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swim
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2022-05-10
DH Oral History, 2022/05/11
A student describes their experience working during the Covid-19 outbreak. -
2020-12-28
First Time Swimming Shirtless During The Pandemic
This is a picture of me swimming for the first time after top surgery! I can't even begin to explain how free I felt. One of the things I was worried about was the fact that my fiancé and I not being able to swim because there was people there, but it was completely empty! It was almost like it was meant to be. After being confined about something for so long and being able to take off my shirt in public was so weird! Before this picture, the last time I went swimming was in 2015. And now, I'm able to enjoy the water and the beach with my fiancé. -
2020-06-21
A Class of 2020 Student's Covid Story
When I was in the second grade, I remember my math teacher telling my whole class that we would be graduating high school in the year 2020. It seemed so long ago, like this far away land that didn't exist. We all smiled and chatted amongst ourselves about how 2020 was such a cool-sounding year and we liked having that year to look forward to. Elementary school became middle school which became high school and then it was my senior year all the sudden. My high school has a tradition in which seniors paint some boulders behind our school with our class colors and have a barbecue. At senior barbecue, we complained about how we just couldn't wait 7 more months until prom and graduation, and how excited we were for them. If only we had known that none of those things would happen. I remember in March of 2020 going to Chicago away from my hometown of Baltimore to visit the college I'd decided on, and the news was a storm of talk about a virus called covid-19. My high school friends were blowing up my phone with texts telling me that we were off school for 2 weeks and how "awesome" this was. I remember having a gut feeling that this would not be "awesome." Though everything virtually shut down from March to May, my 4 best friends from high school and I were luckily still able to have a somewhat normal summer safely; we went swimming in the lake by my house and camped and it forced us to actually get some exercise. I also was fortunate enough to still make some money over the summer at the childcare center I worked at. I was fortunate in those ways, but I think anyone would agree it just wasn't the same. I remember being heartbroken about prom and graduation at first, until it hit me that this was a problem so much larger than Dulaney High School in Maryland. Bigger than the east coast, bigger than all of America. This was a virus affecting virtually everyone on the planet. That mindset is crucial to keeping everyone safe; your parties can wait. Your trip to Disney can wait. I knew my prom and graduation being sacrificed was for a greater good. I've heard that your true character isn't how you act in your finest hour, but in your worst. I'd say COVID has become a identifier for that. -
2020-02
What My Life was Like in February 2020 before Covid-19
Compared to my life back in February, my life now is exceedingly different. I was still attending in-person school at Oaks Christian, and I had no idea how drastically my life would change. For example, back in February, I was on a track team called the "Thousand Oaks Flyers". My practices for that track team would later get cancelled in March, but back then I was having the time of my life and running with one of my best friends, Olivia. I was also participating in a swim team called Class Aquatics, which practices, or used to practice, at the Oaks Christian High School pool. I did not enjoy being on the swim team, and I would later get the courage to tell my parents that I wanted to quit. Back in February, I was always busy on the weekends and weekdays, from hanging out with my best friends, to always being at a sports practice. One sign that something was wrong, or about to be wrong, is that my parents, my dad is a surgeon and my mom is a nurse, were constantly talking about some kind of virus that was growing and spreading throughout Asia and most of Europe. When I asked them about it, they said that it was a virus that originated in China and was spreading. I initially laughed it off, and thought that I had nothing to worry about, when some relatives that live in Asia shipped my family and my grandmother packs of N-95 masks, and told us all to "be safe". Shortly after that, my first Covid-19 cases were reported in the U.S. and also in California. My parents were starting to get worried, but I wasn't until some teachers at school told me that the school might have to shut down if more Covid-19, or coronavirus cases were diagnosed. Shortly after that, in March, Oaks Christian switched to an online learning school program, and my family and I went into a "quarantine lockdown". That is what my life in February, and early March, of 2020 was like, and some events that were happening in my day-to-day life, and also all around the world. -
2020-07-22
Making the Best of Covid-19
A group of friends buy kiddie pools to enjoy summer with after their community pool did not open die to coronavirus. I think this picture and article show how people made the best of the pandemic. It shows how even though the pandemic affected everyone in a negative way, there are still ways to make the best out of the situation. -
2020-05-31
Why My Junior Year Was Ruined
On March 13, 2020, a sudden news that changed humanity itself. After school we received an email about students not being able to go to public school, switching over to remote learning. In an archive by Sophie Ferrara, she elaborates on the pros and cons of the COVID-19 pandemic. She explains how there are many restrictions in preventing the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing, wearing face masks, and forcing stay-at-home orders. But she realizes that she has the opportunity to spare some time with her family and to have time to look at her dream colleges and research them. In another submission that I least resonated with was where there were many complaints about the class of 2020 in all school levels that are moving on are upset that they are going to miss graduation. In reality, that really doesn't matter to me because I still have one year left and it could possibly be different next year on my senior year, it may sound ignorant but it is the truth and if it were to still continue where I can't surpass to my senior year then, yes it will change my perspective of it. The shift from physical school to online school has made an impact in my Junior year, it has changed the way I am able to learn to make it difficult to understand the work when there is no one there to help me physically. It has ruined the way I can communicate with people, making it difficult to speak after isolated for so long at home. I miss being with my friends not being to create more memories with them and not being to make more inside jokes and making each other laugh at the most random things. And finally, my swim season being canceled, not being able to make it league finals and CIF, missing the feeling of being relaxed in the water, missing my second home and family, miss hearing the beep on the start and diving in. In general, I miss being in my classes, waking up at 4 in the morning to prepare myself for practice, and the entire school day. I miss seeing the smile on my teacher's faces every day (Hi Mrs. Jue I miss you) and miss seeing staff smile every day as well. But I pray that all of this ends and we can have the opportunity to go back and have the normal lives we had before receiving that email on March 13th, I want all of us to be happy and continue living their normal lives. Stay safe and wash your hands. xoxo -
05/18/2020
Back to Normal? [DUPLICATE OF "No More Different, Please"]
Today felt like a dream come true. I got to go back into an actual lap pool and swim a workout for the first time in two-three months. This doesn’t mean that one kid got to swim. This means that the Rec Center opened which is a big step at least in my life for things going back to normal. This means that I can try to salvage all of the work I have done in this one sport. The coronavirus has definitely changed how I look at everything now. I feel just so thankful and excited to be walking into a pool deck when sometimes I would even be so annoyed to go to swim practice because I knew it would be so hard and tough. I know that from now on I will be so happy even when I go into a test set where you go until you break and can’t make the base. I will be so happy to even be able to go to school and have swim practice right after which is really weird considering that even in kindergarten I would go to school and have swim practice right after. #LSMS #NSD -
05/17/2020
No More Different, Please
I really want more than really anything right now to go back to my usual routine and especially go back to swim practice. I am really fed up with doing different cross training to try to make my swimming not suck. It feels like even though I have been swimming competitively for seven years like I am not a swimmer. I haven’t even been in the water or gone to a practice in almost two months. I really don’t like how even if I go outside and go to a store that is open everything is so different and I can’t help wondering if these changes are going to last. Today I woke up I think the latest I have ever woken up. The difference is that when I saw how late it was, I jumped out of bed and got straight to work. I finished my workout so early that I got to make doughnuts. If COVID-19 had not happened I would have not learned all of the recipes I got to learn. However, I might have had my championship swim meet and been a better swimmer. *Original text in Creator: Nicole Dumitrascu #LSMS #NSD -
05/12/2020
Birthday wishes during a pandemic can still come true.
Maya wanted to celebrate her 6th birthday at the pool. Per state law, Arizona pools were closed. I even tried local hotels to see if any would let me rent a room in order to access the pool. No luck. In the end, we decided to bend some local rules and try to swim in Rio Salado, gaining access via the boat launch. We swam in the warm water for about an hour before a park official warned us that the police could ticket us. It was almost nap time for the 1 yo, and we were ready to leave anyway. It wasn't a pool, but we did get to swim. The day was declared a success by my 6yo who declared it "the best birthday ever." Photo from left to right: Julián Peralta-Kole, Katy Kole de Peralta, Maya Peralta-Kole, and Cassie Ashdown. -
05/08/2020
Normal?
Today was a normal day. It is really weird to think about it that way because no day is the same or has the same feeling. I would do different workouts at swim practice or learn new things at school. Even though I am switching up my workouts and home and am doing schoolwork I still feel like every day is just the same and boring. I am counting down the days until the Rec Center opens. (10) In a little bit I will be able to have access to all the things in the Rec Center. I can’t wait to go to swim practice, play rachet ball, run on the indoor track, and climb on the rock wall. Today I also decided to bake blueberry muffins because I was getting tired or only eating a couple different foods. They turned out really good, so I am happy I didn’t burn the house down. After they cooled, I ate three of them. I have learned how to bake many new things this quarantine. My grandma is stuck here since they are not allowing travel to Romania, where she lives. She has taught me many different recipes during this time. #LSMS #NSD -
05/06/2020
Trying to Get Better
Today was really super chill. I woke up pretty late. This has been happening lately. I stretched because one of my goal during this quarantine was to get a split. After stretching I ate breakfast. I was surprisingly hungry this morning. Which is another thing I have noticed during this quarantine. I have been snacking a lot and am always hungry. After I wolfed down breakfast, I did my schoolwork. I can get my school done pretty fast. So, I am trying to do extra work and put my best foot forward in my schoolwork despite the circumstances. I then went to do my daily workout that my swimming coach sent me in hopes of maintaining myself. After I took a nice shower and read a book online. I do not like reading books online, but that is the only way for me to read books from the library. I can’t wait for the all the bans to be lifted so that I can go to the library and get myself a big fat paper book to read. *Original text in "Creator:" Nicole Dumitrascu #LSMS #NSD