I’m a senior at Deerfield Academy, and I am the captain of the varsity baseball team. This spring was really difficult because I missed out on my last season, but luckily I’m playing baseball at college. But even aside from baseball, I really miss all of my friends and the people at Deerfield. I think the hardest part about all of this was not having the closure I had hoped for. I had always looked forward to all of the graduation traditions, like walking down Albany Road with the bagpipes playing in the background, surrounded by my friends. For the longest time, I had dreamed about those very specific parts of graduating. For four years that was my expectation— that’s the way commencement had always been, and I had no reason to think that it would be different. I guess when you look forward to something for that long and it doesn’t meet your expectations, you’re inevitably going to be disappointed.
I miss the people the most. Obviously I miss my friends, but I think this has made me realize that I also really miss the people that I would sometimes pass on campus, but didn’t necessarily interact with. I miss people like Norm (a staff member who works in the Deerfield athletics department) and all the other staff members I used to see every day. I miss people in my classes or kids who I wasn’t that close to, because they always made me feel secure. Even if I didn’t know them personally or know their names, I miss seeing them. They became a part of my life, and that’s all gone now. Deerfield really is a family. Having everyone around all of the time made me feel comfortable and happy, which is something I’ll really miss in college.
I’ve almost gotten used to the way things are now, but when people first started talking about quarantine and the pandemic, it was really scary. It’s hard to see things that used to be so normal change so rapidly, but I think it’s just a way of life now. You know, you just have to wear your mask and gloves whenever you go out and stay at home as much as you possibly can. It really puts everything into perspective when you see how this pandemic affects everyone. I always think about how there are so many people in worse situations.
All you can do is hope for the best and try your hardest to do what you can to help out.
—Henry
Written by: Siobhan Kelley