The marquee along Maple Street, Wichita, Kansas, for Benton Elementary School urges parents to enroll their children now in what many thought would be a challenging school year. In late July, the Wichita school board delayed the start of the school year until after Labor Day in order to give faculty and staff more time to adjust their curriculum to more flexible models, clean facilities, and set up necessary shields, barriers, and social distancing measures. Despite the mandate requiring these measures, as well as masks and hand washing every hour, teachers and students still ventured into an uncertain school year, as Wichita-area schools forged ahead with in-person instruction and contact sports.

A scene taken on the day of the Kansas primaries for the US Senate and House of Representatives. With the state caught in COVID's grip, many voters availed themselves of mail-in-ballots, but some voters still preferred to show up to the polls in person, as they did here in southwest Wichita. Nevertheless, this image captures but a small segment of the various challenges that the United States faced in holding federal, state, and municipal elections in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On July 21, 2020, the Sedgwick County Public Health Officer closed all bars and nightclubs until September 9, a date the Sedgwick County Commission quickly amended to August 21. These photographs show two items that sat side-by-side at the front entrance of the Blu Nightclub in west Wichita, Kansas. The first alerts patrons to the club's mitigation efforts and what is expected of them upon entering the establishment, while the second, which was taped to the front door, informs customers that they are closed until August 22. Although no COVID clusters originated in bars and nightclubs, Sedgwick County contact tracers discovered that infected people had stopped at such businesses and possibly spread the virus even more. Finally, note the owner's insertion of the word "Hopefully" on the left side of the sign. With federal aid expired and relief mired in a partisan deadlock in Washington, D.C., many businesses in Wichita, and across the country, feared the potentially fatal effects repeated closures would have upon their livelihoods.

This sign implores Wichita residents to save a life by wearing a protective mask, thereby underscoring face masks' growing importance, when it had been previously dismissed as a relatively ineffective non-pharmaceutical intervention early in the pandemic. Not only does this sign attempt to reinforce the city's mask mandate, its wording also hints at how COVID-19 had become a threat to all age demographics by the summer of 2020. At the time of this photograph, the average age of an infected patient in Wichita had dropped from the mid-60s in the spring to 37, thus Wesley Hospital's appeal for everyone to do their part to help stop a rapidly accelerating and demographically expanding contagion.

In an effort to expand testing in west Wichita, Kansas, West Wichita Family Physicians sealed off their minor care clinic from the rest of their facility in order to dedicate it to COVID-19 screening and testing. A patient would call the number listed at the bottom of the sign, then proceed to answer questions pertaining to their travel history, risk factors, symptoms, and possible exposure to the virus. Should the patient's condition warrant further investigation, an appointment was made, with the patient being guided by signs such as this to the proper testing site. At the time of this photograph's creation, Kansas's total number of cases stood at nearly 30,000, with over 4,500 in Sedgwick County alone. Typically, Kansans had to wait 9 to 14 days before receiving their results due to backlogs created by high turnouts and too few testing locations.

My MacBook Pro has kept me updated on the current pandemic and news. During lockdown, many days were spent watching movies when I was not outside spending time out on the water, paddle boarding or snorkeling.

I decided to choose this item because in the lockdown stage of quarantine, besides working out there was not much else to do. I read an interesting book during that time as well but my TV is definitely what I got most of my entertainment from for a while.

A month or so into quarantine, when the restlessness of isolation really began to set in, my friends and I decided to begin a challenge-- we would all run for at least 30 minutes every day for eight weeks, increasing our times every week and trying to beat our own and each other's paces. We were all looking for ways to keep ourselves busy and figured it'd be a good opportunity to stay healthy and sane in quarantine. Our running challenge also ended up being a nice way for us all to remain close, which was difficult without seeing each other every day.

Because of the pandemic, we were forced to go into lockdown. We couldn't go into public as much except for essential things such as groceries. During the time I would play basketball in my backyard, but most of time I was watching Netflix. I was binge watching shows the whole time.

during the stay at home order i could not take my dog on our daily walks in the beach. She has a huge personality so she got mad at me and would poop on my carpet in my dressing room. The bissell green machine is important to me because it helped me save a-lot of money of a real carpet cleaner and it helped keep my house sanitary when thats all I had to stay.

Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been very careful when we handle goods that we buy from the grocery store. We also use our hand sanitizer to kill the germs that we may have on our hands. I submitted this because hand sanitizer is a big part of staying safe and killing germs to reduce the chance of obtaining COVID-19.

I think that the mask represents the pandemic perfectly because it has become something I use everyday just like my phone or car. This masks shows that the pandemic is a serious issue happening it our world and wearing a mask can minimize the spread of it.

The Nintendo Switch is meant for playing video games, which have served as a way for my family to bond throughout this pandemic. My sister, who was living out of the state, came to live with us and gifted me Just Dance 2020, which served as our daily excercise while we were forced to stay indoors in quarantine. All these games have served to keep my family and I all happy and excited to have a little friendly competition during this time.

During the pandemic, I have been listening to a lot of music, reading, and deepening my faith.

Tennis has been the one thing that has kept me going through this whole thing, I was lucky enough to have a court in my grandmothers backyard so I was able to stay active and still play.

During this pandemic I have been quite bored while being stuck in the house... this means that I have been spending too much time on my phone and computer online shopping.

This object allows me to play games with my friends online and being able to interact and talk to them while playing games with them.

As someone who is very active I found it hard to sit at home and do nothing, therefore I decided to pick up my tennis racquet and go hit.

A longboard and a kayak: two objects created in order to give the sense of fluid movement amongst a sea of chaotic concrete and wobbling waters- and that is my experience in this pandemic to a T. In the beginning of the pandemic, my family chose to keep ourselves isolated from other people and the possibility of encountering COVID, as my sister and mom had immunodeficiencies. Me, being an extrovert, found this so incredibly hard to be apart from my friends, my rocks, the people who make me feel as though life has color in a scheme of black and white. The first time that I was allowed to see people was when we all met in a parking lot, staying 6 feet apart, and longboarding. A segway. A form of connection. A light. A board. Almost every night after that, I would go on rides around my neighborhood, feeling the curve of each carve, the wind whistling through my hair, the last taste of the golden sun fresh on the tip of my tongue, and the feeling of being a part of something greater that just me in that moment. The same goes for my kayak- the outdoors, and people. For me it really seems to all come back to nature and my loved ones, I guess that is what fills my heart with happiness.

I submitted a pile of packages in my room as my photo because with nothing to do and preparing for college, I found myself ordering a lot more items and clothing online than I ever had before in my life. Mostly all of the online stores were also having huge sales, which did not help my shopping addiction especially while I was bored with no where to go and nothing to do.

My dad and I have built cars and motorcycles in the past so I thought to myself on the first day in quarantine I should get my own project. The next day I found a perfect candidate for a motorcycle rebuild. I spent 4 months taking apart the bike and giving it my own look.

It was Friday, March 13. The last class of the day was interrupted by an announcement, " all after school activities cancelled". Now the musical that id been practicing for over a month was gone. That night we played the show with no audience, ill never forget that day.

WIth Covid, I have been making use of my extra free time and working at an ice cream store. This has helped me make a lot of extra money for college.

my phone has all my features, it is where i can talk to my friends through these rough times or even watch my favorite tv show, my phone is like my personal guide.

My laptop represents life during a pandemic because it shows how technology was used to overcome the challenges of being isolated and away from school, work, those that we love, etc. The laptop helped me personally because I was able to stay in touch with friends, become an ambassador for a company close to my heart, learn new skills, and get a marketing job.

I chose a book as one of my items because during quarantine I have really been enjoying taking some time to read outside. Another one of my objects is a paintbrush and I chose it because I've been trying to be more artistic during quarantine and learn new art skills. The last object I chose was s sweatshirt because I have been doing a lot of activities outdoors. However, I live near a big lake so whenever I go outside it is super windy and I need a sweatshirt.

The way my basement helped me through the Coronavirus pandemic is that it served as an escape for me. My family and I made sort of a makeshift gym in my basement and here I was able to just zone out and escape all of the stress and worries COVID brought through working out.

I originally hated wearing masks because I thought they were useless, now I wear them to set a good example

This controller is very important to me because it helps me stay connected with friends and family. I can play video games with them all day long. It give me peace and comfort.

I am a class of 2020 Senior. March 13th was my last day of Senior year and while I didn't know it yet it was the beginning to a worldwide pandemic that would make history. My high school felt so bad that my class didnt have a prom, senior bike ride, senior breakfast or graduation that we all got T-shirts as a keepsake.

During the pandemic, I've been doing lots more art and crafts to past the time. I love doing art and I wanted to branch out my artistic skills that didn't involve drawing.

I chose this object because it really represents the way I have been able to use this pandemic to change my mindset. I received the journal at a time when everything in my life was changing really fast, and not in a positive way. There was so much loss and pain. I started filling one page of this journal every evening with things I am thankful for, and though it was really difficult at first, I found that it grew easier with time, and now I am finding things to be thankful for in every situation. This pandemic reminds us that we have to be thankful for what we have in every moment, because we never know when that could be taken away, but also that when it seems like everything has been taken away, there is still many things in our lives left to hold onto.

So going through quarantine was tough because they really isn't anything to do. but I am thankful that i live right on the beach because it is the place that i can always go to during this rough time and just relax while also keeping my distance.

One day I was sitting in Central Park. I was saying goodbye to my friends who were leaving for college. We were also there to celebrate my friends birthday. I remember the bittersweet vibe like it was yesterday. My friend gave me her phone and told me to queue song I thought fit the situation. There were so many to choose from. With the power of music, it was able to lift people up and remember the times we all had together.

Many people had a lot of time to themselves while sheltering in place since March in the United States. Many people spent their time cooking, cleaning, or participating in art projects. I chose to express myself with a bunch of picture collages which I hung up in my room. I was cutting pictures out of a book I had and I came across a picture of a pandemic from 1918 so I hung it up in one of my collages and decided to include the caption.

The object I choose are my soccer balls and my training equipment. This is pretty much what these four months of quarantine have been for me. Since I am going to be playing soccer at Rollins College, I decided that I was going to train as hard as I could for those quarantine months, even though if it was only by myself.

With my cell phone I am able to communicate and hang out with my friends and family that I might not be able to do without it. It allows me to keep updated on new, and I can have fun with my teammates as we get through this struggle together. This allows prepares me for college as I access a lot of necessary information I need to properly prepare myself for college life.

Once school was out and there was nothing to do but stay home every single day, it gets kind of depressing. I was use to being in two sports, school, five clubs, volunteer work, etc. So the stop of nothing drove me crazy. What has kept me sane during this time is having something to do, and the only thing you can do right now is work. So I began to work at Pizza Hut. Better to do something and earn a little money on the side than just watch TV all day. Surprisingly I was allowed to work because this was my first job and I wasn't allowed to work until I turned 18.

My xbox has actually been very helpful for me during this pandemic. Normally I am able to see all my friends in person, but because of coronavirus I wasn't able to do that. With my xbox I was able to talk to all of my friends during the pandemic. It was a great was to keep in touch while also having fun. Without my xbox I would've been very bored and I wouldn't have been able to talk to my friends nearly as much.

The best passing time in my opinion is reading, but also watching the books come alive in a movie. My quarantine favorite was "The Fault in Our Stars". I like to read the book and then watch the movie, but never the other way around.

My my boyfriend bought me and taught me how to ride. During the pandemic I have continued to ride and increase my skill level. I also fell May 6th I belive and got a concustion, because i was not wearing a helmet. I had two black eyes for a month and a half. Its importaint to me becasue i didn't give up on learning.

I uploaded this picture because I used the blankets I had a lot during Quarrantine as a sort of extra comfort (and also because I get cold haha).

My object is my pink pixelbook go. Its a computer it has keys and a screen. it is important to me because I have used it to entertain myself during the pandemic. Its also how I communicate with my friends and family.

My cat was the only routine I actually was able to keep during quarantine and COVID precautions. Every morning when I woke up, he would state his presence with a loud meow and proceed to cuddle with me for the forseeable future. Every night, he would curl up at the end of my bed and lull himself to sleep with his own purring. He was the only consistency I had while isolated from the rest of the world.

When ever I get stressed out or depressed I play music on one my instruments to relax. (that or I would play video games)

Since I've been stuck in the house doing a lot of chores, I use my AirPods a lot. I like to put them in and play some of my artists while I do chores. It makes a not so pleasant activity pleasant. Even when I'm not doing chores it provides a release. I get to kind of take a step back from being stuck inside with my family because I can't hear anything when they are in.

This object says that I don't go out as much as I used to, because the object symbolizes a video game.

I chose this object because all throughout the pandemic, I have taken the time to study chess for hours and play chess to improve for when tournaments in real life come back.

Every week my friends and I will devote a few hours of our time to play spike ball together. It has provided us with great exercise and a fun way to pass our time. Arguments have been started due to the competitive nature of my friends and I, but in the end, it has brought us closer together and has helped make Covid not as bad.

I have been playing copious amounts of video games during quarantine.