Derrick. Senior Class, 2021.

This school year is unlike any other. Sure, last year was strange, with everything shutting down during the final months, but this year–it’s a new kind of strange. At least in our area, kids are in and they are out. One day your friends are in class and the next day they are gone–for days and days. There is no blueprint for this kind of thing. No manual that gives a step by step process for doing school in a pandemic. But here we are, figuring it out as we go.

I feel for this senior class, as much as I felt for last years seniors. There is no normal. Events forgone, plans changed, unknowns absolutely everywhere. And yet, here they are–doing their best to enjoy every moment of it.

Derrick is one of those seniors. Figuring it out and doing his best to enjoy this senior-year-like-no-other. Another senior who proves to me how bright the future generation really is. Another senior who gives me so much hope for the future.

Derrick is a baseball player. A hard worker. A genuine soul who exudes kindness. Seriously, so much kindness. What a gift to have humans like this in the world.

Derrick, congratulations on your senior year. May you soak all of the goodness out of each moment of this crazy year.