The Humans of RV project is a weekly column based on Brandon Stanton’s seminal “Humans of New York” project, which seeks to “catalog the city’s inhabitants” through photography and brief interviews. RV seeks to expand on this project with our own “cataloging” of RV students and an examination into all the unique perspectives here at school. 

Note: this transcript has been edited and condensed for publication purposes.

Going into senior year, I was hopeful because I knew everything was going to be different, but maybe better. I knew I was not going to have the normal senior year, but I was excited to see what this year had in store.

I am very upset about hearing the Disney trip being canceled. The end of the year was what I was holding on to, along with prom and graduation. I had been looking forward to it for so long and finding out it was canceled was very sad. I was hoping to see if they could work out something, but it just didn’t end up like that. However, I am excited about prom and I have heard so many different things about it and certain circumstances, I’m just optimistic for it to be at a nice place and for us to still have it to some extent, along with graduation.

What I miss is going to school, seeing everyone in the hallways, I miss it being normal. I miss being able to talk to my friends about the football games; “Who is playing in the football game this Friday?” I just miss everything because it is so weird not having it all, I miss seeing and talking to my friends and even teachers. It’s odd not having anything normal or anything to look forward to since all of it was canceled due to COVID-19. Fortunately, though, I get to have somewhat of a soccer season and hopefully a lacrosse season so I’m hoping that since it is getting warmer outside, I will be able to experience my senior year in sports. 

Overall, this school year has been very difficult due to COVID-19, nothing ever surprises me anymore with it. I’ve been experiencing senioritis more than I thought I would have been due to being at home the majority of the week and staring at a screen with little to no human interaction. It’s way worse than if I was at school on a regular school day and my friends have also been really affected by it. I’ve not been really stressed during senior year, though not having any of the perks such as homecoming and the senior trip has affected how I feel about this year.

To the upcoming seniors, do not take anything for granted. I’ve learned this a lot when looking back at things, one day you might not be even able to go to school, like this year. Hopefully, the seniors next year will have a senior trip and a homecoming and enjoy it. They should enjoy it while it lasts because you never know when it will end; if I knew my last football game was my last football game, I would have embraced it so much more.

To the current seniors, we need to focus on what we have and stay positive. If we look at what we have instead of dwelling on what we missed, we can spend what we missed together in some way as one last ride together as we graduate and go to different schools and experience different lives. We might not see each other again, so it will be our last time spending our time together as a family and maybe we will be able to experience the better things we have.