Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately, for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to salvage those memories.

Meet George G., an 18-year-old student from Sichuan who’s finishing up his senior year at Beijing World Youth Academy (BWYA).

Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally? What were your initial thoughts? At what point did you realize the devastation and disruption it was causing? How do you currently feel?

My parents used to talk about a fair amount of the devastation the old SARS virus caused. So naturally, I was quite alarmed when I started seeing articles comparing COVID-19 to SARS. Initially, I started taking a fair amount of precautions from starting to wear masks in school to buying more masks online. Yet, I never expected the virus to develop from a local crisis into a global pandemic. Now going into my third month of quarantine, the length of this epidemic was also something I did not anticipate in the beginning. I realized the severity of COVID-19 when I saw the hospital in front of my house packed with masked people, and when countries started reporting infections one after the other. Right now, as China gradually takes a turn for the better, I’ve pretty much passed the period of panic, and moved on to looking forward to getting back to normal life.

Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately, however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?

Well unfortunately because of the virus, my senior year will remain as the most memorable year of my high school life, just not in the positive way as I’ve hoped it to be. I did enjoy how I can figure out how to properly spend time with myself a bit more, and get better lifestyle-wise when staying at home. The conversation amongst me and my peers ranges all the way from whether our school will ever get to open again before we completely finish high school, to all the daily trivia – food, jokes, homework, and talking about our plans after all of this settles.

What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled? Prom, graduation ceremony, etc.

There were a few school events that I was really looking forward to taking part in that have been canceled, such as our yearly talent show where our a-cappella club was scheduled to perform. Also, it seems right now, our graduation is not going to take place offline as planned, and the same for proms and other celebratory events that would involve mass congregation. I was really looking forward to some of these celebrations, especially the graduation.

Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all?

I wouldn’t say that the virus has affected my ability to graduate, but it definitely has affected a lot of the procedures preceding the completion of our high school that was previously there. Our IB May exam was canceled, and we will also not be assessed internally in our school, leaving us with technically no high school exit exams to be taken. Now it is really up to us to remain on course for the final bits of our senior year studies.

Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation? If so, how? Were you planning on going abroad for college? Doing a bit of traveling during the Summer? Etc.

A few friends of mine and I have been planning graduation trips to places like Japan or Singapore, but now it looks like those plans will either have to be forfeited or have a location switch to somewhere more local. Also, my plans for traveling to the US for college are getting complicated, as the procedure to obtain a visa is getting more difficult, and so are the actual traveling logistics to the US, as it gets more and more severely impacted by the crisis.

Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience? Have you and your friends been able to “hang out” on Zoom or FaceTime? Have you made backup plans for a Prom in case it gets officially canceled?

Well for me, the time that I’ve spent online chatting with my friends has drastically increased as I very much miss them. I’ve also regularly voice- and video-chatted with some of my closest friends to stay in touch as much as I can.

And, I have in fact been talking with a lot of my friends about organizing an unofficial graduation with prom for our grade at a later date when everything settles a bit more. Any events in replacement will be good enough for me honestly.

Is there anything else you’d like to include that hasn’t been asked?

Wish everyone stays safe and sound!

Photos: Courtesy of George G.

Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately, for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to salvage those memories.

Meet Kristal D., an 18-year-old student from Beijing who’s finishing her senior year at Dulwich College Beijing (DCB).

Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally? What were your initial thoughts? At what point did you realize the devastation and disruption it was causing? How do you currently feel?

I first found out about the virus from my parents in late December. At the time there wasn’t too much information circulating online, so I dismissed the news thinking it would pass relatively quickly, but there was a tangible fear from my parents as they recalled scenes from the SARS outbreak in 2003. Over the next few weeks, the situation escalated, with cases almost doubling on the daily, and the shortages of masks and sanitation supplies due to bulk-buying became a huge point of worry for myself and many others. The real challenge was trying to discern if the problem was real or if fear was driving the seemingly irrational behavior. The sheer volume of news and information flooding WeChat and news outlets made it so difficult to filter through the noise. It’s interesting, but disheartening, to see social dynamics play out in the face of a global pandemic.

Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately, however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?

As seniors, there was an initial excitement amongst my friends when school authorities announced a delay in reopening, we perceived it as more of an “extended holiday” because we didn’t really understand the gravity of the situation. It wasn’t until we were notified that school had been postponed “indefinitely until further notice” that we realized just how serious COVID-19 was and, with study leave in two months, we faced the possibility of not receiving an official graduation. There were also a lot of discussions and uncertainty surrounding the plausibility of continuing Dulwich’s graduating traditions. Previous commitments and clubs have also been paused, so having to work on projects remotely has also been challenging. Fortunately, with the virus currently controlled in Beijing, we were able to at least hold a small IB art exhibition off-campus to photograph our work and complete the IB Diploma Program. And with the school reopening date set to be Apr 27, we are all very excited to see our friends back at school.

What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled? Prom, graduation ceremony, etc.

Grad trip, the leaver’s assembly, and graduation dinner were definitely among the most highly anticipated. I was also looking forward to ACAMIS football, which would have been one of my last tournaments with collegiate sports being so competitive. As for grad trip, my friends and I had booked our tickets to Japan and Korea back in January, so the discussions we were forced to have about cancellation policies and refunds were very difficult. The whole experience has honestly been an emotional rollercoaster of wishful thinking and consequential disappointments, but we are all holding out hope that graduation will commence as planned in late-May now that we are all going back to school!

Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all?

I think the situation is less stressful for those of us who plan on going to the US, but when IBO released the cancellation of exams, I was definitely worried about my conditional offers in the UK. Fortunately, universities have been extremely understanding in combating the obstacles presented by this pandemic, and I receive information daily through email and via social media about the means of support available to incoming students.

Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation? If so, how? Were you planning on going abroad for college? Doing a bit of traveling during the Summer? Etc.

I’ve always imagined myself studying in the US, so I remain optimistic that my plans will resume as normal. While I do have safety concerns considering the severity of COVID-19 in the US and reported cases of xenophobia, I am hopeful that the actions taken towards combating these problems will alleviate some of the stress come August. I would love to travel over the summer, but probably only domestically.

Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience? Have you and your friends been able to “hang out” on Zoom or FaceTime? Have you made backup plans for a Prom in case it gets officially canceled?

It’s interesting to watch scenarios strictly seen on film unfold in real life. Social distancing has definitely brought our creativity up to a whole new level. NetflixParty is very popular, and so are games like drawful and skribbl.io. I think we’re all very eager to physically be with our friends once restrictions are relaxed, so the backup plans we have so far mainly consist of get-togethers and outdoor picnics where everyone can communicate face-to-face without the restrictions of bad Internet.

Photos: Kristal D.

Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately, for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to salvage those memories.

Meet Penelope Z., an 18-year-old student from Beijing who’s finishing her senior year at Beijing World Youth Academy (BWYA) and will be an incoming freshman at Northwestern University.

Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally? What were your initial thoughts? At what point did you realize the devastation and disruption it was causing? How do you currently feel?

I care a lot about my own health and my family’s health, so I never really underestimated the seriousness of this virus. Actually, my parents and I planned to travel to Sanya in January to visit my grandparents, but we canceled our flight because of the bad situation in China at the time. I currently feel that there is no need to stress about the virus, and there is no need to panic about it, if you are already taking precautionary measures.

Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?

Yes, senior year should have been the highlight of our life. Unfortunately, my friends and I cannot meet up frequently and we had to communicate via WeChat and communicate with our teachers via Teams. My friends and I mainly just chat about what we are up to lately, what fun things we are doing and how we are enriching our lives during this time. Some of my friends are planning to learn a new language during this time and I also plan on improving my French, so that is pretty exciting.

What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled?

So far our school has informed us an online graduation ceremony will be held instead, though we all really genuinely hoped that these events would not be canceled, as the graduation ceremony and the final prom are like the “finale” of high school that I was looking forward to.

Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all?

Our school is a very organized and experienced community, and the administration has provided students and parents with very clear information as to how COVID-19 will affect our graduation. The short answer is that it has not affected my ability to graduate. Even though the IB has canceled the final exams, our school has made arrangements and plans that will ensure we graduate successfully.

Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation? If so, how? Were you planning on going abroad for college? Doing a bit of traveling during the Summer? Etc.

It has definitely affected my plans for after graduation. My friends and I were planning to travel together to Japan or Germany in July to celebrate our graduation from high school, but now it does not seem possible anymore, which is certainly a disappointment. I was planning on going abroad for college, but whether or not we can attend colleges abroad without any postponement or delay in August or September really depends on how the international situation evolves with regards to COVID-19.

Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience? Have you and your friends been able to “hang out” on Zoom or FaceTime? Have you made backup plans for a Prom in case it gets officially canceled?

Yes! I chatted with a lot of my friends via WeChat call. Quarantine is really boring, especially when it stretches on for weeks now, so I have been trying out new things such as cooking, and I have also been reading a lot of great novels to make each day more interesting.

Stay safe everyone!!!

Photos: Penelope Z

Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately, for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to salvage those memories.

Meet Haerin L., from South Korea who’s currently a senior at Beijing No. 55 High School International Students Section.

Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally? What were your initial thoughts? At what point did you realize the devastation and disruption it was causing? How do you currently feel?

When COVID-19 was rapidly spreading in China, started from Wuhan, my mother and I decided to go to Korea earlier than we originally planned, as Korea had far fewer patients back then. Initially, in January, I thought COVID-19 would be a domestic problem so that by the end of the Winter vacation things would go normal again. However, in the second week of February, Korea experienced the outburst of COVID-19, and that was when I realized that the situation was becoming more serious than I expected. However, I still insisted on remaining in Korea as my school decided to apply online teaching skills using “tengxun jiaoyu” programs. I could not risk the possibility of infection from the airport. Furthermore, I thought it would be safer in Korea (at least I can stay with my parents) than in China, as both my parents could not go back to China due to their jobs.

Right now, I cannot go back to China though I really want to, as Korean airlines canceled all the flights for Beijing until April. Currently, I feel absolutely awful and lonely as I could not communicate with anyone, staying in my house all alone. But I’ve attempted to overcome these gloomy emotions by exercising and reading various books.

Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately, however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?

The saddest thing is that I lost my opportunity to see my classmates again. As our school is an international department, we often choose colleges located in different countries, often even in different continents. Some people go to the US, some people stay in China, some people go back to their own countries. It is obvious that our whole grade is not able to meet each other ever again after this year. That recognition made me sad. Our grade only has approximately 20 people and I’ve known most of them since I was in 8th grade. Regardless of our nationality, the whole grade is a whole big family. It feels like I do not get any chance to even properly say goodbye to my family. Nowadays, my friends and I often talk about how we are going to miss each other in college. We also often talk about the past. Since we’ve known each other since middle school, there’s a lot of memories to share. We talk about how we miss the time we share; not only big events like culture trips, but small, mundane things like getting school buses every morning together and going to McDonald’s together after class. I know I’m going to miss those tiny little activities.

What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled? Prom, graduation ceremony, etc.

I was looking forward to the graduation ceremony more than a Prom. Graduation ceremony feels like the proper ending for my high school era. Also, when I looked at my parents’ albums, they had a picture or two from their graduation ceremony. Whenever they found the picture, they started to remember every single detail from their high school, about their classes, friends and all the joyful events. Since my childhood, I thought it would be nice to have a picture from high school graduation ceremony so that I could remember my high school memories clearly later. So I’m really disappointed that the school said there is a high possibility of the cancellation of the graduation ceremony.

Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all?

IB announced the cancellation of May 2020 final exams. My school also recently announced the cancellation of our graduation exam, which was also the mock exam for the May 2020 IB final exam. Fortunately, I am able to graduate as my school will give the final score for the second semester of the final year based on previous GPA and internal assignments. I have no idea how IB will grade the students instead of the final exam yet.

Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation? If so, how? Were you planning on going abroad for college? Doing a bit of traveling during the Summer? Etc.

I planned a trip to Europe after graduation with my cousins. As I spent my teenage years in China, it was supposed to be a big family reunion. But the situation in Europe is getting serious now, so the plan was eventually canceled.

Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience? Have you and your friends been able to “hang out” on Zoom or FaceTime? Have you made backup plans for a Prom in case it gets officially canceled?

My friends and I usually talk in WeChat. One time, we used “tengxun jiaoyu” to communicate with each other, but soon we dropped that idea as mutual communication was impossible in that way. My Korean friends planned to have a little meeting in Korea during July, but it is not a Prom since not all students can attend it.

Thanks for giving me a chance to share my experience during this serious pandemic situation. Hope everyone is dealing with the COVID-19 crisis well.

Photos: Haerin L., Unsplash

Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately, for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to salvage those memories.

Meet Jennifer Z.! Jennifer Z. was born in China but spent the majority of her childhood in Australia. She’s currently a Year 13 student at Dulwich College Beijing (DCB).

Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally? What were your initial thoughts? At what point did you realize the devastation and disruption it was causing? How do you currently feel?

The first time I saw a report on COVID-19, I was about to fly out for Chinese New Year. During the next week of festivities, the whole thing completely slipped out of my mind. When I got back to Beijing, it was surreal to turn on the TV and see that it was now a nationwide pandemic. It seems like everything escalated all at once after that: school getting canceled, theaters and malls shutting down, all large public meetings being banned. Living in Beijing right now feels a little like inhabiting a ghost town.

Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately, however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?

Although everyone’s doing our best to stay positive, it’s definitely hard not to feel like we’re missing out sometimes. Leavers’ assembly, grad trip, the last day of high school, these are all supposed to be major milestones in our lives, and knowing that we’ll never get to experience them in the way other classes have experienced them is disheartening. Nevertheless, the school is still planning ways we can celebrate under our current circumstances. We’re incredibly lucky to still be safe and to have methods like WeChat/FaceTime to communicate with each other.

What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled? 

Above anything, I was looking forward to my grad trip. My friends and I were planning to take a two-week trip to Korea and Japan, and before the outbreak we’d sketched out an itinerary and even started booking accommodation. Sadly, all that has been put on hold due to the outbreak.

Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all?

Luckily, the impact has been quite minimal. Although IB May exams have been canceled, the IBO has been very supportive with ensuring that students still receive a diploma through a thorough grading process. Colleges have also shown a commendable amount of understanding during this time, sending out constant updates and resources for mental health support to prospective students.

Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation? If so, how? 

Like many of my peers, I’ve been planning to go to the States for college for as long as I can remember. With the recent spread of the virus across the US, however, it’s disheartening to turn on the news every day and see escalating incidences of xenophobia and discrimination against Asian-Americans abroad. Of course, there’s also the unresolved question of whether we can get a student visa in time for the start of the Fall semester. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things will be better by September!

Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience?

Of course! Over the last few weeks, I’ve participated in and heard about some truly creative online hangouts, from virtual brunch to WeChat game nights to a group baking competition held over video call. It’s funny how before the pandemic, we were always told off for using social media too much, but now that everyone’s in quarantine, our digital addiction is what’s keeping us sane.

Photos: Courtesy of Jennifer Z.

Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately, for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to salvage those memories.

Meet Fatima, a 16-year-old from Azerbaijan who’s finishing her year at Beijing Number 55 High School.

Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally?

This outbreak really affected me. At first I thought it was just an annual flu, I didn’t think it was a big deal, but then I found out that a lot of people are losing their lives because of this coronavirus, so for our health, we need to be quarantined at home, and stay safe. I was a person who liked to stay at home. I sometimes would be very lazy to go out, but since the outbreak, I found it’s difficult to stay at home, and sometimes feel very strange. Beijing these days doesn’t even have cars on the streets, and this also caused Beijing to have better air quality.

This outbreak has also affected me academically. I thought we would have normal school, but as time passed, the outbreak became more and more severe, school was delayed, and we had no way to go to school, so we can only do online classes for our studies.

Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?

It’s a great pity that we can’t see each other in our senior year of high school, we can only contact each other with WeChat and other social media platforms. The most recent conversations I’ve had with my friends is Prom and the graduation trip. We’ve been planning where our Prom is going to be, what kind of dress to wear, and where we can plan to go out for our trip. But we don’t know yet whether these activities will carry on properly. I hope the virus will go away soon, and we can meet each other as soon as possible.

What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled? Prom, graduation ceremony, etc.

I don’t know when we’re going to start school yet, but the last thing I want to be postponed and canceled is the Prom. Whether it is Junior High School graduation or Senior High School graduation, students will always hold a Prom, which has become a traditional activity in our school. If the graduation ceremony because of the outbreak was canceled, I will be very sad.

I am also looking forward to the graduation ceremony. I believe that one of a students’ greatest wishes is to throw their hat in the graduation ceremony, and I hope that this year our classmates can throw a graduation hat. I am also very much looking forward to the graduation trip between our friends. This will be my first trip with friends to other countries, so I very much hope that by then the virus will see a very big improvement, so we can all do these activities for graduation.

Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all? Are you able to take all the necessary High School Exit Exams, College Placement Tests, etc.

Overall this outbreak won’t affect my graduation and university interview. IB canceled their exams in May this year because of COVID-19, but they will still give us our certificates depending on our work. Our school grades will also be based on our homework and coursework, to give us the corresponding results as graduation test results.

College entrance exams will be using video calls for interviews, so this outbreak won’t affect my overall graduation and entrance exams.

Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation? If so, how? Were you planning on going abroad for college? Doing a bit of traveling during the Summer? Etc.

COVID-19 really affected my life after graduation. I originally wanted to travel abroad with my family and friends during the Summer vacation, but now have to consider whether this virus will be resolved, and if the trip will be delayed or not. So I don’t have an accurate answer yet. I will not go abroad to go to college, I will continue to go to college in Beijing.

Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience? Have you and your friends been able to “hang out” on Zoom or FaceTime? Have you made backup plans for a Prom in case it gets officially canceled?

My friends and I have been chatting on social media during the outbreak, like WeChat and Instagram, and we only talk about where we could hold a Prom if there was one, but we haven’t talked about where we could hold it if it was canceled. I think we’re going to end up hosting our high school Prom indoors.

Photos: Courtesy of Fatima, Pixabay, Unsplash

Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately, for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to salvage those memories.

Meet Jun Young O., an 18 year old senior student at AISB School – Hope International. Originally from South Korea, Jun Young is the President of the Student Council of AISB School – Hope International.

Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally?

I remember watching the news about a new disease spreading from Wuhan in early January. I was there just a couple months ago for a volleyball game exchange, so I thought that it was no big deal. But I realized that the virus was more serious when the school extended our vacation. I ended up flying to South Korea to avoid the virus. It’s too bad that the schools and facilities had to close due to this outbreak. I’m just hoping to bowl and hang out with my friends without the mask.

Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately, however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?

It’s too bad that my senior year had to go down like this. None of my friends thought this was going to happen. We planned our senior trip throughout the year, anxiously waiting for that day to finally arrive. Now it’s all canceled. But we’re still trying to stay positive. It’s nice to take a quiz on the couch, my friends and I talk a lot about funny things that happened while we’re in the house with our family. It’s nice to be able to talk to my friends amid the outbreak.

What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled? 

The senior trip. A lot of my classmates were disappointed when the airline company mailed us to give us a refund. We are supposed to be surfing and drinking coconut water on the beach by now. We still don’t know if we can hold the last high school prom. But thankfully, there is no news on canceling our graduation ceremony yet, I really hope that won’t happen.

Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all? Are you able to take all the necessary High School Exit Exams, College Placement Tests, etc.

Unfortunately, the March and May SATs were canceled. I was planning to take the test to raise my grade. But the cancellation also gives me more time to focus on the AP exams and applications for Korean universities. Thankfully, my school is supporting a new e-learning system, so I should have no problem graduating with a high school diploma.

Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation? If so, how?

My friend and I were planning to take a tour of Korea after graduation. Since I grew up in China, I didn’t get enough chance to travel around my country, so we thought it would be fun to travel to Korea just by ourselves. I hope that this outbreak will settle down before the trip. COVID-19 also gave me an opportunity to take a closer look at Korea while I’m here and allow me to have a deeper understanding of the people and the culture. It’s a fun experience.

Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience? Have you and your friends been able to “hang out” on Zoom or FaceTime? Have you made backup plans for a Prom in case it gets officially canceled?

I don’t like using Zoom to call my friends. It’s like hanging out at the school during the weekends. I’d like to go back to school as soon as possible and prepare the events to compensate for the quarantine.

Is there anything else you’d like to include that hasn’t been asked?

Staying positive and appreciating what I have has helped me a lot during the quarantine. I’d like to suggest the same for the fellow seniors and students in Beijing!

Photos: Courtesy of Jun Young O.

Many of us would agree that our Senior year of High School was one of the most memorable years of our life. Between graduation, college acceptance letters, Prom, and the knowledge that it’s the last year spent in your hometown (and parents’ house no less), it’s a time that we both never want to end, and can’t get past soon enough. Unfortunately, for the class of 2020, most of these traditions were devastated by COVID-19. In this series, we chat with Seniors to find out the extent of the impact to their final year of High School and what they’ve done to salvage those memories.

Please introduce yourself.

My Name is Chloe C., and I am originally from Taipei, Taiwan. I am currently a senior at the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB).

Can you briefly walk us through how COVID-19 has evolved for you, personally? 

As someone who lives in Beijing, the Coronavirus outbreak definitely has affected me personally. Not just academically, but there are also inconveniences that come with it, such as needing to be quarantined at home. Initially, I didn’t expect the outbreak to last for so long, as the school hoped to resume mid-February. However, it is clearly a lot more severe than what we all expected, affecting students from all over the world, not just China. Currently, I feel fortunate that none of my friends or family members have been severely affected by the outbreak. Though, it is extremely disappointing to miss out on the last semester of high school.

Senior year of High School is supposed to be one of the most memorable years of your life. Unfortunately, however, you and your peers aren’t getting to enjoy all that it has to offer. Can you tell us a bit about that? What are the conversations that are happening amongst your friends right now?

Since the outbreak, my friends and I have been discussing how this semester should have been. We initially imagined that we would go on a senior trip after graduation, Prom, sports tournaments, etc. However, now all these are canceled, we have been trying to still rearrange events like senior trips. College decisions also come out during this period of time, which is unfortunate that we cannot share the excitement with one another in person. It is certainly harder to keep in touch with each other due to the different time zones we are in and the fact that we cannot meet each other in person. Yet, methods like WeChat calls, Zoom and other social media are helping us to interact with friends during this difficult time.

What activities were you most looking forward to this year that have either been postponed or canceled?

One of the events that I was most looking forward to was the senior trip. WAB has annual senior trips that take all seniors to different cities in China. It has always been an enjoyable tradition, which is why it is so disappointing that we won’t be able to participate. On top of that, our own senior trip with friends will also need to be postponed due to how inconvenient traveling is right now. Furthermore, the graduation was an event that I have been looking forward to. Traditionally, WAB takes seniors to the Beijing Confucius Temple for their graduations. We planned to celebrate with our friends and families at this beautiful Chinese cultural landmark, but it is uncertain now if this will still happen.

Other than the whole-grade events, the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC) sports tournament and events that I wished to hold had to be canceled too. There’re many projects that I was working on before the outbreak that cannot be continued, such as my Zer0 environmental club.

Has COVID-19 affected your ability to graduate at all? Are you able to take all the necessary High School Exit Exams, College Placement Tests, etc.

The outbreak has definitely been affecting my academic schedules. The IB Final Exam was planned to be held during late April to late May. However, the IBO has decided to cancel the exams to ensure all students’ safety. Fortunately, it is clearly stated that all students will still get the credits and diploma they deserve and all students will graduate successfully if they meet the requirements. It is also great to know that many colleges that sent out conditional offers have decided to be more flexible or even cancel the requirement because of the changes. On the other hand, the juniors may have to struggle a bit due to online learning and the cancellation of standardized testing (SAT, ACT).

Has COVID-19 affected your plans for after graduation? 

I never planned to stay in Asia for university. Though, I did want to have another college tour after all my college decisions come out just to help me decide on which college I like more. This tour, however, will probably need to be postponed or canceled, depending on how the COVID-19 situation goes. I will most likely be attending one of the universities in the US or Canada in September, which I hope won’t be affected by any further incidents.

Despite all that has happened this year, have you done anything to try and salvage these last few months of your High School experience? 

One of my friends actually contacted me about organizing a mini-Prom for our friend group. She made the decision because she thought that Prom is something very unique and important to experience in our senior year and it would be a shame if it is just canceled. These last few months of high school have definitely been quite stressful because of all the college decisions coming out and needing to catch up with academic work through online learning. Yet, it is great to have access to Zoom and social media (Instagram, Facebook, Snap Chat, etc.) to connect with friends virtually. During these months, I got in touch with friends outside of WAB that I met in different sports tournaments, which was absolutely wonderful to catch up with each other’s lives. I was able to meet up with a few friends in Taiwan, but it is harder to hangout in Beijing due to the quarantines.

Anything else you’d like to share…

As an IB Art student, it is beyond disappointing that the final IB Art Exhibition has to be postponed or even canceled. Students have been working on their art pieces for two years and were all enthusiastic to share their hard work with others. I was really looking forward to this experience, but now I can only hope for the best that the exhibition won’t be canceled.

Photos: Courtesy of Chloe C.