![]()
As a two-year retired business teacher and coach of 37 and 35 years respectively, I am finding myself with much more free time.
My teaching and coaching started at South Central for 18 years and moved on to LaPorte High School for 19 years. My wife, Rita, having retired this year after 39 years of teaching special education and fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary, has also found herself with much more free time. We raised our two boys in LaPorte who graduated from LaPorte High School. Our older son now makes his home in Avon, Indiana with our daughter-in-law and our two grandchildren. Our younger son resides in LaPorte.
In my “free” time, I have taken up a hobby of taking pictures while I am riding a bike or driving around enjoying Mother Nature. While riding my bike I came across the sign at Schreiber Field thanking the 2020 seniors. The message got me thinking about how these seniors were ending their high school careers, compared to the endings of the seniors in the 37 years that I was involved in the educational field.
![]()
Corey Goers
It has become a different senior year in many ways, but will end the same way with a graduation ceremony (virtual?) and a high school diploma. It will be the start to the rest of their lives, even though it may be a little different than the one they may have expected. Some will move on to college to continue their education and maybe their athletic careers. Some will enter the work force immediately and start their careers. Some will move on to the military. Each graduate will find their niche in society and be very successful.
What about their senior year of 2020? Senior prom may not take place. Senior skip-day may not look the same. An e-learning skip day through social media? I am not suggesting this at all. Seniors cleaning out their lockers will not be the same. Seniors leaving their legacy to the underclassmen. Seniors standing at the senior rail. Is there still a senior rail? Seniors missing out on their last Spring sport season. Seniors saying their good-byes to their fellow senior classmates. Seniors not being able to visit their favorite teacher’s classroom to bid them farewell. Social media farewells are just not the same as a face-to-face farewell. Have seniors received their caps and gowns? Senior pictures? Graduation parties will take place but may not have the same feel with social distancing in place. What about senioritis? Did it take place? Who experienced it, teachers and/or the seniors? How will senior finals go? Will seniors finish up before the underclassmen to end their senior year?
Seniors, you will have these things, but they will be different than your older brothers or sisters’ senior years.
As a former coach, I wonder about the seniors ending this year with no Spring extracurriculars. This could include baseball, track, tennis, golf, lacrosse, band contests, musicals, theater performances, or educational contests. Personally, as a baseball coach, I didn’t get too excited about the last day of school like the students did. I was hoping and getting excited about the IHSAA baseball tournament that would cover the next three to four weeks.
These seniors were not able to experience their last at-bat in baseball, their last race in track, their last serve in tennis, their last birdie in golf, their last goal in lacrosse, or their last performance on the stage. Senior athletes may not experience their senior recognition by their coaches in their individual sports. Some of these seniors will not participate in these activities in college. They actually missed their final seasons.
This is tough to accept for our extra-curricular participants who may have hoped to have been state champs.
Let’s not forget about the teachers who have put their heart and soul into educating our seniors. There were times maybe when teachers were just as anxious as the seniors to get on with their next adventures post high school graduation. The bottom line, all teachers — whether it is at the high school, middle school, or elementary levels — always want success for their students. We want them to succeed, to be successful in their careers, and to be productive individuals after high school. Teachers have put in great efforts with the e-learning to assist all their students, not just the seniors, in ending the year on the right foot.
Lastly, let’s empathize with everyone in society as we move forward. Let us thank those who are working in the essential businesses for their efforts. Those still working in the essential businesses have a passion for what they do; these people include teachers, health care workers, fire fighters, police, and those who provide for our basic needs in the drug and food industries.
Let us not be critical of those who are making the best with their free time because they have been displaced because they are not an essential business: they would much rather be working and providing for their families.
Let us empathize with this year’s seniors throughout the county from LaCrosse, South Central, Westville, Michigan City Schools, New Prairie, and LaPorte. They didn’t choose to have a pandemic interrupt their senior years. Our youth are very resilient, they will persevere through this situation, and will be the better for having survived this pandemic.
Thank you to the 2020 seniors and good luck!
