Life was good until around two months ago. Since then, it has been a rollercoaster of emotions. COVID-19 has separated me and thousands of high schoolers around the nation from a proper ending to our senior year of high school.

For our community, personally, I know people that still cannot get over the fact that we are done with school at Tualatin. Who can blame them, though? Prom, senior sunset, graduation, staying up till 4 a.m. for the senior party that, by the way, lots of parents and staff spent time working to set up, and it is all undone by a disease that has taken a toll on the world.

All we can do is sit back and appreciate everything that has happened over the past four years. To truly appreciate the past four years, you gotta go back to day one. Coming off summer ‘16, fresh off the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history (I know this does not apply to everyone, but to me, it was epic), in which the Warriors infamously blew a 3-1 lead to the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. The first hot morning of school, I knew the next four years were gonna be great when written on the ground in huge letters was: “RIP SUMMER 2K16.” This was when all of us tiny freshmen piled into the biggest school we had ever been in to continue our education. The year went by super fast, with us having to deal with constant freshman jokes as we made our way, getting to know each other and how we would adapt to this new lifestyle. We had our first Homecoming, and I can still remember hearing Bad and Boujee blasted in the commons. It was the first time I felt like I could really let go and go crazy with my friends.

After breezing through our first year, we came into sophomore year confident and ready to go with all of our knowledge from the previous year. We had a REALLY good football team, and I remember hearing this was one of the best Tualatin football teams in quite a bit of time. I remember showing up to the road games and taking home-
field advantage away from the other team as we screamed for our T-Wolves. The basketball team made it to the State Championship rounds at the Chiles Center, and we got to leave school very early to go support them. I remember the student section was the loudest I have ever heard it at a basketball game. Lots of us that same year had to deal with the vaunted Advanced U.S. History project. We were stressing about it the entire year, and when finally it was turned in and complete in June, we all breathed huge sighs of relief. For most of us, we also started to learn how to drive. Our parents were all scared, but I do not know if they were as much as my mom, as she proceeded to scream and hang onto the “oh sh*t” handle as if her life depended on it.

Next, came the summers at Barrels, where there were stress-free days that we just used to soak up the sun and take a quick dip in the water. Some of us reflected at the halfway point of our high school lives and wondered, “What now?”

Finally, we became upperclassmen, and most of the teasing had stopped. We had to go through getting our licenses, prepping for and then taking the ACT and SAT, not to mention the schoolwork that people had to do on top of that. Due to construction, the juniors also did not get parking spots, which meant improvising and finding different
spots close enough to the school. After getting over the testing hump in February, the rest of the year felt like a breeze until we hit our first Prom. I remember thinking, “The zoo? Are we going to dance with the elephants or something?” That was one of the best nights of my life for sure, being with my friends and wearing our tuxedos, making me feel really fancy for the first time in my life, while the girls dressed up in some of the fanciest dresses I have ever seen in person. At the end of the year, with the seniors finally gone, we got our first taste of seniority being the oldest kids left. When things wrapped up, we couldn’t wait for our final year.

After lots of anticipation, Senior Sunrise came around. Unfortunately, it was kind of cloudy so we did not get to really see the sunrise. However, we were all reunited for our final first day of school, and that made everyone happy. It started off with a bang: our own parking spots, top dogs of the school. The week was capped off with us standing on the fence, finally, for the football season opener against Lakeridge that ended with everyone ecstatic. Our final Homecoming went out in style with mosh pits and a plethora of teenagers screaming with a passion to the songs we had grown up to. We kept moving along with our first senior assembly to find out how to order our caps and gowns. An iconic New Year’s Eve that ended with us yelling, 2020! It marked the start of a new era for us. Our first and last Winter Formal turned out to be not too bad with it being the last dance in our commons. Basketball was able to beat Tigard twice to keep our win streak against them going, which brought a smile to all of our faces. We got to experience Senior Skip Day and wish luck to the juniors who faced the same fate as we did a year ago with the ACT.

We approached Spring Break in our classes, anxious for vacations
and the final quarter of our senior year when it was all taken from us.
Sports were shut down, gatherings were not safe anymore and we would
not be returning to Tualatin as students anymore.

I know it is cliché, but it is about the journey, not the destination.

In 8th grade, during Welcome to the Pack Night, former principal Darin Barnard said something I cannot agree
with more. High school goes by quicker than everyone thinks. Now, we go on to the next chapter: college. I, for one, do not know what our future holds, but if there is anything that I have learned over the past four years, it is to not take things for granted and appreciate the moments you live in because you never know when things are going to change.

I am grateful for all of the students and the faculty that I have gotten to know over the past four years, and I wish everyone the best of luck in their futures.

Jacob out.