RE Log Spring 2021

As a senior class, we have definitely banded together and taken this on together. At some point you just have to stop talking about the negatives and switch to the positive. I think that’s what has been good: everyone’s coming together, everyone is super-positive and we are making the most of it. We’re in the midst of a global pandemic; there are a lot of things we can’t do. No one’s been harping on that; instead, it’s like: What can we do? We obviously hope things get better with the vaccine. Second semester senior year, we’re excited. I hope we have commencement. That’s something everyone looks forward to: having an in-person graduation, walking across the stage to get your diploma. I hope I get to have a graduation dress! But – if that can’t happen – I will understand. When this is all over; we’re going to realize what we took for granted before. I love coming to campus. I’m really grateful that I can actually go to school and see my friends. Staring at a computer screen all day for virtual school was very taxing on my brain. I want to be on campus with my friends, and to try to have the most normal school year possible. I’m grateful that we have the technology and resources to deal with all of this. We are not as affected as other schools. Obviously playing sports, especially volleyball, we had to start out slowly. We usually have preseason training in the summer, and obviously there was none of that this year. We were kind of nervous: is there even going to be a season? We started late, and then we started without being able to actually play. We each had to bring our own ball to practice. We could not share balls. We could just pass in the air, pass against the wall, set to ourselves, toss the ball up, go up and hit it, and then go shag our ball. The first month of the season, we couldn’t play with each other. And, since we were playing inside, we wore masks the entire time. It was hard when we first started playing games: You feel suffocated, especially after long rallies, and all you wanted to do was take it off and just take a big deep breath. We ended up having a great season, we won districts, and we came close to advancing to the state semifinals. We’re all super-close on the team. We just love playing together. So we made the most of every minute. We talk about how different this year has been to all other years. Our parents didn’t get to go to games until the postseason. But there was a livestream, and I think my entire family would sit in front of a computer and watch. We played Gulliver; it’s this huge rivalry, and there was hardly anybody in the stands. It was so weird, but we understood: Fans were the first thing to go. We’re obviously not going to have fans. We just had to build our own momentum. We’ve been doing that all year. Honestly no complaints. I’m still having a good time!” Mia Balestra ’21 Volleyball, soccer, track & field In person SPRING 2021 Ransom Everglades LOG 17