Dear Piedmont,

What’s your hometown like? Have you enjoyed being home with family? Have you started fighting with your siblings yet? What kinds of foods have you learned to cook? How many walks have you taken? How deep is the dent in your couch cushion now? Have you gone to your online classes? Do you miss being able to take notes from a person instead of a person on a screen? What about your friends? How are they, and do you still talk to them every day? How are you?

Well, whatever you’re doing, I hope you’re finding a way to handle life right now. I hope you’re healthy and finding happiness in the little things. If you’re not, remember that this won’t last forever. There will be a tomorrow, and many of you will return to Piedmont eventually, hugging your friends and feeling lucky and blessed for something that we all, perhaps, took for granted.

Many of you will return—but not all. Some of us won’t get the chance to return or hug our friends, learn in a classroom or walk the campus, take pictures in the park or attend another formal, present our capstones properly or say goodbye, so this one…is for the seniors.

As of April 10, 2020, there are 19 states and 3 U.S. territories that have ordered or recommended the closure of schools for the remainder of the academic year. At least 124,000 public and private schools have been affected. By the time that you read this, there may be more. Different states are under different degrees of “advisory”. Some are recommended to close school campuses and some are ordered. Georgia is one of the states currently under a true order to shut down schools. It’s something that’s been very impactful to our lives at Piedmont.

Those of us at Piedmont have experienced rapid room check-outs, a quick 1-week transition to online classes and—now—a month of Zoom experience and social withdrawal. Our students have missed formal, sports events, and performances. Labs have gone hands-off and on-line, the theatre and choral ensembles have pushed performances to September, and next Fall’s sports may be getting a late start as well. Right now, it all depends. So much is dependent on this virus.

But for seniors, we’re staring down a faceless enemy knowing what it took from us, knowing we can’t get it back and knowing we won’t get another chance. COVID-19 took all our final goodbyes, so this article is a chance for some of us to say what we need to say and to leave Piedmont, letting you all know what you meant to us.

I asked some of our seniors about how they were feeling, what they were missing most from Piedmont and what advice they might give. These were some of their most prominent answers.

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Marion Mealor is a Mass Communications and Theatre Arts double major. Marion is a hard and diligent worker who stays involved in nearly everything, or so it seems. Because she is a double major, she was working on 2 capstones at the same time—talk about a full plate. When a student takes part in so much, it can be hard to juggle and easy to complain. For Marion, especially now, It’s important to remember every good thing from along the way. When asked what advice she would give to rising seniors (and this is important for all students), she responded,

“This last semester on campus was incredibly stressful for me…I didn’t realize all the tiny blessings in my life that I was taking for granted until they got canceled and postponed. It took me having to leave campus to realize how much I loved it there, and it took me having to leave the people around me to realize how much I depended on them. This has been a season of growing and learning, but don’t wait to learn it the hard way. Remember that the most important things in life are not for a grade. Remember that things are not promised simply because they are written in your planner. I will envy every moment you get to spend on that campus, so never take it for granted.”

Much love,

Marion

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Hope Wells is a Musical Theatre major who was so excited to have her capstone rehearsals underway. Putting together a fully choreographed, harmonized conglomerate of songs from a plethora of musicals is no easy feat, but this girl was doing it and doing it well. To have something like that taken away, to never have the final product you were working for… is heartbreaking. When asked what she had to say about her senior year getting cut short due to the virus, Hope said,

“To be honest, I hate this so much…so many things that I was so excited about have been ripped away from me. I always try to be that uplifting, positive person who smiles at everyone and makes them feel good, but it is hard to have that kind of happy, bubbly personality when all you feel inside is sadness. My capstone has to be completely rewritten…I am in quarantine on my birthday…I can’t get formal goodbyes with any of my friends or professors…my last theatrical production at Piedmont has been canceled. I don’t mean to be a buzzkill, but I have never wanted to be at school doing what I love more than I do right now.”

Love,

Hope

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Bryce Griggs is a Mass Communications Major, and he ran XC and track for 3 and a half years at Piedmont. Bryce is trying to stay positive about this situation and finish what needs to be done in order to graduate. “It is what it is,” he says. When asked what he will miss most about Piedmont, he answered,

“There are many things that I will miss about Piedmont College. But the thing I will miss the most is being around friends that I have come to be close with. We were all there to support each other and help one another, and it will be different not seeing them every day. My closing statement would be to thank everyone for helping me these past 4 years grow into the person I am today.”

Blessings,

Bryce

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Hannah Marie Davis is a Criminal Justice major with a minor in Sociology and Anthropology. Hannah says that what she will miss most are all the people who were so kind and willing to talk. When asked about what important things she had to give up, she said, “I miss having my own space. I think every senior gave up a lot. We all had to give up 3 years of growing independence…”

I think she put it best, however, when she gave her departing statement. It’s something we’re all feeling right now, and as Hannah put it simply, “Thanks Piedmont. Thank you for the great memories! You’ve been good to me.”

Sincerely,

Hannah

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And you have. You’ve been good to all of us. To every beloved staff member, every professor, every friend and cherished moment—thank you. We couldn’t have made it without you.

All my love,

Chelsea Blane