This semester began as any other, but as the third quarter came to a close and students rushed to spring break, nobody in Puma Nation knew that Mar. 6 would be their last day stepping foot on campus. The COVID-19 pandemic brought life — including high school — to a standstill, yet, we were able to find some things to be happy about as the semester comes to a close.

HOORAY: Winter sports ended with a bang, as every team (boys/girls soccer and basketball, as well as wrestling) all made the playoffs. Wrestling saw it’s finest season in school history, with 170-pound senior Ikaika Maldonado finishing as the 6A runner-up. In addition to winter sports, spring sports were off to a great start. Boys’ volleyball was off to an all-time great start (10-2).

BOO: COVID-19 caused Arizona to go into quarantine and students to continue their classes online. Large events like prom and graduation were cancelled, sports teams could not finish their season, theater could not perform in front of a packed auditorium, and so on. It has been a tough quarter for students and teachers alike.

HOORAY: Principal Dan Serrano, who during his online graduation speech, got choked up when talking about everything the Class of 2020 has lost. He, like all of us, has had to find strength in a difficult time. While graduation was virtual in ’20, the ceremony kept its traditional Perry feel. Good job to the school for making the most out of an unwanted and unforeseen circumstance.

BOO: AP tests being administered online, but it has brought about some challenges such as students being unable to submit their answers, various students being kicked off of the website, or some students having their testing devices disapproved by College Board after they finished testing. Overall, online AP tests had much room for improvement, and it seems as if College Board spent more time creating cheating-detecting resources rather than creating an effective test.

HOORAY: Although being stuck inside because of the COVID-19 outbreak has proved challenging, we can attribute the cure to our boredom to amazing shows such as Netflix’s Tiger King and time-consuming video games such as Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons! 

BOO: Seniors missed out on many senior experiences that they will not be able to get back in their final year of high school. Such as senior ditch day (officially), or senior spirit week. We all had our last day of school without even knowing it would be. 

HOORAY: Zoom backgrounds during classes are very fun and allow for a chill environment to just chat, discuss a few things, and then leisurely catch up on how everyone is doing while in quarantine.