“Think of it like an extended spring break.” 2020 through the looking glass

One year ago, Highlands announced that students and faculty would go into a two-week Non-Traditional Instructional period. Little did we know, everything would change.

In remembrance of the year 2020, Highlands Editors Megan Benzing and Tessa Killen compiled a digital diary to document the events of the crazy year. This digital diary was written by both Benzing and Killen, but Killen compiled and designed the article into diary pages. The diary is attached above within the photo gallery.

“If we hadn’t designed the article into digestible diary entries and pages, the wall of text would’ve been too intimidating to read,” Killen described. “Our editor-in-chief, senior Lexie Crawford, actually gave us the idea to make a digital diary!”

These events include the 2020 boys basketball game against Newport Central Catholic, the lack of the Fourth of July parade, murder hornets, Among Us, and more!

“Think of it like an extended spring break” covers the intense roller coaster of emotions and confusion that many students experienced during 2020. The following piece is a recap of the past year through the eyes of an unnamed student. It is meant to be read as diary excerpts instead of a traditional journalistic feature.

The student character is completely fictional and is not based on any student who is currently enrolled at Highlands High School. This character’s junior year came to a strange end with the start of 2020 “March Madness,” as with the rest of the student body. However, the strange events bled into their senior year. Limited events, cancellation of dances, quarantine birthdays, and impromptu non-traditional instructional days induced mayhem for them. But, despite the “roller coaster,” as previously mentioned, they were able to persevere and hobble their way towards the finish line of graduation.

Benzing and Killen hope students can connect to their created character, as that was their sole mission with this article.