Seniors, we are in the home stretch. We have only a couple of weeks until we graduate, and I’m counting down the days.

As seniors, we are expected to know what we are going to do with our lives.

However, we don’t really know if our plans are going to take us where we want to be.

Honestly, I’m scared for graduation. I don’t think I’m ready to leave high school despite how rough it’s been.

Graduating during this time period is an interesting adventure. I’ve been worried about our graduation ceremony, hoping we are still able to hold it before I have to leave for college. Not only has graduation been pushed back, but so has prom, our senior banquet, grad parties and much more.

While COVID-19 is affecting my graduation plans, it also has impacted my senior year of dance. I’ve been dancing my whole life, and my teammates have become my family. We had roughly three competitions left for the season, and now, I don’t know if these will be taking place. I was looking forward to taking my routines to nationals one last time. I was looking forward to doing my final dances with my dance family and saying goodbye, but now, I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to.

This summer, I will be moving out to Virginia because I will be attending Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to double major in forensic science and chemistry. My goal is to become a forensic scientist for the FBI.

I’m terrified. I am worried that I won’t be as close to my friends as I am now. I’m worried that I’ll lose relationships I’ve worked so hard to build. I’m worried that I’m going to be wasting time by pursuing something that doesn’t fit me.

Many of you are going to a college in-state and will have the opportunity to come back home on the weekends. I won’t. I’ll be 900 miles away.

As seniors, we have just entered our adult years and are learning how to live by ourselves.

We are worried that we might have to start college online and campuses won’t open up.

VCU has released a statement declaring that the fall semester will be in person even if the start date has to be pushed back. I believe that once a vaccination or cure for COVID-19 has been discovered, this will become an annual sickness like the flu. In 1918, there was the influenza pandemic that killed millions. But since the vaccine was created in the 1940s, it’s just been considered “flu season.”

I’m hoping there isn’t another quarantine, so I can spend the summer with my friends before we go our separate ways. This summer, I hope that I’m able to do everything that I haven’t been able to in the past few months.

Despite all of this worry, I’m excited to go to college. I’m excited to create new memories, meet new people, make new friends and live the college experience.