Junior Isabella Collins, Staff Reporter

I hope that once this pandemic has slowed, we will be able to return to what we were doing previous to the start of the stay at home order.

I hope that in August we will be able to return to school and not return to the remote learning setting. I also hope that by at least July we will be able to have a summer where we can hang out with friends and go to a beach or an amusement park. This may not be what exactly happens, but all we can do is be hopeful for what the future brings. My predictions on this pandemic are similar to what my hopes are. I think we will still be able to go out in July, but we will have to take precautions like washing our hands more frequently or having to wear a mask out in public. It would make sense to do so in order to avoid the number of cases skyrocketing again.  If we do get to go out in public and hangout with friends, I think this summer will be amazing.

Even with masks, it would be great to go outside and go places with friends again. Going to school would be great as well because we will be able to interact with one another and make good memories for the remainder of our high school career.

Sophomore Ashlyn Rinehart, Staff Reporter

When this lockdown ends I hope that people don’t forget it. As time goes on, people will forget what it was actually like being stuck at home and not being able to go out.

I also hope that people start to not take things for granted. Little things, like going to work or meeting with friends. These little things are what make life great, and many people didn’t realize that until now.

I know that this change in routine has been hard for many people, so I hope that people become more flexible. Everyone had their own routine every day, then all of a sudden it got turned upside down. This made many people angrier and more depressed than they were before the lockdown.

Being more flexible and more accepting of change will help with that.

I don’t think the lockdown will end as suddenly as it began either. I think we will have a slow trickle of people going back to work towards the end of May. The school year will end, and summer will begin,

The beginning of summer will still be like the lockdown, but as time goes on, people will be able to get together more.

When August comes around and the next school year begins, people will be wary, but we will be back in school.

Life won’t be the same as it was in January, but it will be a new type of normal. At least that is my hope.

If it doesn’t happen, and we don’t go back to school in August, I’m not going to be angry or frustrated. I’m going to take things as they come and not worry about it too much. I guess that is my final hope for people. To not fear or fret, life will happen and there isn’t much anybody can do about it.

Sophomore Gracie Rose, Features Editor

I like to think that the universe has a plan for everything and that it all happens for a reason. It’s hard to hold on to that belief at times like this when the world seems to be messed up behold repair, but the biggest tragedies bring so much unity among people, and the thing that makes COVID-19 different from any other tragedy is how widespread it is. This isn’t like 9/11 which was mainly New York based or the Holocaust which mainly affected the Jewish population.

This virus affects everyone in the world, and because of that it connects us on a much deeper level. I hope recovering from this we carry with us the understanding of what it feels like to go through a life altering event, so that when the next tragedy occurs that is focused on a specific region, religion, or race we can better sympathize with that group of people and help them out as if it was affecting us too. I hope our time in isolation will have taught us lessons we would have never learned otherwise, so that once this is over we hug our loved ones a little tighter. One of the best lessons my dad has taught me is that you never know when you’ll get to tell someone you love them for the last time, so you should treat every goodbye and see you later like it could be the last.

I really wish I would have known that Friday the Thirteenth was our last day of school for the year because that was my last day of seeing some people I really care about, and just as my dad said, I had no idea. So as the world opens up again, hopefully not too quickly, we should remember how it feels to not get that last goodbye, and appreciate every moment of what we previously took for granted.

Senior Casey Berndt, Staff Reporter

The hopes I have and that I hope to come out of all this is that we wont take each other and different things for granted. We truly will appreciate each other because we do not get to see each other now, most people are used to going out and seeing loved ones, friends and co workers but now we cannot. We also can learn lessons from being so greedy and selfish with when we go buy groceries and supplies and that we do not need to take all that is there. My predictions for how this will all end is that quarantine will hopefully be over soon. I also wonder how businesses will financially recover from this as well.

I know local businesses are suffering a lot because they do not sell things that most people need in a pandemic. I wonder how restaurants will also be afterwards because they must have sold a lot more food than normal. on the medical aspect of this all I think that that we will end up with a vaccine sooner than later. I think that drug that was used with malaria might be able to be used but it can cause lasting effects on someones medical history and I hope that they can use it with out causing more harm.

Senior Andrew Brown, Staff Reporter

There is a theory that conflict leads to the advancement of society. Would this theory also be applied to the Coronavirus? The optimist in me says so. That we will recognize our flaws and attempt to improve ourselves. An issue I feel as isn’t being discussed enough is how fast racism is seeming to fester within America. Maybe it’s just me but it seems that our president likes to use certain trigger words to garner attention and loyalty from Republicans. I hope we can discontinue this practice. It’s not in good taste and hurts our citizens. People are being persecuted for a disease they didn’t cause. It’s understandable to be angry at the Chinese Government. To take something it out citizens is another topic entirely. Another lesson to take from this crisis, is that information shouldn’t be withheld just for the sake of a good public image That’s completely unethical. I’d hope in the country certain take note of that.

On a more positive note, I believe this has made me come to a couple of realizations. One is that you always have time for your dreams. You just have to figure out which I like to believe people can accomplish anything. The only thing inhibiting us is our own desire to accomplish said task. This coronavirus has really helped me thin out what topics are just pipe dreams and which one’s are actually topics I want to accomplish. I’ve discovered that I’m still very much into creative writing and write that giant story that only I will read. I also figured out that Youtube channel I kept claiming I should make was just a fun idea. It’s honestly helped me sort my time more often. Instead of day-dreaming, I’ve actually gotten to work. It feels quite satisfying to be frank.

There is one thing more important that we need to take from this. The lesson that we always try to remember yet always forget is to never take our lives for granted. We never know when we’ll lose it.