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2021-03-11
Cynthia Jensen Oral History, 03/11/2021
Cynthia Jensen is an executive secretary for a Superintendent of Schools office in a rural town in California. In this oral history, she discusses how the pandemic has affected her workplace, coworkers, family, and community, explaining her disappointment with the official response to the pandemic. She also touches on her experience getting the vaccine, and how she feels about the future now that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Cynthia also discusses her concerns from the start of the pandemic, and how those concerns have shifted or grown throughout the past year. She hopes that moving forward, there will be better preparation for outbreaks such as this, and a stronger unified response from the general public. Looking to the next year, she predicts that it will take time for the schools to recover and find ways to best support students and staff. -
2021-03-18
With Hope
Today is Thursday, March 18, 2021. Saturday, March 13, was the first anniversary of the Friday the 13th that essentially broke the world, and that was our last day of normal. Or at least that’s how we all remember it now. On Monday, March 15, 2021, the students at my high school returned in “full swing” for the fourth quarter of the school year. I mean by full swing that we have no A and B days, and we are not all virtual. We still have an asynchronous day on Wednesday, but we all know that will soon go away. Many kids are staying virtual, and I don’t know how long that will be an option. So, we have had three days of students back on campus, and I think I would be much more concerned if I myself were not vaccinated, but I am fully vaccinated, and my husband completed his two-week waiting period a couple of days ago, so my house is “safe.” (Though I don’t totally feel that way yet) I don’t work on Wednesday right now, so we celebrated being fully vaccinated by going to an outdoor brunch, which was totally socially distanced, and I appreciated it a lot. I digress, though… school feels like school again. Sure, we limit the number of students who come into the library at lunch, but they are here, the halls bustle, and kids' noise in the hallway trails through our open library doors between periods again. Unfortunately, we are jumping back into things right in time for state testing, so we got this week of “bliss” before things become chaos of finding computers to test, getting students to make sure their computers are updated, and the general panic of finding space and making schedules that comes with any year of state testing. I want things to continue to trend in a direction where I don’t have to rescind all this hope a couple of months from now. -
2021-03-15
For Tempe Public Schools, in-person learning resumes
Maya, age 6 returned to in-person learning for the first time since October. Yesterday she got a haircut to get ready for her first day. Today, I asked her how her day was and she said it was good, but sometimes she felt sleepy because she forgot how long a school day is. -
2020-03
My 2020
This is a story about how my life was during the pandemic in 2020. It tells the story of how isolated everyone was because of social distancing. A whole year just went by but I still felt like my life was a standing still. It was my first time being in the city since the lock down and it was scary to see how empty Times Square was. -
2020-06-11
Taking Charge
COVID has definitely impacted all of our lives. Despite all the damage it has caused, the virus had some positive consequences. Some of us developed closer relationships with our families. Many of us found new hobbies and developed new passions. For myself, I found a passion for healthcare. Hearing stories and watching news reports on the chaos occurring in our hospitals, made me feel impotent. So, after 3 semesters away from school, I decided to come back and focus on finishing my bachelors so i can enroll in a nursing program. -
2021-02-28
When The Impossible Becomes Real
The item I am submitting is about how I saw things changing during this pandemic and how it affected me. -
2020-05-07
Screen Grab English 7800 Spring 2020
This screenshot shows three students and their instructor in a moment of silliness on Zoom, where we attempted and mostly succeeded at engaging in rigorous academic work while keeping one another sane and grounded. -
2020-03-15
Remorseful Disaster
This story is an ongoing experience for me as my family and I try our best to continue bearing with the lockdown. I wanted to share how things are at home because not every family is taking this situation with the same positivity. -
2020-03-24
Covid-19 affected my life on eating habit, sleeping habits, and emotional wellness
When the pandemic started, it affected my life. Before the pandemic, I attend class on campus from Monday through Friday. I will have to wake up super early around 7 am or 8 am to get ready for class. After class ends, I will rush to my part-time job and begin working. This is what I do every day and I feel like this is what life is supposed to be like. After the pandemic started, I needed to stay home and attend an online course. When attending online courses, it gives me the anxiety of worrying whether I will pass the course or not. It is my first time attending the course online and I’m scared that I might not catch up with my education. I lost my part-time jobs and my parents stopped working due to the pandemic. I started to worry about the family income and planning to get a job. However, it is hard to find jobs during the pandemic and it is too risky for going outside. I started home every day and felt bored to the point I felt emotional numbness. My eating habits and sleeping habits change. I sleep almost the whole day at home and it causes some aches in my head. I often feel like I am lacking energy and easily tire. I also lack the motivation to do anything and think that the world is boring. I sometimes skip breakfast and lunch when I wake up at 4 pm when I sleep too much. These eating habits and sleeping habits are bad for my body. I decided to change a little to fix my health and I will start from sleeping and eating first. I feel like I need to find a goal or something to do in life to keep my motivation. -
2021-02-17
Vaccination Blues
My homeland, Orange County, has not been a place to be very proud of during COVID-19. Between anti-maskers, inept leadership, lack of transparency, and inequity in access to both COVID-19 testing and vaccines, this year has been a roller coaster in our little coastal chunk of CA. The vaccine roll out has been a massive headache. For the past month on Instagram, I see post after post of people younger than I who are getting their vaccinations because they live in another part of the state or country, while locally it's only health care workers I know that have been able to be vaccinated. Although other parts of CA (and the country) have begun to vaccinate teachers and food workers, Orange County is stubbornly (as I was told in a meeting today) waiting until 50% of the over 65 population is vaccinated before they open it up to the next tier. Though this causes me endless anxiety - will I be able to get a vaccine before my high school of 2500 opens for in person instruction - the one relief of the week was that my 65 year old mother was FINALLY able to get a vaccination appointment. The Othena system is a joke - she tried numerous times and couldn't get an appointment for the supposed super pods. Kaiser is still only vaccinating 75+! The Nextdoor app clued us in that a local hospital (where my mom has her insurance) was starting to vaccinate. Despite logging on in the very beginning of February, the earliest appointment she could get is for March 3. She took it, but I wanted to keep searching, because I worry that if the next Tier opens, she may have trouble getting a second shot if she waits until March 3. Nextdoor again clued me in to Rite-Aid, where a friend of my mom's outside OC got her vaccine. Best part - you go directly through Rite Aid, so no Othena! Success! My mom made her appointment on Saturday for tomorrow. We were jubilant! I told both my best friends about the Rite Aid trick, and within three days, they had their elderly family members signed up. Today, an hour after my best friend texted me that her dad got his Rite Aid vaccine, my mom sent me her cancellation message. Apparently the current winter storms have delayed the arrival of vaccines. My mom got lucky again, because it turns out that our school district is vaccinating employees 65+. Though retired, because she is a part time employee, my mom received an invitation today. Once she got the Rite Aid cancellation, she made her an appointment with the school district. Tomorrow is the first day the school district is vaccinating, so we have no idea what to expect, and are a little nervous because her insurance is not one of the carriers of the school district. Fingers crossed that she can still get it! Though I am genuinely happy for everyone getting vaccinated, it is frustrating that it is so much work here to try and get one. Using the Othena site hasn't worked for anyone I know - everyone I know has been vaccinated through their work or somewhere like Rite Aid. Honestly, if I see another post of someone with their vaccination card with a "do your part!" message I am going to throw my phone at the wall. I do want to do my part, if only Orange County would get their act together and manage this whole roll out better. Come on Orange County, you can do better. -
2021-02-17
Living Like An Immunocompromised Person
I have been living in fear of getting others sick rather than what will happen if I were to be the one to get sick. My FAMILY MEMBER is immunocompromised, so I have spent most of 2020 in my house. I have not been scared of coming back positive because I have had cousins who have been sick but have had no real issues. The reason I have lived a full year with fear and anxiety is the idea of giving the disease to my Diabetic FAMILY MEMBER. Part of the reason I came back to campus when the semester started was to get away from my FAMILY MEMBER and the fear that I could be the one to kill THEM. Coronavirus has made this past year one full of fear, but the main character of my fear, meaning my FAMILY MEMBER, has talked me into feeling comfortable enough to return to college. I knew people who had impaired immune systems had to watch what they did even before Covid-19 came into the picture. These days, immunocompromised individuals can barely leave their houses so I have followed the actions of my FAMILY MEMBER. If THEY has felt comfortable enough to return to teaching for middle schoolers and working at a camp with young children who were just learning to wear masks during the summer then I can go live on campus. I actually have a close friend in my dorm family unit who keeps me in check. My FAMILY MEMBER and my friend do a great job but sometimes, I think I stay home and away from people more than some individuals I know with compromised immune systems or pre-existing conditions that put them at risk of dying from the disease. That thought will not dissuade me from continuing with my partially-quarantined lifestyle. I am confused and hurt by those who have not even tried to protect others or change anything in their daily life. With the numbers that are currently being released in the United States and at my college, I will keep living in a way that will not increase my anxiety or the chance of my fears coming true. If my college continues to see rising positive cases, I hope we get put into a full campus lockdown or I have a little warning of being sent home so I can be tested and have a place to quarantine away from my FAMILY MEMBER. Everyone has Covid-fatigue but I will push through and stay as safe as I can. This year has taught me that when this pandemic is over, I need to live my life protecting immunocompromised people even if I do not know them. If I get a cold, I will wear a mask. I never want to be the one to blame for someone else falling sick or dying. -
2021-02-16
My Covid-19 Experience
The emergence of Covid-19 definitely took me by surprise. I remember discussing in one of my classes on the Brooklyn College campus of how potentially serious the virus was in early March of 2020. The majority of the class agreed that the virus was probably not going to get out of hand and it was just being over-covered in the media. Then a couple weeks later, we were stunned of how quick the situation surrounding the virus in the U.S. became which lead to Brooklyn College shutting down the campus and going virtual online. It was an overwhelming and challenging experience adjusting to having five classes from in person to online. What made it more challenging was contracting the virus myself in April where I experienced extreme fatigue, chills and a fever a couple nights, and lost of taste and smell. Through it all, I kept my faith in Jesus and trusted Him to heal me from the sickness and get through the semester. Thankfully, I passed all of my classes at the end of the semester and recovered fully within a couple weeks. My entire family was infected with the virus including my parents but they overcame it as well. Lastly, seeing all of the death totals on the news and staggering scenes such as freezer trucks taking bodies from hospitals to be buried or cremated were both alarming and saddening. What gave me hope was the general high survival rate despite the high number of reported infections and my faith in Christ who warned us in through the Bible (Mathew 24:3-8) that perilous times would come in the last days, including pestilences. As the pandemic continues to evolve, I continue to pray for those who lost loved ones, our country and the world that we would all become stronger, wiser, and closer to Jesus after this unfortunate experience. -
2020-05
Weekly Planner
Attached is a picture of my planner from May of last year. I have always tried to keep a journal of some sort but over the past few years entries in my actual journal have become more sporadic, and I sometimes feel bad that I'm not documenting my life better. But I have found that I keep my memories and experiences in different ways. I keep post-its and planners and notes from past classes, all of which contain some view into a different time of my life. This page in my planner was probably drawn during class, or while waiting for another class to start. The goldfish stickers were there before I wrote the words around them, I'm pretty sure. Looking back now I could say maybe the goldfish and the misconception about their memory is a comment on the way isolation and lack of enrichment affects memory, but really I just had them nearby and thought they were cool. At this point the monotony of quarantine and online school and being out of work made a planner feel kind of superfluous and each page was less like an organized look at my week and more like a dumping ground for my thoughts. The speech bubbles near the fish read: "(I love you guys)" "What?" "I said let's count down so we can all sign off together!" Since moving back to my parent's house in March I haven't seen any of my friends in person. It's been nearly a year of movie nights over discord, all of us counting down and trying to press play at the same time despite the latency. There's a certain intimacy of talking to someone late into the night from my bedroom, surrounded by artifacts of my high school life. I'm afraid for myself and afraid for my friends but we don't talk about the big scary thing looming over all of us. It's been nearly a year and the space in between now and February feels both infinite and microscopic. I am still, but time goes on. I remember that I wrote "One day I will be disappointed (spelled incorrectly) I did not document history better" later in the week. Memory is fragile and I want to preserve it the best I can but lately I'm too tired to take down the details of each day. Maybe this vague collection of my thoughts will be valuable to future me, but I won't know until then so I'll hold onto it anyway. -
2021-02-03
Masks mandatory inside middle and high schools in B.C.
Masks are now mandatory inside middle and high schools in British Columbia, Canada. Elementary students are currently not required to. Schools are also asking for more money in order to help with improving safety for returning staff. While much of the population is currently wearing masks, the government has been relatively laissez-faire compared to the United States on compliance. -
2020-03-13
The Covid 19 College Experience : Procrastinators version
My experience with Covid has been positive health wise. Mentally I feel the need to interact with my peers because that is what I enjoy doing in my free time other than sleeping. I thought I would be building memorable college relationships, talking to lifelong friends but it seems impossible and that saddens me. This pandemic has showed my how financially irresponsible I am! I have spent so much money on nonsense and now that I realized that, I see all the life altering things I could have done with it, but let's not focus on the negative. It isn't to late for change so all those things can still be achieved. -
2021-01-21
West Contra Costa Unified School District Food Services Meal Distribution During the Pandemic
This is an example of what many schools in California are doing for children and families during stay-at-home orders of the pandemic, as part of efforts of the US Department of Agriculture. Many families face food scarcity issues and the meals provided at school are sometimes the only source of food during the day for students. During the pandemic, many children will face food scarcity issues if they do not attend school in person. This school district has organized meal boxes that provide breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. The website provides the pickup information in both English and Spanish to meet the communication needs of the families in their district, and stresses the importance of food for students' health and well-being. -
2021
symptoms
On January 6th, I was planned to go back to school for the first time in forever. I was really excited because I haven't actually been in school since March. However, this was delayed, because both of my parents tested positive for COVID-19. Even though it wasn't dangerous to them, my parents experienced a lot of side effects. My dad was always coughing, sneezing, and had trouble sleeping, and was very fatigued. My mom had the same thing, but worst of all, she lost all of her smell and taste. Even though she doesn't have it anymore, she still cannot taste or smell, and she learned it can last up to three months after you have it! Luckily, not me nor my brother ever got it, but we are still being careful. -
2020-11-02
Cold in the Classroom
If you have ever been in a middle school classroom, feeling cold is probably not the first thing that you think of. One might think of rowdy kids, perhaps non-inviting smells, stuffy air, but not necessarily the feeling of cold. After going home on March 13, 2020, I was forced to work remotely for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is still crazy to think how quickly everything changed from normal life to the furthest thing from it—just two days before the end of in-person schooling, I was still planning on going on the eighth grade Washington, DC trip! Anyway, going into the 2020-21 school year, because teachers were allowed to return to their classrooms (even though school would remain in distance for the foreseeable future), I decided that I would go into my classroom and work from there. I figured that it would help create a sense of normalcy in my own life while offering a familiar background to my students. After a few d ays of w orking from school without any students, I noticed how cold it was in my classroom. On a normal school day, I would turn on the air conditioning fairly early in the morning, being that the room would become warm and stuffy shortly after the students arrived. Even with it warm outside, I was noticing myself running the heater well into the afternoon. Without the heater, my classroom would quickly become unbearably cold! With brick walls and only a thin layer of carpet over a concrete floor, it is clear why it was so cold. I was just one person in a room that would normally have around 30—my body heat alone wasn't going to heat up the room! It is amazing to think that a silly little thing like the temperature of my classroom kind of got me down. No matter what I did to try and simulate normal life, it was just impossible for life to be normal, and that nagging cold was there to remind me of that fact. Just writing this down, I can feel the cold on my arms and legs, and I have a n urge to go and get a blanket, put on a sweatshirt, or turn on the heater. Come to think about it, I can also feel the pain in my lower back from sitting in front of a computer all day! In addition to the sense of touch/feeling being noticeably different, I have to say, the absence of, shall we say, interesting smells has also been out of the ordinary for my middle school classroom. I really cannot complain all too much when it comes to my experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic; I am lucky enough to still be employed, I can work at home if I wanted to, and no one all too close to me has had the disease. A great many people around the globe have had their lives shattered in the past year, so I really should be counting my blessings. With that said, I feel as if the coldness of my classroom somewhat symbolizes the isolation that I (and many others) are feeling during this trying time. The simple fact that there are not 30+ individuals in the room is causing the cold and, again, it is a nagging reminder that the world is simply not the same as it was a year ago, no matter how much we wish it were. -
2020-11-02
Cold in the Classroom
If you have ever been in a middle school classroom, feeling cold is probably not the first thing that you think of. One might think of rowdy kids, perhaps non-inviting smells, stuffy air, but not necessarily the feeling of cold. After going home on March 13, 2020, I was forced to work remotely for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is still crazy to think how quickly everything changed from normal life to the furthest thing from it—just two days before the end of in-person schooling, I was still planning on going on the eighth grade Washington, DC trip! Anyway, going into the 2020-21 school year, because teachers were allowed to return to their classrooms (even though school would remain in distance for the foreseeable future), I decided that I would go into my classroom and work from there. I figured that it would help create a sense of normalcy in my own life while offering a familiar background to my students. After a few days of working from school without any students, I noticed how cold it was in my classroom. On a normal school day, I would turn on the air conditioning fairly early in the morning, being that the room would become warm and stuffy shortly after the students arrived. Even with it warm outside, I was noticing myself running the heater well into the afternoon. Without the heater, my classroom would quickly become unbearably cold! With brick walls and only a thin layer of carpet over a concrete floor, it is clear why it was so cold. I was just one person in a room that would normally have around 30—my body heat alone wasn't going to heat up the room! It is amazing to think that a silly little thing like the temperature of my classroom kind of got me down. No matter what I did to try and simulate normal life, it was just impossible for life to be normal, and that nagging cold was there to remind me of that fact. Just writing this down, I can feel the cold on my arms and legs, and I have an urge to go and get a blanket, put on a sweatshirt, or turn on the heater. Come to think about it, I can also feel the pain in my lower back from sitting in front of a computer all day! In addition to the sense of touch/feeling being noticeably different, I have to say, the absence of, shall we say, interesting smells has also been out of the ordinary for my middle school classroom. I really cannot complain all too much when it comes to my experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic; I am lucky enough to still be employed, I can work at home if I wanted to, and no one all too close to me has had the disease. A great many people around the globe have had their lives shattered in the past year, so I really should be counting my blessings. With that said, I feel as if the coldness of my classroom somewhat symbolizes the isolation that I (and many others) are feeling during this trying time. The simple fact that there are not 30+ individuals in the room is causing the cold and, again, it is a nagging reminder that the world is simply not the same as it was a year ago, no matter how much we wish it were. -
2021-01-14
Halfway, hamburgers, and drive-throughs
I work in the library at a high school. It has been a surreal experience during the pandemic. While on spring break last year we learned that we were not coming back for two weeks, which became the remaining 9 weeks of the year in short order. At the end of the school year, we had to collect, and in some cases return, the items that students had from campus or had left on campus when we departed for spring break expecting to return on March 16, 2020. For a few weeks, we held drop-off zones for band instruments, sports uniforms, textbooks, and even cameras in the school parking lot. We distributed laptops to students who needed them for virtual learning. We asked seniors to drive through the student parking lot to pick up caps, gowns, and other graduation regalia, eventually diplomas, senior shirts, and if a favorite teacher was working that particular shift, to say final goodbyes. Drive-through graduations took place all across the state and the country in May, hoping that the rising senior class would have a different experience in 2021. We somehow are no closer to the end of the pandemic, and there is little chance that my school will return to in-person learning before spring break, and that is how it should be. I cannot say what graduation will or won’t look like at this point. Cases in Arizona are exploding, and in the days surrounding my posting of this story, we lead the entire world in positive cases. In some ways, it doesn’t feel like we have even reached the halfway point. But actually… I have. Because yesterday I was vaccinated with the first dose of the COVD-19 vaccine. My library team and I stalked the website all weekend, waiting for when 1B groups could sign up. I found an open time on Wednesday, January 13, 10 months after March 13, 2020, the day we now say the world fell apart. On top of working, I am a Ph.D. student in history at ASU. So after the first class meeting of my Wednesday class, I drove from Ahwatukee to Chandler-Gilbert Community College and participated in my own parking lot drive-through pandemic procedure. Almost like I was ordering a hamburger in a drive-through. Or maybe I am the hamburger in this analogy? We filed in lines, then split into multiple lanes, guided by a combination of medical staff and National Guard. The first nurse I spoke to, who asked to see my appointment number and my ID, asked me if I had any medication allergies. I responded that I get raised hives from Amoxicillin and Bactrim. She tied a strip of yellow caution tape around my driver's side mirror and told me that I would have to stay 30 minutes after my injection, rather than 15, to make sure I didn’t have an adverse reaction and then proceed to lane 5. No one was paying attention to my car, and I was far from the only one with this yellow strip, but for the few hundred feet that I drove toward where Lane 5 split into an A and B, I felt marked, and then I got to thinking about what other things warranted the Caution tape. I think that it harkened back to my biggest fear about COVID, that if I became infected, I would be seen as irresponsible, a pariah. It’s a privileged outlook, to be sure, but I had done my best to be safe for almost a year, hence why I was in line for the vaccine on the third day that it was open to 1B individuals. The next medical staff told me to lower all four windows in my car. You might think for airflow, but a coworker told me it was so that the EMTs could get in your vehicle if you were having a nasty reaction. The doctor for the 5A line asked me again about my allergies and decided to remove the tape that he did not see any fear for an adverse reaction. I pulled up under the tents, put my car in park, and the nurse opened the door. She confirmed with me that it was my first dose and rubbed a single-use alcohol prep pad on my arm. She asked if I was ready while she did that thing that doctors do, the thing where they squeeze a bit of your arm where they are going to stick you. “Yep,” I said back, chipper, unafraid of needles, vaccines, shots, or anything like that. “Okay,” she said, less than a second later, “you’re all done.” I didn’t even feel the needle before she was putting a bandage on my arm and putting my t-shirt sleeve back down. We exchanged “thank you” and “have a great day,” and I pulled up to the end of the line where an EMT gave me a packet of information on the vaccine and a card that had no patient name yet but was stamped with today’s date, indicating that I had completed my first of two vaccines. That I was halfway done. I really have to wait 30 days after the second dose to truly be “done,” but “third-way” done doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. I pulled off to the side on the meandering path back through the campus parking lot and took a photo with my half-completed card. Because by social media rules, if you don’t take a selfie with your card, were you really vaccinated? Thinking back to my coworkers’ puppies that had gotten their vaccinations to make them safe around other dogs over the summer, I sent the photo to our group chat, “halfway to street legal!” -
2020-09-22
2020-09-22 covid summer
This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. Over the summer i guess i did change quite a bit. The main thing that changed was really my hobbies or rather, my newfound disinterest in my old set of hobbies. I always took my hobby far too seriously and it turns out that when i didn’t have any pressure to keep pursuing it, i kind of dislike it a bit. I had a bit of an existential crisis over it but it’s been nice to take a break.. I’ve also gotten used to school a lot better. I’m a lot more responsible nowadays and i have no missing work so that’s nice. It’s partly because of all the time i don’t use up on my hobby but it’s mostly that i just find find it fun to organize my computer. Now that i think about it i really don’t want school to start. I won’t have the choice to stay home because then i’d lose touch with my friends but I’ll really miss not being mentally drained from talking to strangers. There’s also the fact that i don’t want my room to be filled up with papers that i’ll just stare at become overwhelmed by. There’s just so many reasons that i don't want to go back to in-person. -
2020-12-14
Public Health Systems Tension with the Government during COVID-19 Pandemic
Public Health Systems Tension with the Government during COVID-19 Pandemic -
2020-12-14
Thanksgiving 2020
The Thanksgiving that I had in 2020 was in some ways different, and some ways the same. I would normally go to my Grandparents house, and they would invite family and friends over too. But this year, only my family was invited. My grandfather had also passed away in October, so only my grandmother was there. The food was the same, but the company was very different. It felt more lonely this year, because of the lockdown. My Thanksgiving was different in some ways, but familiar in other ways. Overall, it was a fine experience, but obviously not as good as previous years. -
2020-12-14
Media Impact on Outcomes of Criminal Court Cases
This is important because it shows that media has an effect on outcomes in a lot of criminal court cases. We need to be aware of how media affected some of the most famous cases in the United States. -
2020-02-22
The Covid Virus
In February, I was in school. People started talking about this virus that started in China that was killing people and getting people very sick. It was in China so I thought that it wouldn't reach the U.S. Then when I got home I asked my parents about it. Then a couple weeks later they said that the virus got into the U.S. The virus spread all around the world. -
2020
Impeded Education as a result of Covid
I am writing about how education of students has been impeded due to the ongoing pandemic. -
2020
The Plague Year, From My Perspective
The writings in this piece reflect my life during the pandemic. -
2020-11-19
Student Life During a Global Pandemic in Boston
I was supposed to spend my first semester of college abroad in Rome, Italy as part of my acceptance into Northeastern's NUin program. Due to the pandemic, I had to switch my location to London, England and then ended up having to switch to Boston, Massachusetts. But despite the unexpected change in location and covid-19 guidelines, I ended up having an amazing first semester here in Boston. Life on the Northeastern campus was definitely not what I was expecting for my first year of college, but my peers and I were able to quickly adapt to the safety guidelines and online classes. My entire education relied on one thing this year... the strength of my WiFi connection. As you can see in the photo, all of my classwork, textbooks, assignments, and professors were primarily accessible from my laptop. Instead of being taught in-person with a live professor, all I had to do to get to my class was open my computer and click a link to a Zoom meeting. This made it easy to attend class, but it also made it very difficult to focus during class because I was able to mute myself if I didn't feel like paying attention. If I learned anything from going to school during the covid-19 pandemic, it was self discipline. This is because I had to make sure that I stayed focused on my classes when I could have easily not been paying attention. -
2020-12-06
The ways how Covid-19 is annoying and helping us [ANONYMOUS]
When I go to malls, I usually take buses and sky trains and I can see all the people in buses and trains are wearing their masks. Including children and seniors. When I get any malls, every single person is wearing a mask and getting social distancing. And if there are lots of people in a shop and there is a limitation of capacity of people, and the shop is full, then others who want to go in have to wait for it until the people in the store get out. This thing is one of stressful things for everybody. And when I go to the school, we only take 1 to 2 blocks for a day, and we have to clean our desks and chairs before the classes begin, or after the classes end. This one is really inconvenient. Of course all the students wear their masks for the whole time in the school. We have our cohort zone which makes me and my friends separate. And everyone cannot expect there will be the school next month because the school can be closed whenever if COVID spreads so quickly. Some restaurants take reservations, and some of them don’t. If I get in a restaurant, I have to write my first and last name, the number of people will join together, the time I came in, and the date on a paper. Also all the people (also me) in restaurants have to sanitize their hands before they sit. And people cannot sit before any table is sanitized. People can order by online by taking a code on desks, or order to waiters or waitresses. If I look at the online menu, that is the same as the offline menu. And when I finished to order, I can see what I ordered and the total amount to pay on the online menu. They also appear when I ordered foods offline. I can pay them online. When I park my car on the side of roads, I can pay the time for parking online, also I can add more time online whenever I want. I don’t need to go back to the spot where my car was parked when I need to add more time. Online payment is developed by COVID and it’s convenient! -
2020-11-30
Back-to-Back Fully Online Semesters
As soon as the Coronavirus hit, everyone was affected in either how they would work or how they were getting an education. I am currently an architecture student at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, MA. I think everyone had hoped that the pandemic would be wrapped up in just a few months but unfortunately it was not. By summer 2020 I was about to begin my second semester of sophomore year with it being fully online. It was an extreme learning curve, classes were all on Zoom, and there was limited communication between me and my fellow classmates. We had to adapt from the handmade models we had done in previous years to digital models on new programs we had not used before. Through the entirety of the summer online semester, we had high hopes that somehow the fall semester would be different. But it was not. While the promise of hybrid classes was presented, everything was still so unknown that many of those promises fell through. We were told of the potential of a few in-person studio days and many students, like myself, decided to live on campus or even sign leases for apartments. But we were again met with the harsh reality of those in-person classes not happening. My school had come out with a plan of in-person studio days and we juniors were shocked to see that only our grade was given zero. We argued for at least a few in-person days throughout the semester, especially after having spent the entire summer semester fully online. We were finally given an opportunity to have an in-person class. While it is the reality that some of these events were out of the control of the school, it is still taking quite a toll on the students. We are losing that essential in-person connection that we usually get with classes such as studio. With the Covid-19 virus still ever present in November of 2020, we all have dim hopes of what the Spring semester of 2021 will bring. -
2020-03
Schooling During the Pandemic
With the pandemic going on school has been quite different and this is more of a general outlook of how that is effecting me personally, because I can't speak for everyone else. When COVID really first started hitting us in March, I packed up all my things almost out of no where because my school (FGCU) suggested that we all go home for the semester and changed all of our classes to online meetings. When it first happened I suppose that it wasn't a huge hit to my education because the semester was already pretty much over and we only had a month or so left. However, when summer came and I had to do two more challenging classes over six weeks I started to realize how much I actually appreciated going to classes in person. Especially with Physics, which was very difficult to learn and comprehend in six weeks all while being taught online. Even more challenging was the virtual labs which in of itself is ironic. Nonetheless I was able to pass physics (barely), and now fast forward to present time we're in the Fall semester and not too much as changed. I understand what we are doing, but it is honestly quite annoying when you're trying to pass all of your classes, especially being an engineering major like me. For example, just now as I'm writing this I'm supposed to be in a class, but for some reason I can't connect to the zoom meeting and neither can anyone else. Thankfully my professor records all of our meetings so I can watch it later but regardless it is pain because finals are this week and I'm more worried about my calculus and engineering classes. I really find it more challenging to pay attention to a class when it's online compared to when I'm actually there in person, maybe that's just me but I couldn't imagine I am the only one who agrees with that. -
2017-10-16
Jewish Melbourne: Jewish Women of Words - Lisa Farber
This is an article by Lisa Farber, talking about her child finishing school in 2020, during the pandemic -
2020-10-07
Jewish Melbourne: UJEB virtual Sukkot at Glenallen School Katandra Special School and Ashwood Special School
"This year our UJEB students at Glenallen School Katandra Special School and Ashwood Special School had a great time beaming virtually into our Project Kulanu Sukkah to shake the Lulav. From all of us at Project Kulanu and especially from Tal Spinrad, Project Kulanu Manager, and his son Reuvi (pictured), wishing everyone a chag sameach and a very sweet new year! 🌿⛺️🍎🍏🍯 #ujebinclusion #projectkulanu #Sukkot #sukkot2020 #lulav" -
2020-11-18
A Students New Desk During Covid-19
This is my desk that I would attend my online classes from. This is definitely different from the normal desks or tables I’m familiar with or anyone student is. This is different also because you don’t have to choose where to sit in the class. Do you sit up front, in the middle or the back of the class? With online classes every student is front and center on their screen. When coming to class I would be almost uncomfortable having to takes notes in such a small area to don’t disturb the student on your left or right. With your own desk you have the freedom to spread out a feel comfortable with taking notes. -
11/15/2020
Recent College Graduate Trying to Maintain Employment as a Substitute Teacher during the COVID-19 Pandemic
This is an interview with a recent college graduate that started her career at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic. She describes pre-covid conditions to COVID-19 rules in the kindergarten classroom. -
2020-08-06
Jewish Melbourne: Stand Up zoom session with Mt Scopus students
"Yesterday, students at Mount Scopus Memorial College had the first of two opportunities to meet with (over zoom, of course) Hosna Hamouda and hear her story. Hosna was born in Sudan, her family fled when she was just one and arrived in Australia at the age of 5 after being in transit in Egypt. Hosna spoke to students about the challenges of beginning school without any knowledge of English and her experiences growing up in Melbourne coming from a Sudanese background. In the next session, kids learn more about the Sudanese community in Melbourne and will brainstorm ways to make a contribution! #StandUpStandOut" -
2020-09-17
Jewish Melbourne: Stand Up zooming with King David School students
"Yesterday we zoomed with Year 5 students at King David, exploring the connections between social justice challenges and Rosh Hashana. 🙏 What an inspiring way to bring in 5781! Here's hoping we can run this program again next year, but in real life this time! Shana Tova!" -
2020-09-10
Jewish Melbourne: Sholem Aleichem ‘Gast Oyf Shabes’ - cooking from Fania Lewando's cookbook
"Last Friday, the Grade 6s welcomed vegan chef Michal Dawid Lachur all the way from Warsaw, Poland as their latest ‘Gast Oyf Shabes’. Michal taught the Grade 6s about vegetarian chef, Fania Lewando (1887-1941). Lewando ran a vegetarian restaurant in pre-WWII Vilna. The restaurant attracted figures such as Marc Chagall and Itzik Manger. She also had a cookery school, where she taught about vegetarian nutrition. Fania Lewando published the Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook (Vegetarish-Dietisher Kokhbukh) in 1938 in Yiddish. Many years later, it was translated into English and is available online. Michal led our students in a cooking workshop, where they learned to make a rice kugl and a prune tsimes. The students had a great time cooking with Michal and enjoyed learning to make Lewando’s take on these traditional dishes. A sheynem dank to Michal for joining us in the early hours of the morning to work with our students." -
2020-09
Jewish Melbourne: Sholem Aleichem Rosh Hashone staff video
The staff at Sholem Aleichem College recorded a video celebrating Rosh Hashone -
2020-09-17
Jewish Melbourne: Sholem Aleichem students baking for Rosh Hashone
"This week our students have been busy preparing for Rosh Hashone! Our Grade 4 students enjoyed learning how to braid a khale through an amazing baking session, while our Grade 1 students loved baking delicious honey oat slice!" -
2020-09-04
Jewish Melbourne: Mt Scopus Shabbat Shalom
This is a photo album of screenshots of Mt Scopus students doing Kabbalat Shabbat at home, over zoom, together -
2020-09-11
Jewish Melbourne: Mt Scopus pre-Rosh Hashanah video
This is a short video of students blowing to shofar, to encourage the community to "Get excited because there’s only one week till..... ROSH HA’SHANA!!!" -
2020-09-18
Jewish Melbourne: Mt Scopus students celebrate Rosh Hashanah online
This is a photo album of screenshots of students celebrating Rosh Hashanah together on zoom -
2020-10-07
Jewish Melbourne: Mt Scopus primary students virtual Sukkot
"Our Primary Students have also been learning about Chag #Sukkot From a virtual Sukkah to LEGO demonstrations, this year’s #Sukkot5781 has certainly had a point of difference! #JewishIdentity #Gettingthroughthistogether" -
2020-09-24
Jewish Melbourne: Mt Scopus ScopusTorah@Home - Yom Kippur 5781
"What does Purim have to do with Yom Kippur? In this week’s ScopusTorah@Home Mrs Adina Bankier-Karp will explain why channeling our inner Esther is key this Yom Kippur. #JewishIdentity #Gettingthroughthistogether" -
2020-08-11
Out of Lockdown and Sadness, Joy and Hope Spring Eternal
The oldest screenshot in this collection is from July of 2019, when my initial inquiry into attendance at St. Mary's University began. I was initially disappointed because I am located in Houston, St. Mary's is obviously in San Antonio, and they did not, at the time, offer online degree plans. In August I received an e-mail about the Public History scholarship program, which also announced the university's plan to have remote learning programs for this Master's program. I was ecstatic; I applied, and was accepted just in time for the semester to start. I received an informal acceptance in an e-mail from the program director, Dr. Wieck, and then a more formal one from the Interim Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. These screen shots mean a lot to me, as I was very interested in St. Mary's as the college for my Master's, even though it wasn't ideal location wise, it seemed like one of the more thorough and dedicated programs in Texas. I was disappointed at first when I first was told I there weren't online classes, and didn't think much about that specific program for a bit afterwards. With the craziness of the pandemic sweeping over the country, I decided what the heck, picked up a GRE study book and began the process of studying, to apply to a closer university when I got the e-mail about the scholarship and remote learning classes. Being able to "attend" my preferred school has been a welcome surprise amidst constant weeks and months of bad news, stress, and anxiety. It has been a wild ride, given the short time between my application and admittance, when I wasn't sure I'd be admitted to the program in the first place. However, I'm rather pleased to be going pursuing this dream, and trying to learn from my mistakes daily. -
2020-09-20
Jewish Melbourne: Mt Scopus Rosh HaShana 5781 Greeting from Rabbi Kennard
"Rabbi Kennard passed on his Rosh HaShana greetings to staff, students and the whole #ScopusFamily at the conclusion of the virtual Student Leadership Induction Ceremony on Tuesday 15 September, 2020." -
2020-09-16
Jewish Melbourne: Mt Scopus Principal's End of Term 3 message
"Despite our community’s difficult circumstances Principal Rabbi Kennard is still able to provide an end of term message detailing Mount Scopus Memorial College Highlights for Term 3, 2020." -
2020-10-03
Jessica Fisher Oral History, 2020/10/03
Graduate student at ASU, Angelica S Ramos interviews mother of a new born baby. In this interview she discussed the struggles with prenatal care and her experience with birth during COVID. Fisher also discusses family support as a new mother amidst the pandemic and how her interactions with her family has changed. She mentions her worries with being high risk for contraction and how she copes with her worries. She also talks about her work as a teacher and how much that environment has changed for her and her students. In this interview, Fisher also talks about her close relationship with her grandmother who lived in assisted living and how their relationship has been forced to change. Lastly, she talks about her hopes for the future. -
2020-10-03
Jennifer Martin Oral History, October 3, 2020
Graduate student at ASU, Angelica S Ramos interviews mother of four, Jennifer Martin of Kentucky, to get her first-hand experience of being a working mom during COVID. In this interview, they discuss the hardships of motherhood, how the routine of the household has changed and the hardships Jennifer has encountered. Jennifer also expresses excitement for moving out of the suburbs and into a farm, a decision which was made during COVID.