Item
Isabelle Cincera Oral History, 2020/09/18
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Isabelle Cincera Oral History, 2020/09/18
Description (Dublin Core)
This interview is about Isabelle Cincera and the affects the pandemic had on her life as a high school senior. The interview discusses the impacts such as online school and her social life. Isabelle demonstrates a great example of how Covid-19 directly affected the life of a student.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Partner (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
Interview Voice recording
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Education--K12
English
Education--Universities
English
Emotion
English
Government Federal
English
Home & Family Life
English
News coverage
English
Recreation & Leisure
English
Events
Collection (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
09/20/2020
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
11/17/2020
11/19/2020
04/16/2021
05/24/2022
07/11/2023
12/01/2023
Date Created (Dublin Core)
09/18/2020
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Teah Bordick
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Isabelle Sincera
Location (Omeka Classic)
Pennsylvania
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
audio
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:05:19
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
This interview is about Isabelle Cincera and the affects the pandemic had on her life as a high school senior. The interview discusses the impacts such as online school and her social life. Isabelle demonstrates a great example of how Covid-19 directly affected the life of a student.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Teah Bordick 0:01
Welcome, everyone to today's episode, I'm Teah Bordick, and today I'm fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview Isabelle Sincera, a recent high school graduate and a freshman at Northeastern University. We will discuss her first-hand experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. Do I have your consent to interview for the COVID-19 archive project?
Isabelle Sincera 0:19
Yes. And thank you for inviting me on your show.
Teah Bordick 0:22
Can you begin by saying today's date and time for documentation?
Isabelle Sincera 0:25
It's currently 2:39pm on September 18, 2020.
Teah Bordick 0:29
Thank you. To begin, can you tell me where you were when you first heard the news about the new virus?
Isabelle Sincera 0:35
I had just come home from school, and I was sitting on the couch with my mother. And we were watching the Daily News like we normally do. And yeah, that's when I first heard about it.
Teah Bordick 0:49
What was your first thought or reaction to hearing this news?
Isabelle Sincera 0:53
At first, I was shocked that we didn't know that- about this like, new virus. And I also was in denial, and I wasn't worried that it was going to come to the U.S. because at that point, it was still in- only in China.
Teah Bordick 1:11
Yeah, exactly. Do you remember where you were when the state issued the stay at home lockdown?
Isabelle Sincera 1:17
I was actually at work. And on the TV, the reporter basically said that our county in Pennsylvania was- issued a mandatory lockdown, and I had to leave work almost immediately.
Teah Bordick 1:37
I believe that that must have been shocking and scary. What else did you feel?
Isabelle Sincera 1:42
I was still in denial that it was going to last any longer than a couple weeks. And I wasn't- I wasn't nervous about school or anything else, just because I didn't believe that it was going to be something that was long term.
Teah Bordick 1:59
Mmhm. And what ways did the pandemic directly impact your life?
Isabelle Sincera 2:03
Well, obviously, I wasn't able to go back to work. I also was not able to go back to school, and my prom was taken away for me. My graduation was taken away from me. And I didn't leave the house until June, from the time that the stay in order- stay at home order was first instated.
Teah Bordick 2:27
How was your opinion of a pandemic change from the beginning of quarantine to where we are right now?
Isabelle Sincera 2:33
Well at first, I was angry that everything for my senior year was taken away from me wo suddenly, and seemingly, almost for no reason. Now, I look back on it, and I have a better understanding that this is just a part of life, and that everybody is going through a challenging time. And there's nothing else that I can do about it besides accepting it.
Teah Bordick 3:05
It's unfortunate to hear that so many of the things that you've been looking forward to for years, were taken away from you so quickly. Some speculate that your senior year may have ended differently if the government had taken a different course of action. If you were in power, would you change anything about how the pandemic was and still is being handled?
Isabelle Sincera 3:24
Definitely, I would have changed a couple things. I think that first, we were extremely slow to respond to the pandemic. We knew that this virus was real and that there was a serious threat of it like, coming to America. We had studied from, based on history, that these types of things have a way of spreading and there were guidelines that we should have followed, that were previously discussed that we chose to ignore. I think that when we first heard news of the virus coming to America, it should have been an immediate reaction for the entire country to stay at home and for everybody to self-quarantine, so that there was no possible way of the virus spreading. Even though I understand that, in some senses, this wouldn't have been possible just because accessing groceries, things like that. I think that we could have had a more comprehensive national government- reaction from the government to try to mitigate the, the virus, and in my opinion, we were slow and still now, there's no national guidelines that we really that are mandatory to follow at this point.
Teah Bordick 5:14
Thank you for sharing. Lastly, any fun hobbies you picked up during your time in quarantine?
Isabelle Sincera 5:20
Yes. Actually, I picked up puzzles with my mother, even though for years I have despised doing puzzles with her. And so it was funny to see, especially for my mother, that I turned around and that I agreed to complete one with her. And it was only because I was the most bored I've ever been in my entire life. And I never plan on doing another puzzle again.
Teah Bordick 5:51
Puzzles are fun, aren't they? Thank you so much for joining me today Isabelle.
Isabelle Sincera 5:55
Thank you for having me.
Welcome, everyone to today's episode, I'm Teah Bordick, and today I'm fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview Isabelle Sincera, a recent high school graduate and a freshman at Northeastern University. We will discuss her first-hand experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. Do I have your consent to interview for the COVID-19 archive project?
Isabelle Sincera 0:19
Yes. And thank you for inviting me on your show.
Teah Bordick 0:22
Can you begin by saying today's date and time for documentation?
Isabelle Sincera 0:25
It's currently 2:39pm on September 18, 2020.
Teah Bordick 0:29
Thank you. To begin, can you tell me where you were when you first heard the news about the new virus?
Isabelle Sincera 0:35
I had just come home from school, and I was sitting on the couch with my mother. And we were watching the Daily News like we normally do. And yeah, that's when I first heard about it.
Teah Bordick 0:49
What was your first thought or reaction to hearing this news?
Isabelle Sincera 0:53
At first, I was shocked that we didn't know that- about this like, new virus. And I also was in denial, and I wasn't worried that it was going to come to the U.S. because at that point, it was still in- only in China.
Teah Bordick 1:11
Yeah, exactly. Do you remember where you were when the state issued the stay at home lockdown?
Isabelle Sincera 1:17
I was actually at work. And on the TV, the reporter basically said that our county in Pennsylvania was- issued a mandatory lockdown, and I had to leave work almost immediately.
Teah Bordick 1:37
I believe that that must have been shocking and scary. What else did you feel?
Isabelle Sincera 1:42
I was still in denial that it was going to last any longer than a couple weeks. And I wasn't- I wasn't nervous about school or anything else, just because I didn't believe that it was going to be something that was long term.
Teah Bordick 1:59
Mmhm. And what ways did the pandemic directly impact your life?
Isabelle Sincera 2:03
Well, obviously, I wasn't able to go back to work. I also was not able to go back to school, and my prom was taken away for me. My graduation was taken away from me. And I didn't leave the house until June, from the time that the stay in order- stay at home order was first instated.
Teah Bordick 2:27
How was your opinion of a pandemic change from the beginning of quarantine to where we are right now?
Isabelle Sincera 2:33
Well at first, I was angry that everything for my senior year was taken away from me wo suddenly, and seemingly, almost for no reason. Now, I look back on it, and I have a better understanding that this is just a part of life, and that everybody is going through a challenging time. And there's nothing else that I can do about it besides accepting it.
Teah Bordick 3:05
It's unfortunate to hear that so many of the things that you've been looking forward to for years, were taken away from you so quickly. Some speculate that your senior year may have ended differently if the government had taken a different course of action. If you were in power, would you change anything about how the pandemic was and still is being handled?
Isabelle Sincera 3:24
Definitely, I would have changed a couple things. I think that first, we were extremely slow to respond to the pandemic. We knew that this virus was real and that there was a serious threat of it like, coming to America. We had studied from, based on history, that these types of things have a way of spreading and there were guidelines that we should have followed, that were previously discussed that we chose to ignore. I think that when we first heard news of the virus coming to America, it should have been an immediate reaction for the entire country to stay at home and for everybody to self-quarantine, so that there was no possible way of the virus spreading. Even though I understand that, in some senses, this wouldn't have been possible just because accessing groceries, things like that. I think that we could have had a more comprehensive national government- reaction from the government to try to mitigate the, the virus, and in my opinion, we were slow and still now, there's no national guidelines that we really that are mandatory to follow at this point.
Teah Bordick 5:14
Thank you for sharing. Lastly, any fun hobbies you picked up during your time in quarantine?
Isabelle Sincera 5:20
Yes. Actually, I picked up puzzles with my mother, even though for years I have despised doing puzzles with her. And so it was funny to see, especially for my mother, that I turned around and that I agreed to complete one with her. And it was only because I was the most bored I've ever been in my entire life. And I never plan on doing another puzzle again.
Teah Bordick 5:51
Puzzles are fun, aren't they? Thank you so much for joining me today Isabelle.
Isabelle Sincera 5:55
Thank you for having me.
This item was submitted on September 20, 2020 by Teah Bordick using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.