By Samm Sharp, Octavio Ruiz, Mackie Grady Posted June 4, 2020
Dear class of 2020,
As unfortunate as it is, we were born during 9-11, and graduating during a pandemic. What an experience. We lived through the Vine era, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the release of the first iPhone, Facebook, Twitter, and so much more. We won’t ever forget the mercury spill at the junior high or the IOS on the original iPods. We’re not the 90’s babies but we arguably had the same childhood, and we’re not really cool with the TikTok generation either. So here’s to being the outsiders, and a class that will go down in history. We’re making a mark, one way or another.
We hope that you enjoyed every minute of your high school experience because you won’t have opportunities like this ever again. Class of 2020, we experienced our last homecoming, pep assemblies, viewed our last Friday night sports games, played our last games, last time parking in the senior lot, and spent our last couple of days with classmates and teachers without realizing they would be our last.
This year started off normal. We knew it would be our last football game, last Homecoming, even our last Winterfest; but then, Covid-19. This virus came into everybody’s life and took away everyone’s freedom, and unfortunately our last prom, our senior night, and even scholarship night. The government is telling everyone to quarantine themselves and avoid contact with people because of this contagious virus.
On April 21, Governor Sisolak announced the closure of schools until next year and the continuation of distance learning. Everyone is unsure about what is going to happen next, but what we do know is the class of 2020 spent their last day in high school without even knowing. We lost the privilege of experiencing senior ditch day and pulling a prank which everybody remembers. We will not get to experience walking down the stage at graduation to show our loved ones that we finally made it.
Of course, all of us were super excited when they shut down the school for two weeks, who wouldn’t be? Hanging out with your friends and having an extra-long spring break. Until we were hit with our first case, we all started to worry and as cases kept climbing, we all had the feeling in the back of our mind that we wouldn’t be going back soon. We all now know not to take anything for granted.
Although we are most likely going to miss out on these opportunities, the community of Winnemucca has shown us undying support. On April 17, 20 Lowry participated in the “Be the Light and Never Ever Give up on Your Dreams” campaign. Lowry turned on the LHS Football Field Lights for 20 minutes at 8:20 p.m. in support of the senior class, spring sport athletes, coaches, staff, families, and all those fighting the invisible enemy. During the 20 minutes, countless members of the community drove by and made some noise for the seniors.
The community also created a Facebook group called “Lowry Class of 2020- Adopt a Senior” where a family member would post a picture of a senior and wrote some nice things about them, then a person would comment saying that they would adopt that senior. This person would send gifts to their seniors to show that they are not alone. The goal for the group is to get every single senior adopted.
This year’s homecoming theme was Back to the Future. Lowry took a trip back to the 1980s on Monday, Tuesday the 1950s, and on Wednesday a little mixture of the wild west, and on Thursday enchantment under the sea and on Friday the classic Blue and Gold Day and then ended the week with the Homecoming dance. Winterfest was another week worth remembering! The week consisted of techno/dance day on Monday, a country day on Tuesday, punk rock day on Wednesday, and the oldies day in which you wore your best 50’s,60’s, or 70’s outfits on Thursday and Blue and Gold Day on Friday. Basketball faced Truckee and wrestling faced North Valleys, and then ended the week on Saturday with the classical Winterfest dance. The pep assemblies were always a success, either getting the people excited for the upcoming week and showing how involved every class was.
Everyone has a different opinion on high school and regardless of it, we hope the memories we created as a class will stick with us. From the first day of high school when we were so excited to finally be a Buckaroo, to our unexpected last day together. Those late nights and early mornings finally paid off.
We have had a lot of ups and downs as a class and it doesn’t get easier from here. Whether you decide to further your education or start working, we’re going to have a lot more responsibilities such as bills, buying a house, starting a family, and even more sacrifices that we’re going to have to make. Some of us have already started paying bills and having part times jobs, but now more than ever, it’s important that we find our purpose for doing things. Whatever your goals are in life, don’t stop until you get there. Decide what you want and how you’re going to get there and work every single day until you accomplish your goals. Once you find a purpose in something or you find something you love, the days are going to fly by. There are times that you may find yourself wanting to give up, but just remember all that you’ve recovered from, all that you’ve been through. That didn’t stop you from getting to where you’re at now.
Yeah, maybe we won’t get our last prom, ditch day, and a traditional graduation, but we’re going down in history.
We’ll never get to close our lockers one last time, walk down the glass hallway and realize we’ll never walk through it again, look at our friends in class and laugh, sign each other’s yearbooks, say goodbye to our teachers; we won’t get a final goodbye. But we are the one specific class who is affected. We adapted, made adjustments, and we’re still fighting for ourselves. For each other. The entire community is fighting for us, so don’t give up hope.
We wish the best for every single person in the class of 2020. So to the class with a vision, here’s to us.