“Sometimes drastic change requires drastic measures” (Veronica Roth). If I had to sum up our current predicament into one sentence, it would be that one. The COVID-19 pandemic was a drastic change to our society. It affected everyone in some way or another. While others lost their jobs, students lost the privilege to go to school everyday. Every over-worked, and tired student dreams of the day they won’t have to go to school. That is, until it actually happens. Interesting how irony works.

March 13th. That was the very last day of the 2019 to 2020 school year. I couldn’t even attend my last day of school because I was stuck at home with a high fever. I remember a strange feeling when news about corona virus spread. I remember having a lot of questions. When news about two weeks off from school arose, a lot of students were happy for a break from school. That is until we found out we would be stuck at home in quarantine without any contact with friends or family. I would attempt describing my time in quarantine, although I think “The Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars does a better job.

Two weeks passed and slowly teachers started implementing optional work. I completed some of the work when I was bored out of my mind. Then students and parents received an email that we would no longer go to school and finish the remainder of the year with online school. This was startling news for everyone. The graduating class was the most affected and disappointed.

Online school was a major adjustment for me. I went from getting daily, in person, reminders about school work, tests, etc. from my teachers, to having to be on top of my work all on my own. Online school taught me how to stay organized and be more independent. I figured out a strategy that worked for me, since I am a very visual learner. At the beginning of each week, I would take out a sheet of paper. I sectioned it off into all of my subjects and wrote down all the work I had to complete that week, along with each due date. It was similar to a checklist. This strategy is what kept me from getting overwhelmed and stressed. I was able to get all of my work done in an orderly, and organized manner. Along with that, the satisfaction of checking off each completed assignment and seeing the list of work I needed to complete decrease, was very helpful. It gave me the boost of motivation I needed.

Once the no harm grading policy was inflicted, I remember feeling a great lack of motivation. This meant each student could not get a lower grade than what they had on March 13th. Their grade could only increase. Since I had really good grades, I experienced a great lack of motivation to complete the assigned work for each class. Most of my friends with good grades didn’t bother with online school which didn’t help with my lack of determination. For a short period of time I found it difficult to keep up with all the emails and notifications. I kept telling myself, “Why even bother if you are going to end the year with all A’s anyway.” This was a horrible mindset. However, I know I wasn’t the only one feeling it. I finally realized that even though I had sufficient grades, I had the opportunity to make them even better and to finish my sophomore learning experience. So I did.

With change, new difficulties arise. It was easier to learn on my own for some subjects, while others provoked frustration. No matter how many notes, google classroom calls, or emails, some subjects were impossible to learn on my own without being able to ask questions in person. I struggled with math and chemistry before online school. Learning the new concepts on my own, was a very frustrating process for me. Extra notes from teachers and videos helped a great deal. I was not a fan of google classroom. It was not as effective in the learning process for me. If I could tell teachers one thing, it would be to assign all the work at the beginning of the week so that the students could organize their workload for the week depending on the various due dates.

As the end of the school year is around the corner, I can say that I am dejected that I could not finish the year among my fellow classmates and teachers. However, under the circumstances we as a community had to overcome, I think we persevered and came out stronger and resilient. I hope that students and teachers will be able to meet again in the fall to start the new school year together. If we don’t, I know we are strong enough as a community to overcome another online school year.