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With COVID-19 yet to peak in the US, graduation plans are uncertain for high school seniors everywhere.

To the seniors of Pleasant Valley High School,

As our world remains uncertain, so do plans for the ending to your high school journey. Who would have ever thought you’d be home, wishing or praying for school to resume? But that is the unique situation in which we find ourselves right now. Perhaps you unknowingly already had your last day of high school. While the next few weeks will answer that question, others will remain unanswered for longer.

When people ask me what I do for a living and I respond that I teach high school English to mostly seniors, the reactions are frequently the same. I am told I am a saint or that I must be a glutton for punishment. One of the silver linings of this time away from my classroom has been much reflection. I genuinely love what I do. I love teaching seniors. Watching so many students end a chapter of their lives and prepare to start a new one–and having the honor of being a permanent part of so many of those stories–is an amazing privilege.

This year has been the first in which being a teacher to seniors is breaking my heart. So many of you are likely wondering if you’ll ever wear that new prom dress hanging in your bedroom. Or if you’ll ever walk to the sound of the PVHS band playing the graduation song while wearing that blue cap and gown your parents ordered. Your teachers are wondering those same things. And we so wish we had the answers to these questions for you, but you’re learning hard lessons earlier in life than we’d hoped you would have to–lessons that none of our textbooks can help us teach you.

Disappointment is a very real part of life. Neither your teachers nor your parents can protect you from it. What we hope you have learned throughout your years is resilience.

No one can take the experiences you’ve had at Pleasant Valley away from you. They are yours. Your senior year may not end the way we wish it would, but life will go on and time will heal these disappointments, replacing them with new excitement and a fresh chapter that we hope will make you quickly forget the things that brought you to tears.

This week, several elementary schools are holding parades around the neighborhoods; you’ve likely seen them (if you’re waking up early enough these days). Teachers are waving to their students from their cars, and small children are holding up signs and shouting how much they miss their teachers. It’s fun to watch. But such events aren’t in the cards for high schools. Your teachers know you’re far too cool for such things.

But we miss you, too.

As the Spartan Shield and yearbook adviser, I am repeatedly aware of all the things you’re missing out on. Each page reassignment we must make in the yearbook is a constant reminder of events that are cancelled and students whose spring seasons are no longer. We want you to know we acknowledge your sadness–it’s warranted. You are allowed to mourn the experiences you’ve lost. However, you must then pull yourself up, remember all you have for which to be thankful, and repeat this mantra: this, too, shall pass.

Until it does, keep your physical distance from others, but don’t stop being social. (Gosh, I hate that new term.) If the technology age is good for one thing it’s staying in touch with others. Call your grandma, read a book, do some living room yoga, and take a walk outside. Your teacher said so…and we know best.

Stay healthy and safe,

Mrs. Dyer

Spartan Shield adviser