A Generation of Teens Are Left to Mourn What Could Have Been

I’ll be starting senior year of high school on a bittersweet note

Kaia Ross
GEN

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Illustration: Kaia Ross

So much for looking forward to senior year being the time of my life.

I’m sure the last hurrah of high school is much more of an enigma than most people care to admit, but those who’ve already lived through it didn’t also have to deal with the anxiety of a global pandemic, or the extreme isolation that comes with it. I’ll be applying for colleges without the comfort of summer camp, the annual senior night at a theme park, or whatever else is considered a classic high school experience, something I may never see fully for myself.

I’d developed so many ways to cope with quarantine — learning to bake, taking bike rides — but by now those distractions have run their course. I’m so bored I started writing a Spider-Man comic. No offense to Spider-Man, but I consider that a close cousin to hitting rock bottom. Everyone’s energy and patience have clearly worn thin since the days of the pandemic when we’d diligently stay inside and find novel ways to help each other out. Half the woke people I know are going to the beach now (and I know a lot of woke people). It’s hard to stay patient for half a year — and who knows how much longer we’ll need to keep it up — but everything comes at a cost…

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