After their senior years were altered, incoming college freshmen look forward to the future

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It wasn’t the senior year that 2020 graduates anticipated. After preschool, kindergarten and 12 years of classes, they looked forward to the prom, senior trips and celebrations to launch them into life’s new journeys.

That didn’t happen. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled events, and many delayed graduations were held virtually or outdoors with limited attendance. Summer jobs disappeared.

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The fall college semester will include masks, social distancing, changes in lodging and dining, and activities will likely be put on hold or held virtually. Some or all classes will be online. Yet many students emerged with hope for better days ahead. The unexpected challenges helped them discern what’s really important in life, and helped them to grow in their faith. Here are some of their stories.

Lauren Dellett | Seton Hill University

DellettLauren Dellett’s final semester at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was not like anyone expected.

“It was an adversity that we had to overcome, and I think our faith brings us together,” she said. “We started every day online with school announcements, and the religion teacher posted a prayer and links to keep up. It was like a family.”

Dellett will study biology on a pre-med track at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

“I’m grateful that we’ll have classes in person, because many of my friends will be going to college online,” she said. “I’m looking at the positive side about all this, and I’m pushing through it. You can’t go ahead looking at the negative things. You have to think about the positive and adapt. I believe that this will definitely prepare us better for life. And the pandemic pushes me a little more to go into medicine.”

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Rachel Newill | Seton Hill University

NewillRachel Newill and other seniors at Greater Latrobe High School in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, stayed in touch and have grown even closer through the challenge of adapting to online classes.

“There was no other way to talk to each other on a daily basis,” she said. “It was important for us to keep up that way, because you could easily get caught up in how awful things were. Considering how many things were canceled, I think that people my age are excited and looking for optimism toward the future rather than dwelling on the past.”

Newill will enter a five-year accelerated course in the physician’s assistant program at nearby Seton Hill University. She’ll live on campus even though it’s close to home.

“I wanted the traditional college experience, and I feel comfortable with the university’s safety precautions,” she said. “The classes are small for social distancing, so we won’t be having them virtually.”

Newill is looking forward to growing her faith at a Catholic university.

“As trying as these times are, my friends and I have learned to put our trust in God,” she said. “It may seem like our personal lives are crumbling, but God has plans for us. I’m very proud that all through this there’s been optimism in our community and our school, and I appreciate that as I start my new journey.”

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William Schalley | Rockhurst University

SchalleyWilliam Schalley was involved in campus ministry at Creighton Prep School in Omaha, Nebraska, and plans to become similarly involved at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri, where he’ll major in business finances. He also wants to join the running club and academics study groups.

“But I’m not sure what all that’s going to look like,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot different with most classes online, so that will be a struggle to meet people.”

Staff at the Jesuit high school kept in touch with students, and there were online videos to celebrate the graduating class.

“There was a virtual retreat, which was better than nothing,” Schalley said. “And Mass online was not nearly as gratifying as being there. We were obviously disappointed with missing out on so many things in our senior year, but we learned to accept it and move on.”

He’s looking forward to his freshman year.

“I hope that we learn from this to stay together and put differences aside, strive for the better good and come together as a community,” he said.

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Hanna Marie Smith | University of Notre Dame

SmithHanna Marie Smith directed “The Glass Menagerie” at Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado, but the play was canceled. She was the baccalaureate speaker at the graduation that was held outdoors with only parents attending.

Yet she remains positive and appreciative of what she and the school community creatively accomplished to stay in touch and remain close in times of social distancing.

“We’ve always had a pretty good understanding that we can’t reason our way through suffering, and that the only way to be convinced of Christ’s presence in the world is to actively love our neighbors,” she said. “I think that’s what our education prepared us to do.”

Smith will major in liberal arts at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

“I’m not too worried about what the future of my education will look like, because I’m committed to pursuing it,” she said. “Overall, I haven’t seen the pandemic really as a loss, but as an opportunity for growth. I miss my teachers and my friends, but those bonds of love taught me how to respond compassionately to a world that’s in a constant state of flux.”

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Daniella Thomas | Loyola Marymount University

ThomasDaniella Thomas credits her Catholic faith and the pandemic experience with helping her “to understand that life is not just about ourselves and the way we want to live.” It’s become for her a cleansing opportunity to become more aware of others’ needs and to care for each other.

“It’s been kind of an ordeal to adjust to everything, but I think that my classmates and I have gotten used to the fact that we don’t know what’s going to happen. We have to take everything in stride as it comes.”

The musical she was in at St. Monica High School in Santa Monica, California, was canceled, but students made videos of the choreography. She planned to live on campus at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, but instead, she’ll have online classes at home for her double major in management and sociology.

“My school has given me a really good faith and confidence to move forward in order to create ways to contribute to the Catholic and global communities,” Thomas said. “I know that I’ll have the ability to try new things.”

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Maggie Thibault | University of Mary

ThibaultOn the final day before spring break, Maggie Thibault and her classmates didn’t know when they’d return to St. Agnes High School in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“That was a confusing day,” she said. “Should I be crying right now, or will I see everybody in two weeks?”

They didn’t go back.

“I learned from this how crucial relationships are and how hard it is to maintain them through your phone,” she said. “A lot of us have been on our phones so much that we just can’t do it any longer. But you have to if you want to continue those relationships.”

She cherishes spending more time with three younger siblings with Down syndrome and credits her family with making it bearable to stay at home. She also has virtual support from Servants of the Cross, a local faith community for young adults.

“This definitely has been a time to look at the world and everything going on,” she said. “There’s despair, but at the same time, I have great hope because I have good, faithful relationships around me that are bringing me up.”

Thibault will study nursing at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller writes from Pennsylvania.

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Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller

Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller writes from Pennsylvania.