Mercy Academy
1,378 days. That’s how many days it has been since our class trekked through those doors for our first day of freshman year. How could 1,378 days go by so fast, in the blink of an eye?
I remember the class of 2017 telling us to enjoy it and take it all in because it really does go by too fast. I was thinking, “There is no WAY four years could fly by that quickly; I have all the time in the world.”
But they were right. Our time at Mercy has gone by in the blink of an eye.
I would give anything to have one more day of normal in this building: wearing my plaid skirt, being able to do theatre without a mask, going to a pep rally, and actually getting to do our senior cheer.
Most of all, I would give my best friends and teachers one more hug.
Our time at Mercy has been unique to say the least. Freshman and sophomore year, we were living like the next two years would be normal and, as you know, they weren’t.
We spent the beginning of junior year being happy that we were finally upperclassmen. We were on top of the world and making our way in this school. Then, at the end of the year, we weren’t so happy to be those upperclassmen. We were wishing more than anything to have four years of normal at our favorite place in the world, but we weren’t so lucky.
Senior year has been one for the books. We received more opportunities than a lot of other seniors across the country did, which we are all so grateful for. But there was always something that we felt like we were missing.
Some of us were missing our friends on the other side of the alphabet, some were completing school all online and missing the Mercy cookies and Ryder; some were missing being able to play their sport without being scared of getting infected with this scary disease, and some were just missing the normal.
I can tell you that I’ve missed a lot of things, and I’ve complained about this year so much to my family. One thing that has helped me through this year was something my grandpa, my Opi, has told me ever since I was a little girl.
Whenever I was mad about an inconvenience he would look at me and say, “This too shall pass, so stop and smell the roses.” I’m sure you all have heard of this saying before, but I think our class can connect with this quote.
With everything we have lost this year, somehow our class has managed to stop and smell the roses. We had our walk, our prom, and soon will be our graduation. I know many of our teachers have said they admire our class’ positive outlook, and I believe that will be our class’ biggest legacy.
Now is when we are taking a huge step forward in our lives. Some of us are going to college, and some are taking a gap year. Regardless of what the plans are for next year, we are all taking a difficult and long step to leave this school.
We can do it though. We’ve gotten this far. We are certainly prepared if another pandemic hits, and so we are ready for this next step in our lives. I love each and every one of my classmates. Thank you, class of 2021.