photo or infographic by Piper Neumann

*#$?!. The year has challenged the world in so many ways. Could it get any worse?

From the Coronavirus, to loads of rioting and to deaths of famous figures, 2020 has been filled with non-stop negativity. Not only has the world been seemingly coming to an end globally, Willis, Texas has been facing it’s own problems too.

Although COVID-19 caused schools to be late in reopening, Hurricane Laura postponed it back a little bit more. In fear of flooding and having the urge to keep people safe, school officials decided to postpone our start a few days longer and continue online learning. Willis ended up getting almost no rain from the hurricane, luckily,  but over a thousand homes lost power since another area was effected by the hurricane. Many homes lost power for the whole day until the issue was fixed.

On top of power loss, the school received a bomb threat last week. The anxiety of the situation was great, and it caused all the rave in classrooms throughout the school. After the SWAT team showed up to the school and had a thorough investigation, the day was able to go along after an extended second period. 

Later in the week, WHS started a morning off with firetrucks filling the parking lots before school had even started.  A maintenance issue had set off the alarms causing an uneasiness around the school.  Students were okay, and the scare did not stop school from attending.

Towards the beginning of September, one of the boys cross-country members was diagnosed with the coronavirus, resulting in the boys cross-country team having to quarantine. A lot of the boys season had to be missed because of the sickness. Just this past week, the boys were able to return to school and continue their season.

In a negative filled year, there are always ways to find a positive. This year, even with corona regulations, all sports teams have been able to still have a season. Kids were still able to come back to school and see their friends, even if it was delayed. The year 2020 is almost over. Fingers crossed for a fresh start in 2021.