Items

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  2020-06-01

  You Never Know What You’ve Got ’Til it’s Gone

  As a senior in high school, I did not realize how important it was to experience milestones. I thought graduation was just an event that people dreaded and sat through for hours and hours until it was over. I thought prom was just another dance. I thought senior night for lacrosse was just a short walk across the field. I did not realize the true meaning and importance of these events until they were taken away from me. My whole life, I watched my friends and brothers experience their “senior night” for their sports teams respectively. 2020 was finally my year to experience my senior night. I joined my mandatory Zoom call to discuss the options for the upcoming season, only for it to turn out in the cancellation of the entire season. I was heartbroken. At this moment, I realized that I would never play the sport I loved with my teammates ever again. I realized I would never be able to walk across the field with my family and be honored for all of the time I spent devoted to the sport of lacrosse. I would never be able to experience the feeling of walking off of the field for the last time in my career. The only experience I got was a drive thru of cars in a parking lot. Nothing could ever make up for the memories that I missed out on when my season was cancelled. Another event that impacted me was my graduation. I had just spent thirteen years in my school district and it was finally my year to walk across the stage in my cap and gown while my family members cheered for me. Instead, because of the pandemic, I simply got to watch a slideshow from my computer with my name typed on a slide. That is all that was done by my school for my graduation. I was lucky enough that my family wanted to make this milestone special for me, so they gave me my own graduation. They set up a stage and a private graduation in my backyard with all of my family members which helped make up for the graduation that I missed out on. But, I never got to experience graduating from high school, and that is something that I know I will never get to experience due to COVID. COVID has had an impact on my life in ways that I did not expect it to. COVID took away experiences and emotions from me that I didn't even know meant anything to me. This pandemic has taught me to take advantage of and appreciate any milestone in life, no matter how trivial it can seem. I felt and experienced the true meaning of the phrase, “You never know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone,” and if I could sum up my experience of the COVID-19 pandemic in one phrase, it would be that.
• 2021-01-14

  Remote Learning in Quarantine

  When remote learning started due to COVID-19 and having to quarantine, I didn't think much of it. I figured we'd be back in school within months and it wouldn't be very different online. . . little did I know how much I was missing. Now that I am back in school after winter break, I'm realizing what it's like at school with friends and being able to see people. Materials aren't easily accessible, internet connections can be unstable, and there are a lot more distractions at home than at school in-person, but there are benefits, as well. I can work on my own time at my own pace, I am more organized as I am at home, I don't have to get ready before school, allowing me to sleep in, and I can eat whenever I'm hungry. There's a slight luxury with remote learning, but it doesn't compare to being at school in-person.
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  2020-04-03

  Personal Email to Supervisor

  To say I missed coming into work would be an understatement. I thought being able to work comfortably in sweatpants would somehow make up for the lack of interaction, but by April several important dates had come and gone and I had no one to be with to celebrate them. Isolation on my birthday was the most difficult. I usually spent time with my family and we would celebrate together but all I had was a videochat with them and nothing else. Days melted together and my anxiety grew. I was missing the community I had when I went to work and it took "losing" it for me to fully appreciate what it is I had. I appreciated the fact that my supervisor was having us check in weekly, it was something I looked forward to.