As students move into the second month of the school year, and all students have returned to in-person school, seniors are able to look back at their past three first days of school with bittersweet thoughts.

While this school year appears more normal than last year, there are still many COVID-19 protocols in place which are inhibiting seniors from having a completely normal final first day of high school.
Seniors were surveyed by The Patriot recently about the beginning of their senior year.
Several of the responses indicated that some seniors were still quite upset that their last first day of high school is still being affected due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Senior Jillian Connolly commented, “It’s understandable that we have to wear masks and follow protocols in order to keep everyone healthy, but it’s still kind of sad that it’s been coming up on two years since COVID started and it’s still here.”
One of the most common responses from the survey was that students still feel a disconnect from the school due to the past year and a half and the strange circumstances relating to the pandemic that still affect John Carroll.
Another question answered by the seniors was,“How did the recent first day of school compare to your past three first days at John Carroll?”
Senior Kathryn Inman responded, “Honestly I felt more connected to my classmates and the school my freshman year. I don’t really feel like I know anyone because of the past year and a half.”
Senior Meghan Ruth said, “It was very nice to start the school year in-person, but it was different because of the restrictions due to COVID-19.”
The Class of 2022 has not had a full normal school year since freshman year, making their overall high school experience very nontraditional.
Finally, students were asked to answer the question, “How does it feel to have just had your ‘last first day’ of school? Why?”
Megan Palm said, “It feels so weird to me because school has flown by. High school was so fast because freshman year was the only normal year of high school for me. Sophomore year it ended early because of COVID. Junior year I was home for a lot of it, and now COVID is still in effect, and we cannot do things normally.”
Many seniors are holding onto hope that they will be able to return to a completely normal school year soon, but for now, many are accepting the normalized strangeness of COVID-19.