It’s a topic you can’t escape, and by this point, the majority of us are simply tired of hearing about it and waiting out our sentence until our quarantine is over.

Coronavirus. CV-19.

With Cotter students having  finished their third week of online learning, Zoom is no longer just an onomatopoeia. Just a month ago, The Cotter community was enjoying spring break, so how and when did COVID-19 escalate to the extent it currently is in and what does the future hold regarding the rest of the school year?

March 13- Monday and Tuesday (3/16 & 3/17) Cotter  announces it is closed with a possibility of more days of school off to follow.

March 15- Closure of school announced to continue through March 29. The first week will have no version of school in order to prepare before beginning with online classes.

March 18-20- Students retrieve necessary materials from the building for online learning

March 23- First day of online classes

March 28- All non-essential business’ are closed in the state of Minnesota

April 9- Governor Waltz announces schools to be closed until May 4th

With these events occurring in such quick succession, it is impossible to predict the future for what will occur regarding the rest of the school year, as well as the possibility of shelter in place continuing into the summer months after school is over for the 2019-2020 school year.

Students of all ages are anticipating the worst, yet still keeping some hope for the best. While events of all kinds are being canceled many people are planning their summers already based on the idea that quarantine will likely continue through at least part of the summer.

“I’m going to miss seeing Erick at marching band this summer,and Mark, and Gar,” junior Joe Costello said.

“Yeah, I already assume that (marching band) is over,” another junior, Rob Besek, said.

Along with the fate of marching band on the line, many Ramblers are questioning how and if some of their other favorite spring and summer activities and events are going to come to fruition.

With the speech season being put on hold, prom is unlikely to happen, and spring sports like track, softball, baseball and tennis among others either shortened or canceled, Cotter is simply left with disappointed students across all grade levels.

For seniors, however, when these activities unexpectedly get canceled, it isn’t just a simple action to wait until next year for their group to meet instead, but rather an abrupt and unexpected end of their whole high school experience, leaving many simply missing their last months together.

With the fate of many spring and summer activities on the line, it is hard not to think that the outcome of this will be the worst, but looking back at the timeline of how quickly this situation developed , some hope that the return to normal will also come sooner rather than later. Time will tell.