Senior year is a big deal. Between being the oldest students on campus, taking the hardest classes, and preparing for college, every student looks forward to their last year in high school with anticipation and excitement. But what happens when the lead up is nonexistent, when the underclassmen don’t even know who you are, and when many in the class have never experienced a true Aquacades? What happens when you feel you haven’t earned the right to be a senior?

These are all problems that the current junior class will have to face. Although school has reopened and the world is moving closer to pre-pandemic life, the Spartan class will still feel the effects of COVID-19 even if Zoom is a thing of the past.

Typically, juniors gradually prepare to lead the school as they enjoy some of the privileges of being an upperclassman, such as sitting in the dining hall, and they take on a bigger role in leading the school as they guide their new sister class through freshman year. However, the Spartans have not had the experience of being true upperclassmen, as there have been so few school-wide activities due to distance learning.

“I’m looking forward to senior year, but at the same time I’m not ready for it. I’m excited because I feel like I’ll enjoy being a senior and try to have as much fun as possible,” said current junior Brindha Ramanthan. “I’m not ready for it because I don’t feel ready to graduate high school yet. I’m hoping that we get a normal senior year in person so that we can end high school with good memories.”

Regardless of the pandemic, the Spartans are still excited to be seniors, but they are also scared about the stress of college applications.

“Senior year is coming up faster than I expected and I could not be more excited. At the same time, I am feeling a bit nervous. College applications can be very time consuming and nerve racking, which can feel like a lot during the first semester of senior year,” junior Emma Boyd explained. “At the same time, the amount of excitement that I have to be a senior is quite a lot, because knowing all of the hardwork and effort my classmates and I have put into these past three years and how close we have all become has been amazing to watch.”

After a year of online learning, some are worried about keeping up with the challenging classes that they plan to take.

“I feel like because we missed so much school this year, every single student is somewhat behind so I think they’ll be understanding of that next year and understand that we aren’t where we maybe should be, or we aren’t where everyone was two years ago,” junior Mara Riitters shared.

Bizarre it may sound, next year the Spartan class will be the only grade to have experienced a full year of in-person school. Usually the seniors need to show just one grade, the freshmen, what school at NDB is like. Next year however, there will be not one but 3 grades that have never experienced key NDB events like aquacades, the PowderPuff game, and even graduation.

“Honestly, I’m a little terrified. I feel like I was just a freshman like yesterday, so it’s a bit scary to think that I’m almost done with high school, but I think that I’m prepared for it and I think I’m ready to move on to college,” stated junior Sarah Massoudi. “I feel like Notre Dame has really prepared me and I’m really excited for the next chapter of my life.”