Items

• 
  2021-09-30

  Masking through the pandemic

  I have submitted this picture to show what it was like just to be at school during the pandemic. This is a picture of my friend and I in band class. We had to wear masks, and even had special musician masks we had to wear while playing our instruments. This was a very hard time, especially with it being my senior year of high school. I just wanted things to be normal again.
• 2020-03-15

  Life during COVID 19

  My experience living during COVID 19 was unforeseen. It was my senior year of high school during the year of 2020 when I first heard of the term "Coronavirus." Being a student athlete at this stage of my life, I was looking forward to several upcoming events, such as Prom, my last outdoor track and field season competing as a distance runner, and graduation. When March 2020 arrived, everything came to an abrupt change for the worse. I suddenly found out that all of the current classes I was taking was forced to be online. The outdoor track and field season I was training for with my teammates and all of the goals that I set for myself were abandoned. The graduation I was looking forward to was held on a pre recorded video instead of a traditional in person setting. What I have learned from the pandemic is that some things will not go as planned, no matter how much time and devotion goes into a particular event. Telling this story is important to me because it can let other future generations acknowledge what happened during these uncertain times and what things can be prevented from happening later on.
• 
  2020-08-05

  Only Student on Campus: My First and Second Year at College

  The item that I am submitting describes my life as a student throughout my senior year of high school toward my first year of college. I emphasized the feeling of being alone and dealing with the college on a fully virtual level. As months passed it was important to validate the experience and the growth from being in an online setting to an in-person setting.
• 
  2020-05-01

  Taking advantange of a bad situation.

  Covid-19 for me was difficult as a high school senior at the time and graduation coming. My class kind of lost the fun trips and experiences with teachers and classmates that graduates look forward to. We did not see our classmates till the day of graduation. I felt that Covid-19 allowed me the opportunity to better myself as I lost 18 pounds and wished I took more advantage of that time at home to learn new skills and offered me an opportunity to think and plan the future. At the end of the day. It taught me many lessons and ways to prepare for disasters.
• 2020-10

  Applying to College Blind Eyed: Class of 2021

  The pandemic has forced students to come up with new routes of navigating the college application process while fighting against COVID-19. I graduated from the class of 2021, and I spent my whole senior year online. Although, I have to say applying to college wasn't easy. My high school hosted a few college zoom workshops at the beginning of my senior year, but my counselors were unable to assist each student's question as there were 70 students in the class of 2021. Because of this, I resorted to watching a few youtube videos on how to navigate the CSU/UC application as I had an array of questions that couldn't be answered in an email. At the time, the most reliant form of communication was emails during the pandemic, despite taking 1-2 business days. I and my peers alike were quite patient with our college counselors. Applying for FAFSA was another mess on its own. Applying to FAFSA is intricate as we students had to ask for our parent's tax information, and that comes with its own problems. Many parents don't want their children to know how much they've made in a year, especially my parents. I had to schedule an appointment with a college counselor to inform my father that FASA isn't a scam. Once this was established, finding my parent's password for their IRS account was the worst part of the college application process. The IRS had to send my parent's password through the mail. I eventually was able to submit my FAFSA within two months. I’m not entirely sure what applying to college was like before the pandemic. I have to say though that the pandemic made it much more difficult for the class of 2021 as we had to face the anxieties and struggles of the pandemic itself. I tested positive for COVID-19 on the day I started my UC application. I was already stressed out with college apps, and having COVID-19 made me physically weak. Although, I have to say COVID-19 made me independent, much like the class of 2021. We had to navigate the world of higher education with little guidance from our faculty.
• 2022-04-29

  Covid Impact

  Covid has had a huge impact on everyone throughout these past two years. Many people lost their lives, jobs, and it has impacted people mental health. Living through covid hasn't been easy for many of us we went from living our day to day life and all of a sudden a virus was infecting the whole world and we were stuck in quarantine. Personally this had a huge impact on my mental health i felt like i was going crazy being stuck all day inside with nothing to do. Not just that i was stuck with all my thoughts and feelings that i was avoiding and now they were all there with me making things harder for me. I would typically have some sort of distraction but at that moment i had none. My motivation for school decreased heavily i wasn't able to learn good through a computer screen although i did like just waking up 5 min before class started. When covid started i was a junior in High school and i thought by the time i was a senior and graduating it would all be done but i was wrong. Its been two years now and it is still a thing. It does suck knowing i missed the last half of my high school years i didn't get to experience all the fun senior activities but the thing i am grateful for is i did have a graduation ceremony which at that point is all i really wanted. Recently things have been slowly going back to "normal" and i feel like many of us have gotten used to this.
• 2022-04-20

  Oklahoma Outbreak: an okie boys experience with COVID-19

  Looking back at the beginning of the pandemic seems surreal. I remember hearing in December 2019 or January 2020 about some sickness in China. However, I had lived through the Ebola scare and multiple different flu outbreaks and my life had not changed day to day. People would get scared and then it would pass after a couple months with little effect. This would turn out to be different and unlike anything seen in the developed 21st century world. I left my school for Spring Break and though I would return to my final days at Mustang HS and the fun events that came with graduating. My family and some friends traveled a few hours from our house to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and stayed nearby in Medicine Park, Oklahoma. It was a sleepy turn of the century resort town that had seen better days when the rich and powerful of Oklahoma had made it a vacation spot. Although not as popular as it once was, it is being rediscovered by local people for its natural beauty and relatively cheap costs. It seemed like a normal vacation, and we did not see very many people as it wasn’t yet summer and there are not that many locals. We hiked trails at the wildlife refuge and went into town for food and trinkets. It was a nice quiet start to the week. Then all of the sudden everything began to change. We watched the news and saw on social media that the virus that was a world away had now made its way to America. We still were not very worried because we were pretty isolated, and either were hiking outside on trails with little activity or tucked away in our cabin playing games and hanging out. Then cases started to explode, the economy started collapsing, people were getting sick everywhere and no one knew what to do. We went into a restaurant in town and did not know how to act; we were all rubbing germ-x all over ourselves and keeping our distance as best we could. At this point we still figured it would all blow over after a few weeks. As our spring break drew to a close, our school let out a statement that we were not going back the next week. This was exciting news and I figured it was all just a precaution and I would be back in class the week after with all of this just a big laugh and some extra time off. Boy was I wrong. On the drive home my dad, who is a semi-prepper, was coming up with all sorts of scenarios and making plans for if the world collapsed but it honestly still felt like we were only entertaining ourselves. As we rolled back into my town, it looked like a beehive had exploded. People were driving crazy, every gas pump was full, and the Walmart was almost wiped out. That is when it started to sink in that things might be worse than I first thought. Then the first deaths started getting reported and it really seemed serious. I never went back to a high school classroom. My whole life changed from that point on. My first 2 years of college seemed almost fake and as of right now I have had COVID 3 times; the original, delta, and omicron. My family has also had it multiple times. We were some of the lucky ones to make it through with no lingering problems and for my older family members, with their lives. It is now April 2022 and things have finally started to go back to somewhat normal, but another wave could happen at any time. Corona Virus has changed our world and is going to be with us forever.
• 2022-03-24

  Covid-19 Cuts Senior Year Short

  As a 2020 senior, I went on Spring Break and never came back to the high school that I thought I would enjoy for 2 more months. I cried at the fact that I wouldn’t get to experience my “lasts” of high school; no senior trip, no senior field day, no senior prank, and no graduation. I felt like my senior year had been ripped away from me in a matter of seconds, and I felt that I had worked hard in school for nothing. I questioned if I would ever get to go to college or travel again. Covid-19 turned my happy senior year into a nightmare. I remember feeling so discouraged and depressed; even my town’s streets were completely empty. It was a time of utter darkness that I never want to live through again. The unknown scares me, and Covid-19 sent my fear into full force.
• 
  2022-03-20

  Covid 19 as a senior

  When Covid first started, I never imagined it becoming, as serious or being as long as it was. I was a senior in high school, and on March 13, 2020 I never thought that would be my last day of high school. All I wanted was to participate in all the fun activities, but that never happened as life never really went back to normal.
• 2020-09-09

  The Four Walls of Insanity

  The day my life completely changed, QUARATINE had been announced in my district. What had begun as a light conversation with no expected impact on us later came to crumble our walls of reality and how vulnerable we really are. We live in a time of the future a virus wasn't expected to take so many of us out the thought that we've evolved beyond this point was false. We were unprepared for anything that was to come. I never got to enjoy my senior year complete my senior year, a year I'll never get back. I had begun with so much excitement it was my senior year in cross country I gratefully got to finish my season with all my teammates and some of my best friends from high school. However that would later come crashing down as I was getting excited for prom season shopping for a new dress and planning the night out with friends we were sent on a "2 week spring break" I never got back. Classes continued online, I no longer was able to do my daily routine of going to school then practice with friends. From now on any interaction was via Zoom or FaceTime we longed for reconnection. I'm someone who thrives off interacting with my friends especially pre quarantine the lack of interactions was draining me. I had to find a new way to cope which as you can see led to many hair color changes within a couple months. The four walls I would be so excited to come to after a long practice now became a prison cell. I would't change the way I chose to quarantine because I saw the negative affects of socializing with sadly one of my neighbors passing during that height of pandemic. However we are all only human and selfishness is part of who we are and I think it's fair to say my mental health took a large toll during the couple months that felt like years. Once my family as well as others became more lenient I was a able to hangout in small groups of people but never large and still fear it a little over 2 years later. I don't believe I have fully recovered from the situation this time period put us through. The isolation did allow me to discover new interests and how to spend time with myself which can be difficult, as well as an appreciation for long walks on your own. However it was a confusing time and one that only brought about more anxiety and fear with someone who deals with this struggles on the daily.
• 2021-02-08

  Tweets that reflected life during online school

  These tweets reflect how I felt while doing my senior year from behind a computer screen in my room. I would put my zoom class on and then spend time on my phone. Life was really boring, I had school everyday and couldn't see many of my friends. My school used Microsoft Teams for class, and it was really bad compared to Zoom.
• 
  2021-09-17

  Kayla Cruz and Marisol Palacios Oral History, 2021/09/17

  Day to day life during pandemic.
• 
  2021-09-17

  Sabrina Sakata and Emily Fink Oral History, 2021/09/17

  This audio interview shows how my friend, Emily Fink, and I have experienced the pandemic and how it has affected us.
• 
  2021-09-16T13:00:00

  Tiffany Lam and Daniel Berry Oral History, 2021/09/16

  This is a quick interview between two freshmen in college, recapping our overall thoughts throughout the pandemic.
• 2020-06

  A Community Coming Together for High School Seniors

  As COVID began taking effect and schools started switching to virtual classes from home, one of my siblings became extremely upset. This was to be their senior year, and suddenly senior trip, prom, and graduation were being taken away from them. Such sentiments were shared throughout their entire class, and even gained attention through high school seniors at a national level. Inspired by similar movements across the country, however, parents and leaders across the community decided to act for these seniors. Out of nowhere an "Adopt a Child" movement began, and nearly a thousand of those within the community all contributed to giving these students gift baskets full of gift cards, apparel, and so forth. Businesses were even a major part of this movement; for example, a few pizza places offered to give out hundreds of free pies to students at extremely reduced prices for the parents sponsoring them. While nothing could likely make up for all that they had lost, this situation not only alleviated some of the sorrow amongst my own family members, but it demonstrated to me how strongly we can come together when those in our community need it.
• 2020-02-24

  The Extended Spring Break, or How COVID Made Senior Year a Let-Down

  I remember talking about the virus beginning to pop up in America in my AP Research class with the rest of class. The nature of the class was an at-your-own-pace kind of deal as long as our research essay and presentation developed accordingly to segmented deadlines. Our teacher loved to talk about current events with us while we worked, and it'd often get a few of us side-tracked for half-an-hour, but this time our whole class was involved. Like many at the time we thought it'd just be a slightly worse flu, that it was something we'd make it through just like all the other flu-seasons from years prior. As it became a more severe problem throughout the nation, we all started to realize that Spring Break may last longer that initially thought. We figured we'd eventually come back with new guidelines in place, but at least for our school district, that was it. The senior-year-experience effectively died their for many of us. Prom got cancelled, Gradbash followed suit, and after holding out for so long, the promise of a graduation ceremony too. We still had the same schedule and school work, but now, many of the fun events and activities were cancelled. School from home still seemed relaxing at the time and had yet to devolve into the "this is like a personal prison" mentality, so there was some positivity that we could hold on to until Summer vacation. I couldn't look past everything falling apart for the year to make myself happy. I've been able to move on since, but seeing your senior year get reduced to ash in a few weeks really took a toll on me for a few months. Now in college, I feel some sense of socially-distanced normalcy has returned to the area I live in, as we don't have a noticeably high amount of cases here, but it still doesn't make me feel that much better of having lost an important year of my life.
• 
  2020-05-31

  High School Graduation-- Covid-19 Edition

  May 31, 2020 Senior year, something that every student looks forward to the second they enter high school. It’s supposed to be a time for celebration, big life steps, and most importantly, spending one last year with the kids you grew up with. Starting senior year in the fall of 2019, everything seemed laid out before me, it was just a matter of finishing college applications and deciding on a college, worrying about who might be my prom date, and whether I would be starting goalie for my varsity lacrosse team. All those worries disappeared when schools got shut down March 13, 2020. At the time only for two weeks, given that Covid-19 was really beginning to hit the United States. My friends and I thought nothing of it and were hopeful for a return to school to finish out senior year. But weeks went on, and one-by-one, everything began to be canceled. First, it was lacrosse. Next, it was the permeant switch to online school. And last, perhaps the worst of all, the cancelation of prom and graduation. When it truly hit that the end of senior year had been taken away from us, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I sulked around for a long time, and even began to feel like I was losing friends. Flash forward to May 31, 2020, and I’m sitting in the back of my Dad’s truck, which was decorated in my school’s colors of green and black. I sat in my graduation cap and gown all by myself with my parents in the front of the truck. The community had come together to celebrate the Class of 2020 in the only safe way they could think of—a parade. We waited in a parking lot to drive by my high school one last time. Most of my classmates were there, sitting on top of cars, looking through sunroof windows, or sitting in the back of trunks. It was heartbreaking to see all of my friends split apart, all waving from our cars. Friends who I was only really friends with in class smiled and waved, all of us wishing the other well, and dying to give out a hug. As we began to drive through the neighborhoods leading up to the high school, the streets were lined with so many people (all socially distanced and with masks), holding signs and screaming for us. I didn’t cry until I saw my favorite teacher, who saw me and also started to cry, saying she got the letter I had sent her, thanking her for being my support throughout high school. It was such an overwhelming feeling of sadness and joy. When we finally made it to the high school, we all parked and waited to drive by the entrance one more time where they would call our names, as if we were walking across stage. The picture I am submitting is a moment when we had stopped, and I was standing there crying looking out at the high school and all of my classmates. The picture I feel captures how so many were most likely feeling in that moment. Knowing there was so many you didn’t truly get to say good-bye to, but so thankful for the opportunity to see each other from a far. Covid-19 took away so many things for so many people. Graduation was something I had been looking forward to for years. But to see the community come together for us high schoolers in such a confusing time is something I will never forget.
• 
  2020-12-10

  Senior Year in NYC: The Monumental Moments - Merry Christmas!

  COVID-19 has impacted small businesses all across NYC but one thing it has not been able to affect is holiday cheer. Merry Christmas from Rockefeller Center! **Fordham University, SOCI2200
• 
  2020-10-05

  Senior Year in NYC: The Monumental Moments - You Made It!

  COVID-19 has hurt all students’ worlds by cutting into and diminishing experiences and traditions;we saw the Class of 2020 lose out on formal graduation ceremonies and now the Class of 2021 has started the year in a frenzy of masks and toasts to hoping for a normal ceremony by May 2021. **Fordham University, SOCI2200
• 
  2020-09-30

  Senior Year in NYC: The Monumental Moments - Strolling through Central Park

  The costumes weren’t the only thing that made this Halloween spooky, the fact that trick or treating was a no-go and bars required you to sit, eat and wear a mask. **Fordham University, SOCI2200
• 
  2020-08-27

  Senior Year in NYC: The Monumental Moments - Welcome Freshman!

  COVID-19 has helped to remind us that the little things matter in life, especially around a college campus. Showing a freshman to their dorm room or to where they may grab a bite to eat and have classes is nothing short of important. We are all jumping with joy here because even with a worldwide pandemic we could continue to enjoy making a difference in the new student’s lives at our university **Fordham University, SOCIO 2200
• 
  2020-10-05

  Senior Year in NYC: The Monumental Moments - Time Flies By

  My friends toasting to senior year. Our time flew from beginning in the small, compact freshman dorms to needing to find a reason every day to get on campus because classes are fully-online for our senior year. How did we make it this far? **Fordham University, SOCI2200
• 
  2020-12-07

  Senior Year in NYC: The Monumental Moments - Exploring the Met

  You’d imagine there would be nothing to do in a large city filled with millions of people during a pandemic, but NYC worked harder than ever to open indoor dining and allow for 25% capacity in the amazing museums. Here, I’m exploring the “Making the MET” gallery at the Metropolitan Museum in upper Manhattan. **Fordham University, SOCI2200
• 
  2020-11-15

  Senior Year in NYC: The Monumental Moments - After A Night Out

  Imagine...after a nice socially-distanced night out on the town, walking to your favorite late night snack joint with all your pals. **Fordham University, SOCI2200
• 2020-11-30

  Finding The Sun Through The Clouds.

  2020 is being described as the worse year of modern times. The year started off with an international crisis in the middle east, a series of devasting natural disasters, and of course the widespread pandemic of Covid-19. The pandemic ignited a financial crisis, and many people lost their jobs. As to date, the virus has claimed 1.46 million lives worldwide. It is understandable why so many people are biding their time, praying for this disastrous year to finally end. As I reflected back on the year, I am conflicted on my opinions on it. Covid-19 ruined my senior year of high school. I lost my graduation, my prom, and spring sporting events. I was forced to quarantine for many months in the springs, unable to see my close friends. My summer was lackluster due to the restrictions placed on my community. For my first semester in college I hoped to study abroad, however, Covid squandered that adventure too. I could look back on this year with a pessimistic mindset; however, that would be an untruthful interpretation of this year. This year has contained so many wonderful things, which have had a positive impact on my life. After years of persevering in high school, I finally got accepted into my dream college. I got into my first serious relationship with a wonderful girl. And despite Covid restrictions, I have been able to make so many new and lasting friendships in college. It is easy to write 2020 off as an awful year and put forth and effort to forget about it. However, I believe it is important to reflect on the positive events of this year. Ignoring the good things from 2020 will only strengthen its negative effects for years to come. If one can find the positives of 2020 then the year would not have been a complete waste.
• 
  2020-11-11

  And She Never Got to Finish Writing......

  Because of Covid-19, I didn't get the normal senior year of high school experience. I never got to wear my prom dress, appreciate my last day of school, or even had a chance to say goodbye to the teachers who shaped me into the person I am today. I never got to participate in a senior prank, or use the money we've been raising since freshman year to use towards our senior BBQ and senior trip. I never got to say farewell to the people I've grown up with since middle school. Whether I was close with them or not, I would've liked to say goodbye considering I may not ever see them again. This pandemic never allowed me to close the book on my high school experience. No matter how old I get, I will always look back and feel like high school was something that was robbed from me.
• 
  09/18/2020

  Leana Fraifer Oral History, 2020/09/18

  Leana Fraifer is an incoming college freshman for Northeastern University. Her experiences this past half year embodies the struggles and uncertainties so many students like her face.
• 
  09/17/2020

  Sarah Barber Oral History, 2020/09/17

  This submission is an interview about the interviewees experiences during Covid-19
• 
  09/20/2020

  Joey Attalah Oral History, 2020/09/20

  This interview shows the life of a high school graduate in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Joey graduated from Cambridge Rindge & Latin School in 2020, missing out on his final season of lacrosse brought sadness, although not the same sadness that people took pity on him for. He found joy in being with his family, especially during his virtual graduation.
• 
  09/19/2020

  Alice Oral History, 2020/09/19

  This is an interview of a college freshman detailing the effects COVID-19 has had on both the end of their senior of high school and the start of college. It focuses on education and more generally the response of national, local and educational institutions to COVID-19.
• 
  09/20/2020

  Caitlin Daugherty Oral History, 2020/09/20

  This is an interview with a college freshman and her experience graduating high school during a global pandemic. She shares her story on what it was like choosing a college, graduating, and being isolated from her friends.
• 
  2020-09-20

  Radika Barot Oral History, 2020/09/20

  It is the experience the average high school senior had during the Corona Virus Pandemic recorded on voice memo by interviewer.
• 2020-04-05

  How Covid-19 Broke Apart and Reassembled My Life: My Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic

  The Coronavirus is not a one person issue. Everyone has had to deal with it and no one has been unaffected. I would like to recount for the archive my personal struggles during this pandemic so that they may be used for research purposes in dealing with something like this in the future. Before the pandemic started, I was a senior in high school. I had just asked my girlfriend to prom, which was just a few months away, and I had a 4.5 gpa for my senior year compared to my 3.5 for the rest of high school. I was excited to run spring track and try to break 5 minutes in the mile for the first time in high school. I hung out nearly everyday with my best friends. I had just committed to Suffolk University and was excited for the future. I didn’t really realize how bad Covid-19 was going to be until what would be our last day of school. It was a thursday, and all of us thought it would be a quick two week break to get rid of the virus and we would all be back. Obviously, that was not the case. I am a pretty social person, so when the lockdown was announced a week later, I really struggled with staying inside. Even with facetime, xbox live chat, and texting, I was not able to get enough social interaction. I felt extremely lonely. Spring sports were obviously also cancelled. This was just the first domino to fall in a long list of unfortunate events for me that, no doubt, many others experienced as well. A few weeks into lockdown, my girlfriend called me in tears telling me that her blood condition, which affects her nerve endings in almost her entire body, had gotten much more severe. Even worse, Covid-19 was making it harder to go to the hospital for the treatments. For her health, we had to break up, and I have not talked to or heard from her since. My older brother had also moved home from college at this point from UMass Amherst. While my younger brother and I have always done well in school and been well behaved kids, the same could not be said for my older brother. An avid weed smoker and oftentimes alcohol abuser, I had to share a room with him for all of quarantine, and continue to do so now. He experienced a lot less rules and a lot more freedom while in college, and did not transition well back to the stricter rules of our household, and often took this out on me. While he did not physically harm me, as I am much stronger than him, he continued to throw flurries of insults and mental abuse at me, ruining my every day. He also did this to the rest of my family, making it hell for everyone at home. At one point, my mother kicked him out, and he had to live with his boyfriend for a while. My mother also did not deal well with staying inside. She has struggled with her weight almost her entire adult life, and the closing of gyms during Covid-19 made her lose all motivation to stay in shape. She gained almost 100 pounds back in 2 months. My older brother coming home also caused her mounds of stress. Since my younger brother hid in his own locked room, and my older brother screamed or stormed out when my mom got mad at us, she took out all of her frustrations on me for the smallest things, taking away the devices I used to contact all my friends just because I had forgotten to put my shoes away or do the dishes. My father and my younger brother both dealt much better with the situation, but that did not save me from the rest of my family. After missing school and all my friends, getting my spring sport cancelled, losing my girlfriend, my brother and mother constantly berating and harassing me, and having nowhere to go but my shared room with no privacy, I began to free fall into a major case of depression and suicidal thoughts. Prior to this pandemic, I had never spoken with a therapist. I used to get bullied in elementary and middle school, but I always had ways of coping such as sports, hanging out with friends, and focusing on school, but now I had a real problem on my hands. After about 4 weeks of struggling inside of my own head, I finally realized I needed professional help. My parents set me up with a woman named Rachel via Zoom, and I talk to her every thursday. She is a licensed therapist, and is part of the new wave of technological medical care in this time of a pandemic. While she has not solved my problems, both the easing of restrictions and her mental guidance has helped me to cope with my situation. I am very grateful for her, and although I am not fully back to where I was before the pandemic, I am continuing to recover to this day. I leave to move in at Suffolk in 5 days, and I could not be more excited for the change of scenery, new friends, and a chance to continue my sport into college. The pandemic has been hard on everyone, and I am sure that I am not alone in my struggles. I wrote this so that people can look back in the future to realize just how devastating an impact can have on one individual’s life if not handled properly, because Covid-19 genuinely rocked my world.
• 
  2020-08-23T04:25:05

  What would you do if we could turn back time before COVID-19?

  What would you do if we could turn back time to a period before COVID-19? Asking this question today could possibly lead to many answers. Unfortunately, life, as we know it, has drastically changed as conditions have worsened. The COVID-19 pandemic has definitely changed the lives of so many people, and throughout this period many have experienced various overwhelming emotions. My life personally had been turned upside down from the start. Before the initial start of this pandemic, I was a seventeen-year-old girl working two jobs, a varsity cheerleading co-captain, an AP and honors student pertaining to various extracurriculars, and was about to make the most important decision of my life regarding my college education. As much as I was overwhelmed throughout this period I was determined to keep going regardless. But in a short span of time, after that, I had lost my two jobs and the remainder of my senior year in high school. The rapidness of these events had definitely taken a toll on my mental state of mind not knowing what came next. While the weeks continued we were all placed under quarantine not being able to leave our homes unless for essential purposes. The world had completely shut down in such a short period of time. And with much contemplation among myself, it took a period of time until I was able to completely adjust to what seemed to be a new lifestyle. Not knowing what to expect in the next couple of months left me in a state of cluelessness, and to think that others can relate to this feeling as well. So with selecting this phrase, “Has anyone tried unplugging 2020 for 10 seconds and plugging it back in?” Is such a critical way to ask what would we do take back ten seconds to what used to be our normal life? And as much as I would want to return to relive all my experiences that I have lost due to this pandemic, this time of isolation has served me for a time of revaluation of my own personal values. While many hepatic issues are happening in this world right now, I personally think that this time is what you make out of it while that be a positive or negative change in your life. As will never know what life will bring us next.
• 
  2020-06-12

  Camping

  During this whole pandemic, one of the worst things I had to go through was losing my opportunity to see all of my friends before going to college. In my photo, you can see me in the middle, surrounded by some of my best friends I was able to make while in middle school and high school. It was June 12th and the second to last day of what we called our “Senior Trip”. We had planned to drive to Canada or take a cheap flight somewhere ever since we were freshman at our high school. All of this was scrapped due to the pandemic of course so we had to adjust. We hadn't seen each other for months so it took quite a bit of effort to create a safe yet fun trip which was achieved by making a camping trip. Though this was a very fun 4 day experience to have with some very good friends, I always wonder what else we could have done? When will I see them again like this after college? With all of these unanswered questions, it's hard to not feel like I missed out on being with my friends before I head off to college for the first time.
• 2020-04-10

  Socially Distanced Senior Year

  For weeks we zoomed almost every day just to try to savor our last months of high school even though it was online. We decided to try a car meet up because we had seen other people on Snapchat safely meet up with their friends that way.
• 
  2020-08-21

  A Fluid Jail Cell

  The story I uploaded is my personal story about how my family and I handled the pandemic. A lot of what is on the news are extreme cases and I wanted to share that although these last months have sucked I have had the opportunity to be a part of an amazing community supporting each other and helping each other stay safe.
• 0020-03-21

  Zoom Graduation

  I am a senior student in UCI. It's been a special year to me that our commencement ceremony is gonna be held online.
• 
  2020-04-11

  COVID College Senior Experience

  This tweet describes exactly how I felt at the end of my college experience. There were certain events/celebrations that I had spent four years waiting and getting excited for, that I was supposed to have, that I will never get to experience. As a drama major, I was supposed be have my first leading role in a show in college. In my sorority, there were all these senior-only events that I had been looking forward to since freshman year that I had thought about for so long. I never even got to say goodbye to many of my friends. I have to move home because of COVID, and no longer get to pursue my post-grad plans. FUCK COVID-19
• 
  2020-04-10

  What Could've Been Choir Memories

  This is about the things I've missed in choir because of the pandemic. Because of coronavirus, my choir and I couldn't go do our festivals which we could've meet other choirs. We were supposed to go to Knotts Berry farm and Universal Studios. We were supposed to sing one of my favorite songs, Hey Jude, in our last concert. This pandemic has taken a lot from many students, not only us. I can't help but feel bad for our seniors in choir especially those who were in choir for all fours years of their highschool life.
• 2020-05-29

  Quarantine Sucks But So Does Student Debt

  It has become a universal agreement that Covid-19 is absolutely one of the worse things to happen on this planet. Many people have been impacted in many ways, whether it’s not being able to see their loved ones while they’re on their death beds, contracting the virus, losing your job, your main source of income losing their job so your household takes a financial hit or losing your best parts of senior year. For me, the most that Covid-19 has done as far as negatively, is by stripping my senior year away...and my first fall semester of college. As much as I have been in mourning since it was announced we were no longer getting what we were promised at the young age of six, such as proper graduation, I have matured in my position and realized that all I’ve lost was my senior year, where others have lost their loved ones or even their lives. I won’t go much further into my senior year when my everyday life has changed way more above that. I have a job. Before quarantine, I was working very few shifts due to school hours restricting my work hours. The main point of having this job was to save up money, which I will wrap back around to why it’s actually a good thing that my fall semester got announced it will predominantly be online. When quarantine happened, I was fortunate enough to be amongst the very few that did not lose their job. When the news broke out that we will be put on quarantine but the restaurant I work at will stay open, my manager jumped right on that and scheduled me as much as possible. And I didn’t complain one bit. This is a perfect opportunity for me to catch up financially so I am not totally swamped in student debt. This is the part where I come full circle and explain why I’m actually glad my school announced that they’ll be starting the fall semester online. Again, I am guilty of mourning losing my “first day” of college, but I realized, I get an entire semester where the majority of the expenses I would be paying for, I won’t be and I will still be working. It won’t be much, but as someone who isn’t very frugal, quarantine has been an enormous aid to my bank account. With stay-at-home order, I’m never going out with friends and spending money on things I have plenty of at home. My point of talking about all of the great things that have happened to me during quarantine is not to dismiss how terrible this entire pandemic has been worldwide, it’s to show that even though this sucks, I’ve been trying my best to look at things optimistically because with me losing my graduation and not being able to see my friends, I haven’t been getting a whole lot of serotonin lately, so I have no choice to look on the bright side.
• 2020-05-24

  Trying to Survive Covid-19

  [Curatorial Note]: Discussion of finding out that school would close for the rest of the 2019-2020 academic year.
• 
  2020-05-16

  Class of 2020 Senior Prom

  Due to enforced social distancing and the cancelation of many High School traditions such as Senior Prom, some students took to alternative methods to continue traditions. As seen in this photograph, two students (Connaughton, Madison and Forrester, Trinity) decided to commemorate their Senior Prom with an afternoon photo shoot at Stansbury House in Chico California.
• 2020-05-19

  Untitled

  COVID19 was seen as a joke until people in the states started to get infected with the virus and soon enough a stay at home order was put in place. My school closed down, and classes continued online. I’ve been seeing people complaining about their zoom classes, and it makes me grateful that my school doesn’t make us sit through awkward video chats with our teachers. A normal seventeen year old would expect the same basic routine when it came time to their last year in highschool. Prom, grad night and of course that emotional ceremony where you would say your final goodbyes to the people you practically grew up with. I don’t think any senior this year was expecting, or prepared, for their last year of hell to be cut short, I mean I sure wasn’t. Most parents don't even remember what was detailed in their senior moments of high school, but this year, 2020, will definitely be hard to forget as the years go by. Sadly, my boss informed me that the store I was working at would also be closed down because of the virus. I thought that since I had more time on my hands I would be able to at least use it to work, and save money for my car, but I guess things change. I'm so grateful for the people who are risking their lives to help cure those who have been infected. In Riverside county there have been 5,952 cases, 3,833 recoveries, and 261 deaths. These doctors and nurses are sacrificing their own health and while all were asked to do is stay at home. The question that still remains is when will we be able to socialize with our friends again, and when will we be able to go about our days without having to wear masks and gloves?
• 
  2020-05-11

  2020 Senior Year Reflections

  2020 Senior Year Reflections
• 
  2020-03-16

  Day Trip to Sedona before Quarantine

  My friends and I took a trip to Sedona for the day in order to celebrate senior year before the lockdowns and stay at home orders were issued #cshsecon
• 
  2019-10-19

  senior year

  While taking my senior pictures in October of 2019, I didn't see any of this coming. I only saw a stage and a whole crowd of people, graduation, at the end of the tunnel. The last few months of senior year are supposed to be crazy epic! The last few months of senior year in 2020 are being spent in rooms and at work if you even have a job still. it's alright though because this pandemic is deadly so it's okay that I can't go to grad parties or even graduation if it means this goes away faster. #cshsecon