I always thought that my high school years would be the best years of my life, but they have been far from it. Of all of my years, my freshman year was the only normal one of my high school experience. My sophomore year is when everything went downhill.

The first half, everything was fine — until the spring of 2020. That’s when the Covid-19 virus ruined everything. Quarantine forced students and teachers alike to be stuck in houses and struggling to find out what to do. For months I had to teach myself complicated math and confusing English. I was miserable. I hated to teach myself something not even my parents could help me with.

In my junior year we had the option to choose virtual or in-person learning. It was a mess. There were red days, blue days, full time and part time students. It was stressful for me and even more for the teachers.

The next year went back to normal — well, as much as normal can get. We had to wear a mask 24/7 and had to eat our lunches in our classrooms for months.

Then came my senior year, the year I thought I would be on top and excited for, the year I thought would be my best year so far. That is not what I got. I missed my first week of school when I tested positive for Covid. I felt like I had a really bad cold for about a week. Once I was done with that, I went to school for only week before Hurricane Ida hit our area. Our school was closed for more than a month due to the damage. Then we had to get used to a another new normal again.

So many things happened over the years that impacted my and others’ high school experience. Looking back, I’m sad that I missed many opportunities that could have come my way.