2020 was supposed to be a wonderful year. Starting off with the turn of a new decade and the start of a new chapter in many people’s lives.

Everyone quickly found out that this was, in fact, not the case. A pandemic, murder hornets, an election unlike any other, and many political debates later, we made it to the new year.

2020 is going down in the history books for sure, but what’s going to remind FHS students of their year? Will it be the quarantine or the chaos of the election?

After the announcement of school moving online, first for two weeks, then until spring break, then ultimately until the end of the school year, a lot of students were impacted in different ways due to the lack of social interaction in person.

“The most impactful thing to me was the fact that I could only see the people in my house in person and everyone else is just a voice online,” says sophomore Reece Clements.

Many felt like they were isolated from their friends and the real world, having to sit behind a screen for much of their day.

“I lost a bunch of friends and went through some traumatic things. COVID didn’t help because I couldn’t see family or friends,” says sophomore Karis Moore.

Some found themselves sleeping more or less than usual, their schedules all jumbled and chaotic compared to what they were used to during school and extracurriculars.

“I was always tired. My sleep schedule was basically I slept whenever I was tired, which was all of the time,” says sophomore Jack Kinn.

COVID seemed to be the most major event for many this year, finding themselves in a situation where they’d never been before.

“It kinda feels like COVID is taking over our lives at every moment,” says freshman Marissa Litteral.

It was definitely an overtaking part of the year, with our quarantine that was only supposed to last until the summer lasting much longer than that.

Although the pandemic and quarantine in 2020 made it tough, many students found ways to make the most of it. What were some of the positives of the year?

“I got closer with my sister and made new friends and entered high school,” says freshman Nicole Susko.

We may have been far apart, but students found ways to connect with each other through social media, playing video games together, or doing things from a distance.

“I made more/better relationships with some of my friends via talking online,” says sophomore Reece Clements.

Other students bonded with, or had special experiences with, their families.

“I guess what made my year, was I got a little baby cousin, so that’s pretty cool,” says freshman Casey Daniels.

2020 might have had some serious downs to the few ups, but the year wasn’t all bad for everyone.

The first week of 2021 hasn’t been much better than the entirety of 2020, however there’s still a whole year ahead of us to make it great.