Ava Seccuro co-editor-in-chief
Candice Anvari staff writer
The COVID-19 pandemic escalated after school ended on March 12 for spring break. School events have been cancelled to encourage social distancing in order to curb the spread of the virus and its repercussions have affected a myriad of groups on campus.
Due to the sudden acceleration of the pandemic, the following events are cancelled: DECA networking night, the California State Thespian Festival, the spring musical, the Madrigals trip to New Orleans, the A Cappella Scholarship Festival for Madrigals, the ASB Blood Drive, Junior-Senior Night, the robotics team regionals, the robotics world championships, the SCJEA student media contest and the DECA International Career Development Conference.
The student body has expressed mixed feelings regarding the fate of these events. For instance, although sophomore Chloe Levine was looking forward to the Thespian Festival, she understands the circumstances of its cancelation.
“I’m pretty sad the Thespian festival got cancelled because last year I had a great time, so this year I was looking forward to competing and rooming with some of my good friends,” Levine said. “But, I think they did the right thing by cancelling it because there were going to be too many people in one area together.”  
However, sophomore ASB representative Kevin Manavi believes the ASB Blood Drive event would’ve served as a crucial tool for hospitals because of their potential need for extra blood should the cases exceed that of a respiratory illness.
“I wish we were able to keep school open just a little bit longer because UCLA needs the blood now more than ever. It doesn’t look like other schools will be able to do blood drives, either,” he said. 
Even though the A Cappella Scholarship Festival for Madrigals was “just another performance,” Madrigals singer Ava Dadvand said, she was frustrated that the situation is out of anyone’s control and that the Madrigals no longer have the opportunity to compete to earn money for the program.
Theatre stage manager junior Lucy Rosen experiences feelings similar to Dadvand’s.
“For me, Chicago was supposed to be the first big show I stage managed [for] Beverly, so I lost the opportunity to stage manage a show at the Saban,” she said. “For other people like the lights and sound [departments], they will never get to actually do any of the work they usually do, the set designer won’t get to see their set come together and everyone who built the set will never actually see their hard work pay off.”
Although the cancelation of events may hit the hardest for seniors due to the fact that they are graduating, MorTorq member senior Michelle Klein is thankful that the team attended a competition and could compete with their robot prior to the shutdown of the robotics regionals and World competitions.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding if or when the district will resume in-person education, senior ASB representative Michaela Forouzan said that Junior-Senior Night is still canceled, but that ASB will think of creative alternatives should school reopen.
“Honestly, it’s really disappointing that a series of events we have been creating committees for and have pumped up all of your grades for are now being canceled,” she said. “Even though this is all out of our control, the closing of our school has disconnected many students from the school as a whole. Nevertheless, if our school reopens, [ASB] can’t wait and will work our hardest to make the last memories we have of our school year amazing!”
School is currently scheduled to reopen on April 6, but the circumstances may change based on the virus’ progression in California. Stay tuned for more updates.