The graduating Class of 2024 had a unique experience freshman year. The COVID-19 pandemic closed schools throughout the country in 2020, causing the class of 2024’s eighth grade year to be cut short, followed by a freshman year of distance learning. This unconventional start to their high school career caused some significant problems down the line. Online school had an effect on students’ credits. 

     “I had high school credits and they didn’t transfer over,” senior Geneva Reed said. “I’m stressing about Math and English senior year because of COVID.”

     Online classes didn’t just affect the seniors academically, they also affected people socially. “It’s made everybody really antisocial, especially me,” senior Lucy Rouse said. “I’m so glued to my phone, and so I don’t know how to have a real conversation with people.” 

     While the pandemic affected people’s individual abilities to connect, it also affected groups as a whole. “Our class became very disconnected,” senior Rylie Cornell said. “We weren’t doing a lot of things together.”

Distance learning also caused the seniors to miss out on what would’ve been their “firsts” from high school. Their first school dance, their first air guitar, the first year of their high school experience. Though to some, it didn’t feel like the first year of high school at all. 

     “I fully did not feel like I was even going to West Albany [during freshman year],” Rouse said. “I was just in my own world freshman year. I think everybody was.” During this time, many of West Albany’s senior traditions were unable to happen. But West has decided to renew them in recent years, to give the class of ‘24 a senior year to remember.

 When the pandemic hit, many parts of WAHS culture and tradition were affected. Traditions were lost, attendance at school sporting events and dances were impacted, and the overall high school experience was affected. The past four years have been an uphill battle for the class of 2024 as they have fought for, and successfully brought back many of the traditions we lost to COVID-19. Not only has the senior class helped keep traditions strong, such as air guitar, but they have also brought back traditions that were lost before the pandemic, like the school dodgeball tournament.

     School spirit and class participation have gone up in the past year as students start to get back into the rhythm of school post-pandemic.  “I really liked the school spirit when we go [to sports games],” senior Anika Ylen said. Ylen has noticed a rise in attendance for many school events as the teachers and the leadership class have promoted many events that the whole school is involved in. “More classes incorporate things to make people want to go, like a student [raffle] at the game or something like that to encourage more people to go,” Ylen said. 

     “I went to sunrise, I went to most of the home football games, [and] I had a little keychain that said the date on them so I wouldn’t miss them,” Rouse said. 

     Rouse, along with some other seniors, went to many different school events this year. Some seniors choose to attend these events for different reasons. For Ylen, she went to these events to make memories and experience senior year. 

     “I wanted to go to as many events that we’ve had as possible,” Ylen said, “just because I wanted to gauge the whole senior experience.”