High school senior in Van Nuys discusses not having normal graduation during COVID-19

VAN NUYS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Amellia Sones is getting ready to graduate from Champs Charter High School of the Arts in Van Nuys, and she said due to the coronavirus pandemic there are many traditional aspects of graduating that she feels she's missing out on.

"Looking forward to going to prom ... with some friends of mine and you know graduation of course, you know it's tough. We've been in school working really, really hard and to not have a full ceremony it is a little disappointing," said Sones.

Sones was also looking forward to studying cosmetology and becoming a hairdresser after graduation while still pursuing a music career. Now she's thinking of other options.

"I chose cosmetology because I thought it would be more secure...because I wanted to pursue music on the side so that I could still have a secure income coming in. But now because of the pandemic nothing's secure," said Sones.

A national survey by Simpson Scarborough said that one in five high school seniors believe they will not go to college next fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Different college advising programs like CollegePoint are getting a lot of questions from high school juniors and seniors because of the pandemic.

"Now we're finding a lot of our advisers are saying they have students that were really gung-ho before COVID about going to - now there's just kind of the unknown, 'Do I go? Should I go?'" said Nicholas Watson, a director at CollegePoint.

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