By Jazmine Hytower Staff Writer On April 2, the governor of Indiana announced the closing of all Indiana schools for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year due to Covid-19. With this announcement came a wave of sadness over the class of 2020. “As a senior, I’m really sad about having school cancelled and things rescheduled,” Senior Kyla McCoy said. “It almost feels like I’ve waited four years for nothing,” Along with the sadness, many seniors have felt anxiety waiting to know whether or not all of the senior activities will be cancelled or just rescheduled. “It does give me anxiety not knowing if the class of 2020 will be able to walk the stage or not,” Senior Jacob Melendez said. McCoy also expressed how she felt about the senior activities and the uncertainty of what will happen. “Waiting to know what will happen with prom and graduation makes me very anxious because these are events we’ve been waiting on all school year,” McCoy said. While there have been no official announcements, many seniors have voiced that they would like big events like prom and graduation to be rescheduled. “I definitely think the events should be rescheduled and maybe pushed back until the summer,” McCoy said With recent news from CNN reporting that some researchers project that the United States will have to keep social distancing measures in place until 2022 unless a vaccine becomes available, the anxiety of cancellations rises. “I don’t think it’s fair for us seniors to miss out on these experiences for something we couldn’t control,” McCoy said. Although many seniors are anxious for what will happen, McCoy and Melendez have found that occupying themselves helps to deal with everything going on. “I’ve just been trying to keep my mind off of everything by keeping busy,” Melendez said, “having something to do makes getting through this hard time a lot easier.” Love is Blind a fun way to pass the timeBy Michelle Gunnell Co-Editor I think that most people can agree that since the quarantine has started, and maybe a little before that, Netflix has become one of our main sources of entertainment. From binge watching shows to watching all of the movies in a single category, I have watched my share of Netflix programs. One show that really stood out to me was a Netflix original show called Love is Blind. On the show, handpicked singles are invited to live in the controlled setting of the show to possibly find the love of their lives. Men and women live on separate sides of the building and go on blind dates in rooms called the “Pods.” But the catch is that these dates are literally blind because in the Pods, there is a wall separating both people from seeing each other, although they can hear and get to know one another. The show takes place in a three week time period, which means that the participants have three weeks to fall in love, propose, meet each other in person and get married, with the appropriate amount of drama in between of course. In society today, people usually take a couple of months to get to know someone before they begin to date them, let alone marry them. Meeting someone and marrying them three weeks later is a very risky action to take because in that time period you may not know them well enough to be completely sure that they are the best person for you. But the show does not try to hide that aspect of the participants' relationships. It shows both the honeymoon stage and the hardships of all of the relationships on the show.
As the show continues, it follows six couples who have successfully found love and become engaged. They learn what it is like to live with their new fiance and introduce them to their respective families. The entire time the participants have been unable to use their phones or any other electronic device to access social media, so their family members are the first outside opinions they receive before getting married. While watching the program, some couples easily became my favorite to watch. Their stories really made me feel happy for them and root for them to go through with the marriage. Other couples made me want to yell at the television screen because they were so bad for each other. Surprisingly there were more couples that I disliked than couples that I liked, but the only reason I disliked any of the couples was because I didn't like one person in the duo. I felt that some of the people on the show deserved better than the person they decided to engage, and in some cases, it became evident that I was right. Love is Blind is a little different from the usual shows that I like to watch, but I found it very interesting. I don't normally like to watch reality tv shows, but I genuinely enjoyed this show. I felt like it was different from other reality shows such as Keeping Up With The Kardashians or similar programs. After watching the show with my sister, we gathered my entire family and rewatched it because we thought it was that good. All in all, I give the show a 10/10 rating and I recommend it to anyone who likes shows such as 90 Day Fiance or any other shows that have a plot of romance. Comments are closed.
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Student reflectionsPlease keep scrolling all the way down to see all the comments.
Senior Zhanvie Edmond
“My biggest fear is that this may happen again and make everyone’s situation even harder. E-learning is great and all, but it is very hard to stay motivated to get work done because of all the distractions being at home brings. What I miss the most is my whole senior year. Everyone looks forward to all the festivities of senior year and it sucks that I won’t be able to have those experiences. I’ve been keeping myself busy by trying my hardest to stay on top of school work, painting, and playing video games to get my mind off of bigger issues. And to the rest of the senior class, just keep pushing through. Yes, this is a very tough time, but life still goes on, so we have to stay strong.” Senior Aaliyah Perry
“My biggest fear during all of this that it will last way longer than we expect it to. When I first heard school was closed for the rest of the year, I didn’t think it was true. I just laughed it off and then started crying again because I realized the rest of my senior year was gone. I’ve been keeping myself busy by keeping in contact with my friends and doing lots of baking. I’ve been talking to friends via phone, Skype, and even google hangouts. As for baking, so far I’ve made churros and tons of cookies. I miss being able to just walk through the halls and see other people focused in class. I really like to see other people focused on certain tasks because it motivates me to do something too. E-learning has been weird. Sometimes I absolutely love it, other times I hate it. Sometimes, I just close my laptop and act like it’s summer… and then I remember that I still have grades to worry about and I can’t fail. Most of my work is pretty easy, but it’s really difficult with my technical classes because we can’t work the way we normally would. Seniors, this isn’t the end of us. We are going to make this year memorable!” Senior Tajah East
What I’ve been missing most about school is the nonstop exciting environment. I miss the constant laughter I would have with my teachers and classmates. I miss the atmosphere of learning , I miss walking the halls , I miss hearing the bells rings , and I miss the feeling of having somewhere to be. I absolutely hate that my fellow 2020 classmates have said our goodbye to MHS in this way. Yet there is always light in every situation. I can say the positive outlook I have is we now know what true leadership and teamwork looks like from our school. The staff has been doing their best to try to help with everything in this crazy time. And it’s greatly appreciated from us all. Even though we miss our regular lives this is a great time to re-evaluate ourselves, families , hobbies, and just explore new things that can emerge from this quarantine. I can say as a class we have missed out of stuff, but I can ensure we will have a story to tell. I love you class of 2020 and we will always be remembered. Senior Desiree Alleyne “My biggest fear right now is not being able to walk across the stage. I want to be with my class for one last time and wear my cap and gown to receive the diploma I worked so hard for. I want to experience something that a lot of people never get to experience. Rejoicing with the people I spent the last 13 years of school with about our accomplishment was something I always looked forward to. Playing in the Orchestra for graduation was something I also looked forward to all of my years high school.”
Senior Kenneth King
“I work to keep myself occupied. I also watch Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, and do my work.” The MirrorThe Mirror is the student newspaper of Merrillville High School, 276 E. 68th Place, Merrillville Ind. 46410. |