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Pandemic provides learning opportunity for students

By Delaney Warner

The coronavirus has killed thousands of people across the world, specifically targeting elders and people with underlying health conditions. However, in the darkness many can find light. Because of the lock down to prevent the spread of the virus, many teenagers have been bored and unsure as to what to do while in quarantine. In my opinion, I believe this will be good for us.

To begin, all this time off, especially while being stuck in a house, will let us catch up on activities we have been putting off because of school and extracurriculars. Reading, cleaning, painting and other artistic activities will most likely be practiced, getting teenagers off their phones. In addition, as most people know, teenagers are not the fondest of school.

The teachers, friends and overall environment at school have been taken away from us, and frankly, we do not know how to act. Along with school, almost all extracurricular activities have been canceled, or are being done virtually. Not to mention we cannot even see anybody outside of these things without being six feet apart. Now, I know these all sound like bad things, and they are.

However, I think having them taken away will allow us to appreciate them more whenever our country recovers from the virus. Students will be happy to go to school. They will participate in their sports and clubs even more passionately. Movie theaters, theme parks and restaurants will be packed full. I believe this was just the opportunity we needed; the chance to show us what we need to be thankful for. These ideas were always enforced of course, but this pandemic has faced us with a real life threat.

Another thing to focus on is the way teenagers reacted to this before it got really serious where we lived. Apps like Tik Tok, Instagram and Snapchat all are platforms in which our comedic sides have come out. Although I do not personally know how people reacted to serious pandemics in the past, I think the jokes being made are unique only to our generation. Since so many teenagers have these apps, not only are the jokes about the virus being shared, but also information concerning it.

Overall, all of us are much more educated on it than we would have ever been in the past. In fact, I think this is a good way to measure how much things have changed from past pandemics. All of the statistics and sources are very influential when it comes to making history, and the coronavirus undoubtedly will.

Teens will struggle with self-isolation 

By Hannah Warrner

Self-isolation has been interesting for everyone, and let’s be honest, everyone should be doing it. In my personal experience, I have gone on various bike rides, walks, and just plain drives to get out of the house for a while. And as a high schooler, I have been blessed to be able to catch up on the many hours of sleep lost throughout the previous quarter.

However, quarantine hasn’t been the most fun thing, not seeing my friends and family for this long has been hard and I have felt lonely more than a couple times on this “coronacation.” Face Timing has not really helped and I just want to hug all my friends and go to the movies and have my “normal” life back.

Not going to school or dance has also been hard, as much as me from a month ago would disagree, school is not that bad. I honestly just want to go back and see all my teachers and stress about all the various assignments that I need to complete. I’ve realized that actually having a schedule is so nice and helps in so many ways.

Dance has been a very large part of my life for a longtime and now that I cannot go and train, it’s the weirdest feeling and honestly, it hasn’t really set in yet. My studio decided to start classes through Zoom, but it’s nowhere near the same asa normal class.

But I have also been able to focus on myself through all this. Time alone is good for everyone and who knows, maybe this is really what we all needed. Just some isolation time to take a step back and think about ourselves.

This whole situation puts into perspective how much we really have, for example, the ability to go and see our friends every day, going to the movies and eating out at a restaurant with your whole family and staying up all night with your friends watching horror movies. I hope that by the end of all this, and there will be an end, we will all have a stronger appreciation for what we have and those we decide to surround ourselves with.