ALBANY COUNTY — Jasmine Edmonds, a senior at Colonie Central High School, was sitting at home on her couch Friday when the governor made his announcement that schools would remain closed for the rest of the year.

“I was suddenly bombarded with texts as I watched … It really became real in that moment. It was heartbreaking,” said Edmonds, one of two local high school seniors who shared their thoughts on Saturday morning at the county press briefing.

Edmonds, who plans to study at the University at Buffalo next fall, said she had taken for granted being at school, surrounded by her friends and doing hands-on learning.

Her molecular biology class, she said, had been “all about the labs.” “Now all we can do is research about the coronavirus and how it’s structured,” she said.

The hardest part, she said, is having no prom and not knowing if there will be a graduation ceremony.

Declan Duffy, a senior at Albany Academy, wore a Boston University sweatshirt, signifying his plans for the fall. He said he was thankful for his health and his family’s health and commended those serving on the front lines.

Of distance learning since mid-March, he said, “I thought it would be somewhat of a joke.” But, he said, the transition from in-class to at-home learning was seamless and “done quite well.”

Duffy, who had played on his school’s rugby team for four years said he missed that “brotherhood.”

“This is such a monumental point in our life,” he said, “with our senior sports season, our prom, our graduation … They’ve all been taken from us with this virus.”

He also said, “It’s a community effort. We have to work together and do our civic duty. The way I like to think about it, it’s taking the place of our final. It’s the hardest test we’ve had to go through in our lives but the easiest preparation. All we need to do is stay inside and keep each other safe.”

Duffy noted that, while everybody’s struggling, “We have to be in this together to do our duty.”