For High School Seniors, Epidemic Impacts Spring Break, Prom, Graduation and Even College Admissions

No Prom, Graduation, and Spring Break? SHS Seniors are Less than Thrilled with the Prospect

It all happened so quickly.

Scarsdale High School seniors are struggling to come to terms with not only the burden – and worrying headlines – of an international pandemic, but also the unfinished business of a senior year suddenly and jarringly cut off. The culmination of their high school experience will never be realized in the way it has been viewed in movies and recounted by friends, parents, and older siblings. Although many students are disappointed, they are making their best effort to complete their academic obligations and enjoy their days spent at home.

“We started our education in kindergarten,” one senior said during a Zoom coronavirus discussion session hosted on April 8 during Wellness Week. “Maybe by fourth grade we were expecting the year before college to have so many good things happen.”

(The application called Zoom has been employed by the district to conduct virtual classes; a student explained his schedule as “two Zoom classes a week for each of my core academic classes, and in each half-hour class we discuss topics or ask questions, for example, about answer keys or homework.”)

He continued: “Now knowing that there’s a virus that basically put a stop to all that kind of minimizes what I feel like I’ve accomplished, and in addition, the accomplishments of people that I’ve known that I won’t see again until I come back as a college freshman.”

The most looming regret for seniors is the likely cancellation, delay, or rearrangement of a few beloved traditions: prom, spring break, and graduation.

Tickets were already being sold for prom before the extended closure was announced, and the current status of that event appears largely up in the air.

“I am really upset about prom being canceled! I went last year and I was really looking forward to it as a senior milestone,” explained senior Eve Mainster. “I also already bought my dress and I know lots of other people paid for their outfits as well, so that sucks. It would have been a great night to mingle with friends, and it’s an important life experience.”

As for graduation, Mainster conceded her disappointment, mentioning that “it is a huge milestone but the ceremony is less important than the actual achievement.”

“I hate that [these events] are cancelled and it’s disappointing, but it has to be done,” said senior Abhinav Vittal.

“I am a little upset to hear that I will probably be stuck in my house for spring break,” said Ava Girardi, another senior. Mainster expressed similar sentiments about spring break: “I was going to go to away with my friends and then see family I rarely spend time with…senior spring break is supposed to be a really fun and lighthearted time with low stress.”

As for prom, a recent email from Principal Kenneth Bonamo promised that school administrators would “do everything [they] can to preserve this event.” Graduation: “We continue to plan for our traditional ceremony on Dean Field. Should New York State require alternate planning, we will follow the State guidelines.”

In the meantime, opinions on e-learning among students have been largely mixed and conflicting.

“E-learning generally seems scattered. A lot of teachers are still shifting around when we meet, and that adds a level of confusion,” opined senior Jack Greenspan.

On the other hand, senior Ava Girardi considered e-learning a success. “E-learning is going well so far and I believe the school is doing a very good job on making this transition easier for everyone.”

“I don’t really like e-learning,” admitted senior Eve Mainster. “It is better than nothing because it gives me a sense of routine. But e-learning is like having double the homework and none of the social aspects of school. Zoom is probably getting more traffic now than ever, so it tends to be slow and glitchy. It is also hard to keep track of because teachers can change up the Zoom schedule rather than sticking to the same schedule.”

Still, other students admitted that e-learning was the best possible current solution in spite of its challenges.

“We all knew e-learning wouldn’t be as good as having a teacher,” Vittal said. “I don’t really have criticisms because I know it’s difficult for teachers to adapt.”

Another senior offered a different perspective. “I think e-learning is doing pretty well. My sister personally doesn’t like it: she doesn’t think that the teachers are using their time effectively, and that most of the time it’s a waste of time,” he said. “For me, I think my teachers did a good job of setting it up and creating a system where the way that we learn is pretty similar to how we learn in class, but also a good adaptation to a virtual platform.”

When they’re not studying, students at SHS have used numerous indoor and outdoor activities to occupy their time. The most commonly named activities include walking outside, biking outside, exercising, reading, watching movies and television on Netflix, learning new skills, and spending time with family.

“I go out pretty often,” said senior Vlad Asriev. “I try to avoid groups of people especially, but I like to bike on the Bronx River trail. It tends to be in some ways – with the ways that that path works – a little hard to stay away from people. That’s one thing that tends to be a little more worrisome.

“For the most part, I feel pretty good in quarantine,” he continued. “There’s kind of a lot to do - I never feel bored. Sometimes I might get addicted to Tik Tok [popular social media app] and just waste the day away, but I never feel like there’s nothing to do. There’s so many movies that I can watch, so many books that I can read.”

For some seniors, their social lives have hardly changed it all. Texting and FaceTime are easy avenues of communication, and stir-craziness has given students the disposition to reach out to people they would not normally contact.

“I feel like people are a bit more open to calling each other even if they’re not the closest friends,” said Asriev. “In school, you kind of have the opportunity to talk to someone really quickly, 5-10 minutes, whatever. Since you can’t really do that at home, I feel like the barrier to communication has kind of been lowered. Everybody’s a lot more willing to talk to each other and check in on people they normally wouldn’t check in with as much.”

“I’m currently trying to get my license, although my test was cancelled,” Asriev continued. “I’m still going out and doing driver’s ed. On top of that I talk to friends a lot. For the most part, I feel pretty busy, actually, and the only thing I’d change is to be a bit more productive, be more creative, things like that.”

One of the most noticeable impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, especially for seniors, rising seniors, and their parents, has been enrollment at colleges and universities. As the Regular Decision round of college admissions has come to a close, SHS families – and those of other high schools across the country – are faced with difficult and perplexing decisions due to campus closures that prevent them from visiting prior to matriculation. COVID-19 may also affect what kinds of students matriculate at these colleges. To clarify how college admissions will likely be affected at SHS, here is an unedited statement from Director of Counseling Oren Iosepovici:

SHS Director of Counseling Oren Iosepovici"This national emergency has had an impact on every segment of society, and college admissions has been no exception. Much like our world has changed over the past few weeks, many of the assumptions that colleges and universities had barely a month ago are in some cases no longer valid. International students that were due to arrive on their campus in September may no longer be able to. All across our nation, families that believed they could afford a specific institution have witnessed drastic changes to their employment and financial outlook. Institutions themselves have undergone a shock to their bottom line through lost revenue from unclaimed fees from students who are no longer on campus, a loss of endowment through the downturn of the stock market, and other economies they can usually count on. In the enrollment process, campus closures have prevented schools from marketing themselves to admitted students. All these factors have combined to make this as arguably the most challenging year for colleges in memory. We have heard from various institutions the difficulties in predicting what their incoming class would look like, and this has obviously had an impact on the admission process. Though we haven't seen final numbers, we have seen unexpected positive outcomes for students at some colleges, and anecdotal evidence that waitlist decisions increased this year as schools attempt to plan for all contingencies. How that plays out in the coming weeks (and possibly months) will be interesting to follow, and will ultimately answer the question of the true impact of this crisis on college admissions.”

On April 8, the Class of 2020 advisers, Coach Alex Greenberg and Ms. Eileen Cagner, sent an email out providing some consolation and clarification for the SHS senior class:

“We are sorry that we will not get to celebrate the way we had planned. But, that does not diminish all that you have achieved through the years. Your class has already proven that there are no limits to what you can do and that doesn’t stop even if the world around us has for the time being. With so much uncertainty right now, including what the rest of the school year will look like, there is one thing we are sure of - we will figure out the best way to honor the class of 2020 because no matter what, we are all in this together :)”

Scarsdale High School, although physically closed, is still in session. Little has changed.