An interview with a senior about learning during the pandemic

_{By Cindy R.}

I interviewed a current Senior at CATS. She plans to graduate and continue her education in college. She plans to go to the medical field and become a surgeon. Her studies are very important to her and in her free time, she likes to read different varieties of books or play video games.

1. How has the quarantine affected your academic life?

Well as you know, classes have been moved online through zoom and have been a complete change in environment for everyone. There are numerous students and parents that believe it has made learning worse and difficult. But on the contrary, It has made my educational life better and it has helped me increase my spare time. School was always filled with many distractions which always bothered me and if I needed help, I couldn’t stay tutoring because I live in a strict household. But due to COVID-19, I am able to workin my own comfortable space and I can message my teachers or go tutoring while staying at home.

2. What are some emotions you have been feeling due to COVID-19?

During the pandemic, I first felt happy because I got to stay home but then I got worried when it became more serious. In the beginning, there weren’t many cases so it still wasn’t a time to worry about it and it gave me time off from going to school. But then the sudden waves of loneliness came through because I realized I wasn’t going to see people I care about for a long time and I was getting scared when people I knew ended up being positive. Right now, I am feeling relieved because the vaccines are starting to become available and that means that this nightmare might be over soon.

3. How has quarantine impacted your daily life?

I come from a religious background so I frequently went to church and to other ones with my father. When churches were shut down, I had no idea what I was going to do with myself. It is like my second home and it always brought me comfort. It also gave me no reason to leave my house so I literally stayed indoors for months without seeing the light of day.

4. How have you been trying to cope with the quarantine?

In all honesty, I studied extra hard and took more classes to distract myself from what was happening. I took 4 online classes in the summer which were 1 credited college class, 3 college prep classes, and 1 enrichment class. I spent that summer studying hard and learning different things so I can focus on that instead of my emotions of the pandemic. That wasn’t even the end of it either; I took 4 extra college courses and 1 enrichment class during my first semester back for our 2021 school year.  It was super stressful but I wanted to make sure I was completely busy with all the spare time I had. I’m just glad I was able to pull it off and get good grades.

5. How have you been trying to cope with the quarantine?

Some challenges I went through was getting the resources I needed at home. The markets were packed with a lot of people with all the household supplies almost gone. I would wake up in the middle of the night to my mom coming home from buying essentials at liquor stores or whatever was opened. We really had to be careful to only use things we needed because we didn’t have enough to go around let alone money. My dad was struggling to earn money and he is the only one who makes the money in the family. That was such a tough time for us but it has passed now so we are fine now.