By Anushka De

Local and national health concerns about COVID-19 (coronavirus) led to the cancellation of a multitude of school events starting early March. For clubs and teams such as MVRT, DECA and MVCG, this meant the cancellation of international and national competitions that members had worked towards for the entire year. 

Sophomore and secretary-treasurer of DECA Riya Ranjan believes that a crucial component of each year’s ICDC experience is the people sheattens it with. She realizes that, even though the event will occur next year, she will never get to attend an ICDC with her current officer team and any of the graduating seniors. 

“My brother and I compete together,” Ranjan said. “My brother is a senior and we got first place in our event, which meant that if we continued on that path, we could have done really well at [ICDC]. It is likely that I’ll be able to go to another ICDC, but I won’t ever get to compete with [my brother] in the same event again.

Senior and MVRT President Divya Satrawada echoes a similar sentiment. MVRT qualified for the FRC Championship when Satrawada was a freshman, but as a senior, this would have been her last opportunity to ever attend a championship with the same people she went with as a freshman.

For MVCG head coach Grantis Peranda, the cancellation of an event due to coronavirus concerns marked the first time in his 10 year coaching career where he had absolutely no control over any circumstances. Peranda gets inspiration from the members on his team who are continuing to practice at home despite this setback. He hopes that he and his team will be able to overcome the disappointment of not being able to attend a highly anticipated event and eventually learn from it.