We hope you have been doing well during these…unprecedented times… Just kidding, we’re sure you’ve heard that 182,462 times so far. In case you’ve been living under a rock, tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the day the world imploded for our little world at RV. That day was just like any other Friday the 13th, notwithstanding the impending global pandemic, students were finishing out their day in anticipation for a few extra weeks of spring break, unaware of the fact that school and life as we knew it would shift courses in about every single way possible. 

So, let us say an official “Happy Birthday” to COVID-19 and take a look back at everything this year has thrown at us. To be frank, neither of us ever imagined our senior year to turn out this way, how could we? We were supposed to dominate at Homecoming, go overseas to foreign countries, compete in our last Red and White Night, fly to Disney with all of our friends and have a night to remember at prom; most of these things are either cancelled or not guaranteed. Being a senior is a rite of passage, but some of us haven’t even entered the building for almost a year now. Even for those who are in the building, many going two days a week now, it doesn’t feel the same.

Big whoop, we lost hoco 2021, but the Coronavirus has affected everything over the past 364 days. Had it not been for March 13, the Holly Spirit would have officially started this past summer and a plethora of pizza parties would have ensued, but sadly, no pizza here. And even worse, our staff gets less time to write for you, our readers. But a couple things have survived these very… extenuating circumstances… (sarcasm again); one of them being our theater program.

RV’s production of Commedia dell’Arte, “The Man Presumed Dead” and “The Captain,” surprisingly went off without a hitch. Red Devil Dramatics does a great job with their productions anyways, but this year, we got to take part in their first-ever outdoor production. “It was a really thrilling experience to be a part of something so historic,” said Hamilton Scudder, an actor in the production and one of the Editors in Chief writing this article. When cases were popping off left and right, we managed to still grind out two full productions in less than a month and a half and win numerous awards for those performances. 

The world is completely different, we’ve lost and learned so much, change can be beneficial, and all that. We think everyone can agree that this year was a whirlwind to say the least, but at least we have Taylor Swift (scratch that) Tik Tok (scratch that) Pictures of Spider-Man (OK fine scratch that too) each other. For many of us, this has been a time of maturity and finding connection, both of which help broaden our perspectives, however, it is equally as important to find time to laugh at yourself and laugh more in general. The only thing we can truly control are our own actions, so we hope a few of yours are simply having a good time.

It is almost a year later that we can look back at everything that has happened and find humor in the little things. Maybe this April there will be a few more rolls of toilet paper on the shelves.