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Guest editorial: Goodbye, Park City’s senior class. The best times are still to come.

Pierce Dirkis
Park City High School senior

Let’s not act like high school was great, or that our senior year isn’t over; it wasn’t, and it is. Personally, the thing I have been missing the most from school is the orange chicken served on Thursdays. Joking aside, I do believe that what most of us are truly missing from school right now is being able to socialize. I’m confident that 90% of us would be fine not going to school if we could still hang out with our friends. We are missing the fond memories of high school, not high school itself. True, as seniors, we’re missing our prom and those last blissful days of high school, but really those things aren’t going to mean that much a few years from now, as we will be studying in college, working a 40-hour week, helping impoverished communities, or having a meet and greet with our one million Tik-Tok followers.

With this in mind, let’s not get stuck on what we are currently missing, but rather on what is to come. Adolescence is over, and all the pain that comes with it can finally be let go. It is a miracle to have made it through, and have a world to now enjoy. To put it in stark perspective, the Greatest Generation was being drafted out of high school and forced into a world war. As so many coming-of-age movies and TV series have demonstrated, high school is a pretty crappy time. With that perspective, we should look at this time as a gift, a time for introspection and to figure out who and what type of person we are. While being quarantined at home, you don’t have to worry about how you are dressed or how you act, and the inconvenience of waking up at six in the morning. You don’t have to be consumed about fixing your GPA before your parents find out you are failing chemistry. Or stress about being stuck in Mr. Nordfelt’s class when you have to use the restroom. Think about it, fellow seniors! Let’s look at all the positives, and embrace the exciting adventure that is to come. Forget about the past (we are often going to look at the past through rose-colored lenses anyway).

We will make it through this, and we will be better (hopefully) for it. I wish you all the best in the future and hope you become whatever you wish to. Despite some of you being complete, and utter jerks to myself or others I know (you know who you are), I still hope this new chapter is better for you. High school was the time to make mistakes: forgetting to study, doing something stupid in front of a crush, making a rude comment, skipping calculus to smoke, twisting your ankle trying something you shouldn’t have, staying up all night playing Dark Souls, leaving your pads at home on game day, watching “Riverdale” instead of doing an essay, and a million other stupid things. Now, you can start to become someone that helps to make the world a better place. These high school relationships may stay with you for life or vanish as quickly as your phone when you go to lay on your bed. Either way, all that will matter is if you lived your life the way you wanted to … so, live it! Who cares if you go to Harvard after high school, who cares if you missed the game-winning goal at the state championship — none of that matters! Goodbye Class of 2020. I would say it was the best time of my life, but it wouldn’t be true. However, it certainly was an adventure.

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