Item
COVID-19 Through the Eyes of a Teenager
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
COVID-19 Through the Eyes of a Teenager
Description (Dublin Core)
A Colorado teenager describes their experience during COVID-19
Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
Text
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
Collection (Dublin Core)
English
K-12
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
05/16/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
05/20/2020
12/17/2020
Date Created (Dublin Core)
05/15/2020
Text (Omeka Classic)
Beneath the rugged San Juan Mountain range in southwestern Colorado sits a small town
I call home. These mountains are my playground every season of the year from snowboarding in
Telluride to camping and hiking. No amount of weather has blown through that has kept me
indoors because in Colorado there is always something adventurous to do outdoors. That was
until a mysterious virus slowly crept in and changed everything. As a sixteen-year-old (turning
seventeen in October) really active young man, the shutdowns were really disruptive to the
outdoor lifestyle that I have always known. With closures, like Telluride Ski Area, I found
myself home spending many hours a day by myself. This was not all a bad thing because I still
had homeschool classes to complete. But as the days turned into weeks, it became more and
more difficult not to have the social interaction with friends that I normally enjoyed on a daily
basis. Thus, staying home was wearing me down more than I ever thought it would. I had to find
ways to spend my time other than laying in bed later and playing video games on the couch. I
had to take control of my situation during this coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Ethan Hartman, and I am finishing my sophomore year in highschool. I live
in a beautiful rural town called Montrose. It is small with a population just under twenty
thousand people, but I do not mind it at all since we have a great community. The year 2020
started out seeming to be a very typical year, not greatly different from any other, until March
11th came around. This was the exact day that I realized that there was a serious issue brewing
around the world. This is what the news was now calling the coronavirus pandemic because of
the large number of COVID-19 cases being reported nationwide. The COVID-19 virus soon
caused the entire nation to begin shutting down day-by-day in March, but specifically my little
hometown became lifeless. Colorado’s Governor, Jared Polis, issued a mandatory stay-at-home
order on March 26, 2020. Very few businesses were still allowed to stay open, for food only the
grocery stores and a few delivery restaurants that were categorized as essential. Our town only
has a few elementary schools, two middle schools and one highschool which all closed very
suddenly. Montrose was not prepared for school to be forced online; and it took a good month,
until April 14th, to be able to get a system that enabled education to resume for everyone in our
rural community to learn from home. Even with the start of online school it was never really the
same, teachers cut down to one or two assignments per week. On top of this all sporting activity
came to an early end. I personally was very disappointed that my lacrosse season ended before it
even really began, but I understood that it was necessary to prevent the spread of the virus.
Online school was much less of a shock for myself since I already took the majority of my
classes online during the school year. I tried my best to stay calm through what I knew was only
the beginning of the pandemic, but not knowing when or how things would end was worrisome.
Having never experienced anything like this quarantine, it was like being grounded by your
parents.
During this time at home I was able to learn a few things about myself. I began to
understand what it is like to slow life down, and I really tried to focus on little things around me.
As a committed athlete I found new ways to exercise and stay in shape at home, for example I
would do push ups, pullups, situps, jumping jacks and more. These exercises were nothing new
to me, I was just used to lifting weights for the football team every day at the school. Also, my
coach began Zoom Meeting workouts where many of my teammates and I could get together to
exercise virtually. As a student I have learned that to be successful you have to be responsible.
Procrastiationing will make life so much more difficult, rather than just getting things done when
they need to be done. It may seem easier at the time to push assignments off, but it will only
build up more and more. I also discovered a new hobby of building and woodworking to fill my
time that was usually spent at sporting practice. With Home Depot deemed essential I was able
to buy materials to build a 10 foot by 10 foot fort, a skateboard, and a guitar so far. Another thing
that I learned is the importance of social interaction. It is one thing to see and talk to your family
everyday, but I began to notice how much I missed taking in person to my friends.
Communication through technology is not the same as in person. Face-to-face conversations is
something I will never take for granted again after life returns to normal. As unfortunate as
COVID-19 has been, I have tried my best to make positive habits and work on things that are
beneficial to my life during quarantine. For some, things were not as positive, many of my
friends failed to do any assignments once school went online and their grades suffered. I know
very few people trying to stay active around the house, but it is so important that you do. Our
bodies need exercise to function properly.
Many people do not know how to react to a nation wide virus, and neither do I. The
thing I keep reminding myself is diseases somewhat like the coronavirus have happened in the
past and we have worked through them. For example, in the early to mid 1900s smallpox was
sweeping the county much like the coronavirus is. Smallpox was deadly for some and not for
others, but regardless I believe people were worried and uncertain much like we are today.
There were other pandemics that changed history in the United States, like Sars, Aids, and
serious flus as well. Americans continually worked through these health issues until vaccinations
were created. History can teach us very important lessons and in this case maybe it cannot teach
us to prevent the viruses, but it can tell us to have hope that the coronavirus will not last forever.
We need to use this as a reminder to practice sanitary habits all the time, not just when a
pandemic is happening. Germs and other nasty infections are around everyone at all times. If
each person does their part to work on healthy habits, maybe we can prevent future viruses
before they ever start. Finally, there is hope for the future after COVID-19 is contained. Masks
that you see people everywhere wearing will come off. Gas prices, now under $1.50 per gallon,
will go back up. Bare grocery store shelves will be restocked. It may look and feel a little
different than what we are used to, but nonetheless you can find new ways to take control of your
situations when things are not going as planned and we will adjust to our new situation.
I call home. These mountains are my playground every season of the year from snowboarding in
Telluride to camping and hiking. No amount of weather has blown through that has kept me
indoors because in Colorado there is always something adventurous to do outdoors. That was
until a mysterious virus slowly crept in and changed everything. As a sixteen-year-old (turning
seventeen in October) really active young man, the shutdowns were really disruptive to the
outdoor lifestyle that I have always known. With closures, like Telluride Ski Area, I found
myself home spending many hours a day by myself. This was not all a bad thing because I still
had homeschool classes to complete. But as the days turned into weeks, it became more and
more difficult not to have the social interaction with friends that I normally enjoyed on a daily
basis. Thus, staying home was wearing me down more than I ever thought it would. I had to find
ways to spend my time other than laying in bed later and playing video games on the couch. I
had to take control of my situation during this coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Ethan Hartman, and I am finishing my sophomore year in highschool. I live
in a beautiful rural town called Montrose. It is small with a population just under twenty
thousand people, but I do not mind it at all since we have a great community. The year 2020
started out seeming to be a very typical year, not greatly different from any other, until March
11th came around. This was the exact day that I realized that there was a serious issue brewing
around the world. This is what the news was now calling the coronavirus pandemic because of
the large number of COVID-19 cases being reported nationwide. The COVID-19 virus soon
caused the entire nation to begin shutting down day-by-day in March, but specifically my little
hometown became lifeless. Colorado’s Governor, Jared Polis, issued a mandatory stay-at-home
order on March 26, 2020. Very few businesses were still allowed to stay open, for food only the
grocery stores and a few delivery restaurants that were categorized as essential. Our town only
has a few elementary schools, two middle schools and one highschool which all closed very
suddenly. Montrose was not prepared for school to be forced online; and it took a good month,
until April 14th, to be able to get a system that enabled education to resume for everyone in our
rural community to learn from home. Even with the start of online school it was never really the
same, teachers cut down to one or two assignments per week. On top of this all sporting activity
came to an early end. I personally was very disappointed that my lacrosse season ended before it
even really began, but I understood that it was necessary to prevent the spread of the virus.
Online school was much less of a shock for myself since I already took the majority of my
classes online during the school year. I tried my best to stay calm through what I knew was only
the beginning of the pandemic, but not knowing when or how things would end was worrisome.
Having never experienced anything like this quarantine, it was like being grounded by your
parents.
During this time at home I was able to learn a few things about myself. I began to
understand what it is like to slow life down, and I really tried to focus on little things around me.
As a committed athlete I found new ways to exercise and stay in shape at home, for example I
would do push ups, pullups, situps, jumping jacks and more. These exercises were nothing new
to me, I was just used to lifting weights for the football team every day at the school. Also, my
coach began Zoom Meeting workouts where many of my teammates and I could get together to
exercise virtually. As a student I have learned that to be successful you have to be responsible.
Procrastiationing will make life so much more difficult, rather than just getting things done when
they need to be done. It may seem easier at the time to push assignments off, but it will only
build up more and more. I also discovered a new hobby of building and woodworking to fill my
time that was usually spent at sporting practice. With Home Depot deemed essential I was able
to buy materials to build a 10 foot by 10 foot fort, a skateboard, and a guitar so far. Another thing
that I learned is the importance of social interaction. It is one thing to see and talk to your family
everyday, but I began to notice how much I missed taking in person to my friends.
Communication through technology is not the same as in person. Face-to-face conversations is
something I will never take for granted again after life returns to normal. As unfortunate as
COVID-19 has been, I have tried my best to make positive habits and work on things that are
beneficial to my life during quarantine. For some, things were not as positive, many of my
friends failed to do any assignments once school went online and their grades suffered. I know
very few people trying to stay active around the house, but it is so important that you do. Our
bodies need exercise to function properly.
Many people do not know how to react to a nation wide virus, and neither do I. The
thing I keep reminding myself is diseases somewhat like the coronavirus have happened in the
past and we have worked through them. For example, in the early to mid 1900s smallpox was
sweeping the county much like the coronavirus is. Smallpox was deadly for some and not for
others, but regardless I believe people were worried and uncertain much like we are today.
There were other pandemics that changed history in the United States, like Sars, Aids, and
serious flus as well. Americans continually worked through these health issues until vaccinations
were created. History can teach us very important lessons and in this case maybe it cannot teach
us to prevent the viruses, but it can tell us to have hope that the coronavirus will not last forever.
We need to use this as a reminder to practice sanitary habits all the time, not just when a
pandemic is happening. Germs and other nasty infections are around everyone at all times. If
each person does their part to work on healthy habits, maybe we can prevent future viruses
before they ever start. Finally, there is hope for the future after COVID-19 is contained. Masks
that you see people everywhere wearing will come off. Gas prices, now under $1.50 per gallon,
will go back up. Bare grocery store shelves will be restocked. It may look and feel a little
different than what we are used to, but nonetheless you can find new ways to take control of your
situations when things are not going as planned and we will adjust to our new situation.
Original Format (Omeka Classic)
Journal entry
Accrual Method (Dublin Core)
4381