By KENNEDY ZACHARY
Sheridan High School Student
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
When COVID shut the world down, every person in the world was affected. I remember being in my eighth grade Social Studies class watching CNN 10, when Carl Azuz told us about this rapidly spreading virus found in Wuhan, China. I remember going home to tell my parents about it. They told me I was dramatic, and it would go away like the flu.
Little did we know what was about to happen.
On March 11, 2020, my school announced that we would go on a short two-week-long break. One week of eLearning, spring break, and then return to school. That is not at all what happened. On Saturday, March 14, 2020, I went shopping with my family and then my friends came over. My mom, my cousins, and I went shopping and to lunch because we knew we weren’t going to be doing anything for a few weeks. After that, two of my friends came over. We stayed up super late and spent the next day hanging out in my basement. That evening when they left, we made jokes about not seeing each other for a month, but little did we know that would be the reality.
The next few weeks were full of lots of Zoom calls, Netflix shows, FaceTime calls, TikTok, and schoolwork. For the first week we were off, the teachers tried to keep all of the work on topic. They kept saying, “when we get back”; however, I think everyone knew we were not going back. On April 2, 2020, my school canceled the remainder of the school year.
For most people, the pandemic had mainly negative effects. For me, it was the same. My mental health took a hard hit. I felt so disconnected from my friends and my life as I knew it. I went from going to school and sports practices every day, to lying in my bed for 20 hours daily doing nothing except watching TikToks and doing schoolwork.
I felt very alone, even though everyone was going through the same thing as I was.
For me, April 2020 was the hardest month of my life. In March, I still had hope that eventually we would go back to school and things would go back to normal. In April, I saw no chance of that happening.
As many of the negative things came out of the pandemic, many positive ones occurred, too. I learned how many of the little things I took for granted. I learned not to take for granted visits from my grandma or going out to eat. I learned not to take for granted a trip to the grocery store or doctor’s office. I learned not to take for granted seeing my friends every day and having the opportunity to really learn in school.
But most importantly, I learned to never take for granted the time with the people I love. Being in quarantine made me realize how crazy my family is and how lucky I am that I do not have to spend all day every day with them, but it also made me realize how lucky I am that I have the opportunity to spend time with them.