucks. It is funny because we go all through elementary, junior high and high school complaining about how we just want to be home, but now that we have been home for over two weeks now, we are complaining about the opposite. Now about the real crisis here for us seniors. Ever since I can remember, I have been excited about this year because 2020 would be the last year with everything I ever knew. 2020 for a senior seemed amazing because the next time the numbers of the year will be like this will be in 3030. This will be over a millennia, so to graduate in 2020 was going to be the biggest flex. But now there are talks about how there might not be a graduation for us and a graduation for many other seniors across the country. I asked a few of my classmates about the matter and this is what they had to say. I asked my classmates this question: “How do you feel about the possibility of not having graduation or our sneak trip?” Amanda Cline said, “It sucks a lot because these are the moments you look forward to since you were a freshman.” Lainey Gregory said, “I’m honestly really torn. It is said when something that all of us seniors have been looking forward to might have been taken away.” Bailey Gasvoda said, “It breaks my heart honestly. I think all of us have been looking forward to both of them for a majority of our lives so the thought of not getting to have them is really sad.”
Who would have thought that this year would end up like this. The Coronavirus is also affecting our reality beyond just being a senior. This could affect our future immensely and we do not really know when this pandemic will truly end. So all we can truly do now is focus on what we can control, which is staying safe and keeping others safe by washing our hands, covering our coughs and self isolating ourselves to combat spreading the virus.
