Lost rites – seniors, parents lament their curtailed year

LACONIA — If you’re a high school graduate, chances are the end of your senior year was punctuated by a series of traditions and ceremonies: awards nights, baccalaureate dinners, proms, class trips, one last season of sports, a chance to say good-bye to a favorite mentor, graduation. Members of the Class of 2020 are looking at the likelihood that they’ll have none of those, as schools are to remain shuttered for the rest of the school year.

What’s that like? In their words: “Really disappointing,” “a hard pill to swallow,” “heartbreaking,” “definitely not what I was expecting,” “weird and upsetting,” and “terrible.”

That’s what Tyler Richter, Heather Ausevich and Nicole Turpin of Laconia High School, Brenna Chrusciel and Katelyn Bousquet of Inter-Lakes High School, and Thomas Hickey of Moultonborough Academy said on Monday, a few days after Gov. Chris Sununu announced that public schools, which closed abruptly in mid-March, won’t reopen before the end of the current school year.

“I’m heartbroken,” said Tyler Richter. He will be attending Bentley University in the fall, where he will study corporate accounting and finance, and play rugby.

But Richter, who will be one of the top 10 graduates of his class at Laconia High School, said he was hoping to savor his last months at LHS.

“I have been so involved, and I have loved every second in that school. It is like my home,” Richter said. He was a three-sport athlete, on top of being an excellent student. Most weekdays, Richter was in the building from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. He was looking forward to all of the little things that have taken place for senior classes for generations, and, as a catcher, he was specifically excited for one last season behind home plate.

“To have it end this way is terrible. But I know I’m not the only one in this situation, I know it’s nationwide. Being in your hometown and being in your senior year, and not getting to wear your cap and gown and walk across that stage, it doesn’t seem fair right now,” Richter said.

“That last Friday was our last day at the high school, and we didn’t even realize it, so we took it for granted,” Nicole Turpin said, referring to March 13, the last school day prior to Gov. Sununu declaring that all schools in the state would switch to “remote learning” to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. At that time, it was only a temporary measure.

Though she said she sympathized with the public health concerns behind the decision, she said she “was crushed” six days ago, when Sununu extended the prevention measure through the end of this school year. “It is hard to realize that we aren’t going to be able to experience all of the ceremonies that other classes have.”

Turpin is still deciding which college to commit to – she plans to study either biomedical engineering or mechanical engineering – and said this is a hard time to make that decision, especially when she feels she’ll be leaving her hometown with unfinished business.

“We’ve been talking about doing a Zoom graduation, or something like that, but I don’t think it will ever measure up,” Turpin said.

Heather Ausevich said she’ll feel a stab of pain whenever she hears someone talk about their own graduation or senior prom, knowing that members of her class won’t have their own such memories.

“Just sitting here and realizing it, it hurts, every single time, just realizing that.”

“It’s a hard pill to swallow,” Ausevich continued. She’ll be attending Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston this fall, but is holding out hope for some sort of ceremony before then.

“Hopefully, at one point in the later months, we’ll be able to come together and celebrate the class of 2020,” Ausevich said.

Brenna Chrusciel, a senior at Inter-Lakes High School, said she’s lived in Meredith her whole life. It’s a “tight-knit community,” she said, and she has watched previous classes have their moment every year, and she always looked forward to her own.

Yet, Chrusciel, who keeps herself busy year-round with summer jobs, dance and the school’s flag squad, said there’s a silver lining to the widespread social distancing.

“I’ve gotten to spend time with my family a lot, it’s really brought me to not take school for granted and not take my friends for granted,” Chrusciel said.

She’ll be studying social work at the University of New Hampshire in the fall, and because of the cancellation of regular school this spring, she’s spending more time with her younger brother, mother and father than she ever has.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’m never home,” Chrusciel said. “I’m really glad that I get to spend time with my family before starting a whole new life,” she said.

Katelyn Bousquet, one of Chrusciel’s classmates at Inter-Lakes, said her class has a lot to celebrate, and noted that administrators and parents are still trying to find a way to do just that.

“It’s a little weird and upsetting that it ended this way, but it’s nice knowing that people are still trying to help us,” Bousquet said.

“There’s been a lot of ups and downs in our grade,” Bousquet said. There were disagreements that divided the class into factions, then those divisions were overcome. And many of her classmates shared in athletic victories. The volleyball team rose to dominance, and there were smaller victories that were similarly sweet. The girls’ soccer team had wallowed at the bottom of the ranking in recent memory, but has since returned to contention. In this school year, they managed to beat Gilford, a perennial powerhouse.

“It’s been a nice journey,” Bousquet said.

Thomas Hickey’s family moved from Billerica, Massachusetts to Moultonborough three years ago. Since then, he feels that he’s made himself a home at Moultonborough Academy – it helps that he won the state golf championship in 2018. He’ll be attending Franklin Pierce University in the fall, where he’ll study business management and play on the golf team.

But, like the other members of the Class of 2020, he’s feeling the loss of his senior year rites.

“It’s terrible, honestly. I miss seeing all my friends, I wish I could have prom and graduation,” Hickey said. He said he hoped his school would be able to have some small ceremony this summer, even if it’s just the students, principal and superintendent.

“With all this going on, I would be fine to just see all my friends one last time,” Hickey said.

The parent’s view

Since the first day of kindergarten, parents have been supporting and encouraging their child’s education. They’ve also been bearing witness to their son’s or daughter’s growth.

“As parents you feel badly for your child and all seniors," said Chad Richter, Tyler’s father. "The hard work they have put into their classes, the endless hours of practice for sports and all the extra-curricular activities. The last quarter of school is their time to shine and be rewarded for all their hard work.” Tyler won’t be able to play baseball for LHS again – and his dad won’t have another chance to watch him step to the plate with the game on the line.

“These times are gone forever, times that cannot be redone or replayed,” Chad said.

Becky Richter is also thinking about the smaller moments.

“There are so many things these seniors are missing out on for that final time,” Becky said. “The last lunch in the cafe, the last time the bell rings, the list goes on and on.” Then, of course, there’s the loss of graduation.

“It is something that has been taken from us parents also,” Becky said. “It is a milestone, a moment we have imagined for nearly 18 years. For me, it was to watch my son walk across that stage and be handed his diploma. We have all imagined it, and now we may never see that

“It’s just sad they didn’t get the chance to have that final farewell. And neither did we,” Becky said.

Kate Chruscial, Brenna’s mom, said she is trying to figure out how to best be a parent in an unprecedented situation.

“The biggest struggle, still, is the right way to support them,” Kate said. “There’s no example to look to, and it’s tough.”

Chruscial said she was proud of the growth Brenna made this year. A shy person by nature, Brenna decided to work two summer jobs last year so she could pay for private dance lessons. This spring, she was supposed to take the stage and dance, with the spotlight on her. It took a lot of work and courage for her daughter to get that opportunity, only to be denied by the virus.

“One thing I’ve reminded her,” Kate said, “You’re here. She’s here, she’s healthy, she’s OK. She does have that next chapter, there’s a lot of good. I just try and remind her and myself that a lot of hard work went into it, the next chapter is the reward.”

“Kids are resilient,” Chad Richter said, expressing hope that they will be able to move on from this – that is, once there’s something to move on to. “We are all hoping for the same outcome of a virus-free environment where things can get back to a normal way of life.”