The date is Aug. 1, a Saturday. The evening sun has long set beyond the horizon, and your seven months of quarantine are fast drawing to a close. Inside of you, there are two wolves: one of them imploring you to work on your summer assignments, and the other one singing “mi pan, su su sum, su su su” on relentless repeat. I will let you decide which one wins. 

With a breakneck speed before which the U.S. COVID-19 curve would quail, school preparations have come upon us. And whether you will pack your bags or start the year remotely, every one of us can concur in one opinion: we have little idea of what we are doing. After a term of online classes, and a summer trapped inside, it feels like a herculean effort to even think about how the coming school year is going to go. From our rising 6th formers, who have to navigate a foreign college climate, to our new 3rd formers, who have to put names to half-covered faces, life is a Razor scooter, and we are but ankles. 

It becomes almost easy to become trapped in our quarantine limbo. Whenever I look over the “rules for reopening,” it feels like my English comprehension just vaporizes and I find myself saying: “I am confusion. America, explain!” But no matter how strange it will feel to return to school with so many changes in place, and a luggage full of masks, I am glad we get the chance to go at all. There may be many uncertainties, and we may not have all the answers to our questions in the moment (like if Carole Baskin really killed her husband), but they will come with time. If anything, at least we can say this for sure: next year will be a testament of the strength of our community and also proof of our skills in facial recognition.