It is natural, at the end of your time in high school, to look back. The past 4 years have been filled with memories that we won’t soon forget. But the future is full of surprising and exciting things, too. Even though it seems like the world is on a standstill right now, there is a future. To celebrate the future, here’s a few things to look forward to after this lockdown ends, no matter who you are, where you’re going in life after high school, or how scared you are about the virus.

2021: 

Cicadas are coming back! The largest brood of Cicadas on the East Coast is coming to the surface for the first time since 2004. The Brood, named ‘Brood X’, should come for about a month in June, before dying off, to return in another 17 years.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be completed. The telescope, a successor to the famous Hubble Space Telescope, should be going up in orbit by March of next year. The telescope, which weighs more than 7 tons, will orbit around 900,000 miles above earth, and record data in infrared spectrums, allowing for more pictures of distant celestial bodies.

Even though neither candidate is campaigning too hard right now, we can still look forward to the Presidential Inauguration on January 20th. Most likely, the person taking the oath of office on that day will either be the Incumbent, President Trump, or the Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. No matter who wins, one thing is for certain: the person sitting in the oval office for the next four years will be a major player in the events of tomorrow.

2022:

Assuming that there are no more extensions to the U.S Copyright Laws, all movies and music made before 1926 will be available in the public domain. Notably, this includes the Walt Disney animated picture “Steamboat Willie”, thought by many to be the first cartoon ever created. Copyright of the work has been the subject of much debate, and has led to congress passing multiple bills in order to stop it from entering the public domain. 

The Beijing Winter Olympic Games will be held! This will mark the fourth consecutive Olympic Games that have been hosted in Asia, and will become the first city to host both the winter and summer games, having last held the 2008 Olympics. Many of the venues from 2008 will be repurposed, and reused in these new games.

2023:

October will be host to both a partial solar and lunar eclipse! Within 2 weeks of each other, those of us still on the east coast will get to witness the first lunar eclipse of this type since 2005, and the first major solar eclipse since 2017. Bring out your glasses, because it’ll be one to remember!

Expo 2023 will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The expo will be a revival of the World’s Fairs that were famously held in the early 20th century. The event will have the theme of “Science, Innovation, Art and Creativity for Human Development. Creative Industries in Digital Convergence”. It will focus on how countries are using cutting edge tech to upgrade their cities and culture. It will run from January to April and feature over 100 countries.

2024:

If she is still alive, Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest reigning monarch in the history of the world. Currently, this title is held by Louis XIV, who ruled in the 17th century, for over 72 years! Currently, she is currently 4th on the list, having passed Pacal the Great of the Mayan Empire at the beginning of the year.

The next summer Olympics will be held in Paris, France. This is an interesting Olympics, it’s the first one to be held in Europe since London, in 2012. This Olympic Games is unique for many reasons, with a major one being the inclusion of brand new sports. Notably, Competitive Breakdancing will be featured in Paris, for the first time ever (for real!). Additionally, Skateboarding will make a return, as will  baseball and softball. Whether or not these will become staples of the Olympics is yet to be seen, but I’m very excited to see Olympic Breakdancing in action!

It’s important to remember in this time of our lives being uprooted that things will have to go to normal eventually. I can’t promise that it’ll be a month from now, or two, or a year, but we’ll eventually be back. If there’s one thing these past four years have taught me, it’s that Central students don’t just survive in the midst of chaos, they embrace it, and become stronger, more adaptable people. I’m not saying that we’ll come out unscathed, but we’re stronger than that. So remember this, WMC: It’s always darkest before dawn, and I’m sure that we’ll all see that dawn, together.