This isn’t the senior year you imagined, but you won’t ever forget it. With spring break plans dashed and coursework moved to Google Classroom, the last couple months of your time at Charles Page High School probably looks quite different than what you have always envisioned. It isn’t fair, but life isn’t and never promised to be. And yet, everything you’ve learned since kindergarten has prepared for you for this. You are resilient, you are strong, and you are equipped ???? this is still your year, Class of 2020.

No one could have predicted this made-for-Hollywood cliffhanger, your belongings left in lockers and plans for prom and graduation suddenly uncertain. You may have envisioned the cinematic moment you would ask your crush to dance or the opportunity to switch the tassel on your graduation cap while your loved ones cheered your name, but this was completely unexpected. While it may be challenging to grapple with, the best is truly yet to come.

Embrace this time. Learn how to make bolognese. Start a podcast. Write a letter to a grandparent. See how fast you can run a mile. Ask a parent to share stories from their senior year of high school. Familiarize yourself with a budgeting app. Read an award-winning book. Try yoga. Life after graduation is full of exploration, so why not start now?

Whether you are heading to college or starting a new job this fall, you will do great things. Though it may be hard to believe, this upheaval will eventually feel like a blip. A decade from now, some of you will be doctors, some of you will be welders, some of you will be landscapers, some of you will be accountants, some of you will be parents, and some of you will be teachers. Each of you will recall this time, completely bewildered that a global pandemic disrupted life as you knew it in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

But as the Sandites of the Class of 2020, you made the most of it ???? an unforgettable ending to a beginning full of glory.