“I wanted to get the message to seniors that we care.”

After receiving a note from a member of the school’s Class of 2020 wondering if anyone was thinking about them, Mountlake Terrace High School Principal Greg Schellenberg responded last week with a video designed to comfort those seniors.

“I wanted them to know that they are not alone and not forgotten,” Schellenberg said.

The Terrace seniors – and all the students in the Edmonds School District – have been away from their classrooms since March 12; Washington Governor Jay Inslee closed all schools in the state in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, creating an unprecedented delay in the final months of the current school year and the final months of high school education for the MTHS Class of 2020.

“This spring is different than all previous 59 graduating classes at Terrace,” Schellenberg noted.

The video message includes images of a solemn Schellenberg inside the school’s empty hallways and offices with the song All By Myself playing in the background. Then the words “Terrace Seniors Are … Not By Yourself” appears with screenshots of school faculty and staff.

The video continues with more upbeat music and the messages “got your backs,” “miss our seniors,” “you are not alone,” “go Hawks,” “we believe in you” and “thinking of you!”

Schellenberg said he had no trouble getting others associated with the school to contribute to the video.

“I asked Terrace staff to send in a snapshot of them at home and I received a huge response,” he said. “Sometimes education is referred to as the business of people; with the school closure, everyone just went home — I know that we all miss the daily connection.”

While Inslee’s original order to close all schools in the state is scheduled to end on April 24, there is no certainty that the order will remain unchanged. Complicating the matter is Inslee’s most recent “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” directive that calls for state residents to remain home until May 4 unless they work in “essential” jobs.

The ever-changing state and health district directives have left many — including high school seniors — unsure of what will be coming in the near future.

“I know (seniors) are worried about their spring events – prom, senior awards’ night, graduation – and we don’t know the fate of those important experiences,” Schellenberg said. “No matter what, (seniors) will have a community at Terrace that cares and will work hard for them – even remotely.”

To view the entire Message to MTHS 2020 Seniors video, click youtu.be/Zose0zVD_CE. 

— By Doug Petrowski