Many members of the Class of 2021 are learning to accept they’re going to have a very untraditional end to their high-school experience.

So far seniors have missed out on going on regular college campus tours, normal sports seasons and their final performances in plays and concerts. Looking ahead, seniors might miss out on end-of-the-year activities like their senior picnic, prom, a bowling trip, a traditional graduation and the post-graduation up-all-night celebration. Seniors have had their photos taken for the yearbook.

“It feels like it’s going by really fast, but nothing is happening at the same time,” said senior Kyle DeChello, who is hoping to study exercise science at Southern Connecticut State University next fall.

A distance learner in the class of 2021, senior Emma Warren, feels the activities being cancelled is for the best and is meant to secure the safety of all seniors. She said she is ready to move past high school in order to continue with her dreams of becoming a teacher in the future.

On a positive note, many seniors said they were able to skip taking the SATs since many colleges are making it optional to submit those scores this year due to the pandemic.

Several seniors said touring colleges virtually was convenient, but disappointing in a lot of ways.

“You can’t see the inside of the college in person, and sometimes it can be a bit misleading,” senior Angelia Beams said.

Warren said she did all her college visits virtually.

“The website links it, and most of them you just visit,” she said.

Leanna Corvera, a 2018 West Haven High school graduate, said none of her quintessential senior activities were cancelled. Corevera said she was able to go to in-person tours at the University of New Haven and the University of Connecticut. She ended up going to UNH.

“I’m very sorry to the seniors who missed out on these activities,” Corvera said.

Beams wishes that her senior year of high school was as normal as everybody else’s who graduated years prior. She reflected fondly on life last year before the pandemic.

“I didn’t wear a mask, didn’t need to worry about close proximity, and didn’t need to worry about big gatherings,” she said. “We were able to do what we wanted. If I had the opportunity to graduate at least last year or the year prior, I would have taken that chance.”