Seniors grieve loss of last quarter

When this year’s Custer High School senior class gathers in 2045 for its 25th class reunion, there’s little doubt what the main topic of conversation will be. Possibly no other graduating class in the history of the school has had its senior year end two months early with no senior prom, no state basketball tournament, no spring track season and no May graduation exercises — at least not in the traditional sense. 

However, because of the COVID-19 statewide school shutdown, that is the sad reality for this year’s seniors, many of whom are expressing regret for what they have lost in this important time of their lives. 

“I am so distraught, I want to go back really bad,” wrote one senior. “I feel like my senior year has been ripped away.”

“As a 2020 senior, this is very stressful,” wrote Chronicle intern Kelby Hicks, “because once my senior year started, all I could think about was walking across that stage and receiving my diploma. I worked very hard my senior year with trying new classes and excelling in senior projects. I wanted to make my senior year my best year of high school.”

Hicks said, however, she is trying not to let the situation upset her too much and is looking forward to however her class graduates and hopes every senior who is planning to go to college is able to start their freshman year as usual.

“We’re all trying really hard to cope with this, but we want something to be done about it,” said senior Shelby Gramkow. “It’s very disappointing ... a very sad year to graduate because of the fears of the virus. It almost made me cry.” 

Senior Danny Nelson said the disruption had even brought him to the point of what he called an emotional breakdown. 

“This breakdown happened because, as a senior, the last quarter of school is the one you remember most,” wrote Nelson. “This quarter is when all of the classes that seniors are taking become easier and the seniors are spending more time together before we say goodbye. This is the time when we’re having endless discussions about what we want the rest of our lives to look like. 

“This last quarter is when the senior athletes are in their best shape to go out with a bang and the senior actors are the most prepared and in tune with their upcoming performance. This shutdown has ripped away such a large portion of our senior experience and we’ll never be able to get that experience back.” 

“I feel that seniors and their parents have suffered an unrepairable event in their life’s timeline,” said principal Orion Thompson, “and it saddens me that we cannot give them all they deserve as they close this chapter of their lives.”

Thompson said he believes many seniors looked at the situation early on hoping it was only a short-term delay and that they would eventually get back to a level of normalcy in their last year of high school. 

“Others have seen this as one more hurdle they galloped over as they finished their senior year classwork and prepared for the next expedition in their lives,” said Thompson. 

Saying he was adamant about honoring this year’s class in some way, Custer School District superintendent Mark Naugle called for the formation of a graduation committee made up of students, teachers, administrators and headed by school board president Heather Grace. The school board voted unanimously to form the committee and the first meeting was held via Zoom videoconference last Thursday. 

Grace reported there were eight participants in the initial meeting, including Thompson, student council advisor Sandy Arsenault, parents Juliann Gramkow and Amanda Carlin and seniors Anna Marie Reiner (student council president), Justus Kramer (senior class president) and Kelsey Herman. 

Grace said the group discussed the options that had been floated for a graduation ceremony that would allow for social distancing such as having graduation at the drive-in theater at Hermosa, at the football field or Pageant Hill. The seniors in attendance said they preferred to have a more traditional graduation exercise and strongly urged against an online-only event. 

The group talked about finding ways to celebrate the class in other ways, such as yard signs, banners with senior pictures or a parade through town as the elementary faculty did recently.  

Grace said the adults on the committee are committed to hearing the thoughts, opinions and desires of the class members, noting “our main goal is to have it be student-led.”

The committee plans to survey all 64 seniors to hear what they want. The committee will reconvene April 23 via Zoom to sift through the responses and make further plans. 

Speaking of the committee’s efforts, Thompson said, “I am excited that we will try to make the ending as best we can and I am so thankful to the students and parents who simply will not let this occurrence dominate how they end their year and how they look to start their next chapter. It’s a true testament to how strong our young ladies and young men are!”

Whatever the committee plans regarding the graduation ceremony for the 2020 seniors, Grace concluded, “It will be a unique one, that’s for sure.”