CAIRO — The most powerful feeling Cairo High School’s top graduating seniors felt about the end of their final year of high school was disappointment.

“I’m just sad that the best part of senior year we didn’t get to experience,” said valedictorian Elijah Anthony Pyrz, 18. “We didn’t get to experience Grad Bash, we’re not going to get to experience graduation on the specific day that we were going to have it.”

Students at CHS haven’t been inside of a classroom since mid-March, creating an unusual learning environment for the back half of the 2019-20 school year. While Pyrz said he’s had plenty of homework and exam preparations to keep him occupied and mentally sharp, the experience has been unlike anything he’s ever been through and he said it took him some time to adjust to the new circumstances.

“I don’t think I’ve ever spent that much time at home since before I went to school,” he said.

Salutatorian Zoe Rachael Prince expressed disappointment that this year’s graduating class won’t get to experience prom, Grad Bash or an in-person graduation ceremony, but she saved her deepest frustrations for people who she says are minimizing the unique challenges seniors faced in 2020.

“I feel like sometimes people say our feelings aren’t valid because it could be worse,” said Prince, 18. “I get that, but we also have to deal with losing our senior year, plus worrying about our loved ones and ourselves.

“It doesn’t mean that I can’t be disappointed (about losing) something that everyone else gets to experience,” she added.

Pyrz said he’ll miss the atmosphere of being on a high school campus — football games and pep rallies came to mind for him. During his time at CHS, Pyrz played center and long snapper on the football team and wrestled as well. He also took part in National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of AmericaandKey Club. He expressed a special admiration for his 12th grade calculus teacher, Kristin Blough, who he described as “approachable.”

“She’ll answer any question that you’ll have and she’s very friendly,” Pyrz said. “She makes class interesting.”

Though he hasn’t specifically decided what he wants to do in life after college, Pyrz knows it will be something in the field of medicine. This year Pyrz will be headed to the University of Georgia, where he will pursue a pathway in pre-med. After that, the valedictorian said he can do almost anything.

Both of Pyrz’s parents are pharmacists who own a drug store in town, and the valedictorian said he’s always had an interest in medicine and helping others. Pyrz said at CHS he learned social and interpersonal skills from teachers and fellow classmates that will help him in the future in pursuing his degree — and chemistry and biology classes helped too.

As it turns out, becoming a Bulldog is a family tradition for Pyrz. Both of his parents are UGA graduates, and his brother is already enrolled there.

“I’m very familiar with the campus and I feel very at home there,” he said. “It’s a very good school for pre-med and pharmacy, things of that sort.”

Prince said she’ll miss Syrupmaker football and playing in band, but most of all she’ll miss her friends and teachers.

Also active in NHS, FBLA and Key Club, Prince said her favorite teacher at CHS was Blair Dickinson, who taught her AP American History.

“I just liked his teaching style and that he was more laid back,” she said. “You could joke with him and he would actually get to know you.”

Next up for Prince is UGA, where she plans to pursue a major in psychology, possibly on a pre-med track.

Prince isn’t sure yet of what she’d like to do after college. If she decides to go pre-med then it’ll be medical school, residency and everything else that it takes to become a doctor. If that’s not what she chooses, Prince has at least one idea in mind for what she’d like to do.

“I just want to help people,” she said.