Third week learning, first day at school. Once, twice, a third time around the school. How does everyone else know where they need to be? At last, I see it. My science class. The flow of students diverts me away and brings me up and around a fourth time. The bell echoes and the last of the students scramble into classes. There I am. Standing in the middle of the vacant hallway, now late for class.

Although I had many other struggles including schedule changes, being unprepared, and finding out I am behind on class work, there was a sense of unity that rushed in filling the halls. I hadn't seen most of these people for six or more months, yet we all came back together as if we never left. The isolation we had all been experiencing melted away. The warmth of just being in a school building had been taken for granted for so long. Now I can barely wait for the two days I get to come into the school.

An anonymous full-time remote freshman student described their first day as frustrating, weird and confusing. They said "My schedule was all messed up... I didn't have a 1st period and a study hall." Many Pomona students were faced with this struggle for the first couple of weeks as the beginning of this school year started. It was hard for the counselors and the students, effecting both on the journey through this hectic year. They then said "[I] texted my friend to see what she was doing [for her classes] and I figured out we actually have zoom meetings." Though confusing, the Pomona community helps one another weather we are inside or outside of its walls.

Kendyl Estridge, another freshman doing hybrid learning said "I got to meet my classmates and teachers in person." For me, one of the concerns of starting at a new school is finding out how everyone will work together as smoothly as possible. The suspense of being 'in school' for two weeks without knowing classmates made for a very interesting first day for many of us. Estridge also described how helpful and understanding the security guards and teachers were about getting from class to class. She said "Everybody was helping each other out because we were [all] getting used to [this] stuff." Along with simply being in a collective group of students, the staff and faculty having the level of empathy they showed and still continue to show makes everything seem less intimidating. Knowing that no one else has dealt with anything like we are now generates an impression of comfort.

Second entry-

Unlike any other year of my education, this year was by far the most rigorous. For years in the past we have done 'get to know you' games and got into groups so the teachers could give students the chance to make friends and know their classmates. This was not able to happen this year because of the first two weeks starting online. Starting back, we already had our feet under us. We just kept going as we were. While this transition from online to hybrid learning was exceptionally smooth, these social setbacks are going to become more and more prominent across all areas of our lives, not just in our school systems.

With cameras and mics off on Zooms and Google Meets, I didn't even know what the majority of my classmates looked or sounded like. All I knew of them was their profile picture and a name. A profile picture tells a different story than meeting in person. People chose one thing that will define them as online learners. Of anything they could choose, they chose what they did for a reason. Some had selfies, others had sports team logos, TV show scenes and many more 'interesting' ones.

Even though we are doing our work (hopefully), we are behind, not educationally but socially. This will not just effect this year but all of our years to come. The precautions for COVID take out any real chance we have to meet new people. Five minute passing periods put in place to stop socialization. Tables and chairs as socially distanced as possible in classrooms. No lunch due to the risk when masks are removed. Clubs being no longer available. Now school is just school. It is what it was meant to be, which in this case is not good. Overtime, schools have made changes to include all people in and feel like they belong. Now COVID is making all those accommodations unavailable.

Third Entry-

We are all getting settled in. No one gets lost in the halls anymore. Grades are going in the grade books. We know how classes run. While this is good for the fact that we finally get to do school, the downside is actually having to do school. Now that school is just school, there is less excitement. With no clubs, no football games open to the students, no lunch, shortened passing periods and many more COVID inspired accommodations school has lost its enjoyable side. The initial shock of joy we all felt relating to going to school in person is long gone. Many things go along with that.

Procrastination. If I can't socialize after doing my work, why would I be in any rush to finish it? This thought runs through my mind at least four times a day. I could being doing so many other things. I could be eating or doing other class work or texting my friend or online shopping or a filling out a quiz to find out what kind of pasta I am. But no. I have to do school. I could assume that other people are having this same issue because teachers are starting to give us more time to do assignments. This just fuels the procrastination fire. If I get one more week, why not wait to do it an hour before it's due without first looking over it?

The reason lots of people look forward to going to high school is for the social aspect. That has been taken. I have been looking forward to meeting new people this year, by that is close to impossible. The people you knew last year are the ones you know this year. This would be hard for people who came from a non-Pomona area school or transferred to a different high school this year. It is a completely different way of talking and interacting with people. The effects of these social-setbacks could make someone's entire high school career miserable. Completely isolated from the rest. While all of these precautions are necessary, they come at a cost grater than any of us can imagine.

*NEW SEMESTER*

First week back to school feels fresh and new. Maybe it’s because of the New Year and getting rid of the negatives attached to 2020, but students and teachers seem like they have all taken a breath of fresh air. The piled up missing assignments and stress of finals right around the corner have completely vanished. We couldn’t do anything about last year, so we just let it be bad, but this year feels like we are starting to make it better, even without taking Covid out of the equation.

Personally, last semester started off good, I was doing all of my work, but all of the sudden I just didn’t want to do any of it. I have heard of others saying this too but, at home learning is easier to not do than if we were in school. The mindset of what my teacher will do if I don’t do an assignment. They can’t take away my computer, lunch or after school like they used to.

The only thing keeping me doing assignments was knowing how hard teachers were working to do all of the planning for our classes. With my mom being a teacher I can definitely see how hard she works to fill one class. Knowing my teachers also have to work hard and also knowing other students have never even showed up to class reminded me that I have the access to do my work, therefore I should do it no questions asked. My teachers deserved for me to be doing my assignments.

This semester I have come with a new mindset: goals. Not the typical New Year's goal that is huge and overwhelming that would be practically impossible for anyone to do, no. I have the goal of being my best self whatever that means. I will try to always do what I think is the right thing, even when I receive pushback for it. I will do my assignments as soon as I can. I am doing things for my today self, not pushing them on to my tomorrow self. Ninth grader Kendyl Estridge said, “I am more motivated this year to get my work done early because I learned last semester that it is not fun to do it at the last minute and be stressed about it.”

While I will have to think of finals, now I at least know what to expect. Before, I was coming from middle school where you just take end of unit tests that aren’t worth more than ten percent of your grade. I had fully expected finals to take hours and be totally stressful, which they turned out not to be. Luckily, because I understood the class I could do the finals.

Everyone complains that high school is the worst thing, saying its hard, and there is a lot of homework, but that has so far not been the case for me. All of my teachers seem eager to help whenever I might need it. This has also been an extremely encouraging factor in my new years resolution.

While there will always be setbacks, I think our school is taking larger strides forward. Some teachers are requiring cameras to be on during the Zoom calls, which is very helpful to me. Seeing other people’s reactions and faces smiling when a teacher says a cheesy joke makes it feel like more of a school environment. This has let me see my classmates for the first time, which is usually not something I take as the best part of the day, I do now.

Blog number 2- Anticipation.

This week of finding out we get to go back to hybrid from completely online could be described using many words but they all fit with the idea of anticipation.

Nervousness. Seeing people I haven’t seen in who knows how long. This social deprivation has caused me to act as a different person. I have had an easy out for everything, letting self-isolation become an easier choice than not. While I stuck with the people I started COVID with, the relationships have seemed to change. Going from being with someone eight or more hours everyday to less than an hour a week changes how you interact with one another. It’s to be expected, but that doesn't mean it’s easy.

Wonderment. How will teachers do this semester differently? Though teachers have tried many new things for our benefit, sometimes it makes it harder on the student. It is hard to know how each week will go when everyday is something new. While it is good to switch things up, in a time like now, I think some things should stay the same, letting there be a ‘normal’ even though nothing else is.

Worries. Who can say how long we will be back for, is it just a dream, so close yet too far to reach? The last time I went to school, it was perfect. I got to be in each classroom once a week, which I think was enough for the state of our country. It was hard after getting to know people, or seeing those I hadn’t for over six months. I am worried it will all go back online, and we will have to go through this all over again.

Unenthusiastic. While going back may have all of these feelings of anticipation, there are also downsides. Kendyl Estridge, a ninth grader said, “I am not excited about hybrid because when I am fully remote I can work more at my own pace and have more free time in my day.” Having no control over the current state of our country, sometimes the little bits of control are good. Letting go of managing your own time, and working how fast or slow you need to work is going to be hard.

Hope. There will always be hope, whether you want it or not. It triumphs all else, which could be positive or negative. You can forget about the worries and nervous pieces, not letting you have a clear idea. It can be positive in this kind of situation. There are so many ways to get lost in how bad life is, but there is always a bit of hope you will have. It could never happen, but it is what gets you through.

Although this anticipation brings out these new feelings, I just like to believe this will all build character. Hopefully there is more good that comes from this all than bad.

Connections and covid.

Relationships during a pandemic are something that not many people are familiar with, for good reason. While not good or bad, they do affect our day to day lives in a major way. I have surely gotten to spend more time with my dogs and family, but have been isolated from all of the connections I used to have with friends and classmates.

I have learned how much my dogs like their time with humans. Also how much they don’t like the time with humans. One of my dogs will constantly throw fits when we don’t leave the house for a while. He’s tired of us. My other dog just decides he should go lay in another room and sleep. Last time we went back to school, they both became incredibly pathetic anytime we would leave. Apparently they need a balance of us being here and not. I think I would agree with them.

My brother was one of the people who never stopped working. Ace hardware was deemed essential from the start, so he isn’t home more than normal. My mother on the other hand is. When we go online, she stays home half time and we get to spend lots of extra time together. Whether we spend our time watching Greys Anatomy or The Office, we have been getting some extra laughs and good memories in.

My friend has been my rock through all of this COVID stuff. I know she isn’t going anywhere, and she knows I won’t either. That being said, when you are not seeing them for weeks at a time, your brain starts to think ‘suddenly she must not want to be my friend anymore.’ One text conversation back and forth would solve this dilemma, but those moments where you think your good friend wouldn't be anymore is a hard thought to have.

I have had a hard time during this, because I have the one person from school I talk to everyday. Then I have everyone else. Fun random conversations in science class, hysterically laughing in math class and many more little moments are the ones I miss the most. Those people I used to talk to everyday are just strangers. They aren't the people who I would tell my life story to, but they are the ones who would make the worst class a little more than just bearable.

The COVID pandemic has socially stunted me. Freshman year in high school is the year you are supposed to meet those lifelong friends. I am concerned with the effect this will have on my future, even though it is just a small amount of time, my small group of people seems to keep getting tinier by the day.

First blog (Second six weeks)-

Up, down, left right, forwards backwards. No one knows what to do, or how to do it. The question on the table is now whether high school will go back full in person learning next year or staying in hybrid.

The hope that some kind of normal will happen is just as bad as covid itself. This is a mindset that maybe I can see my friend more than once a week and possibly get to know who my teachers really are. It's killing me more than Covid is. There are two types of hope, a hope you know you will eventually reach and a simple dream. This covid dream can’t be reached or denied at this point. It's a waiting game.

Locked away in my room for seven hours staring at this beaming screen in the darkness of my room. Just rolled out of bed, pajamas still on, hair still a mess, and me expected to do school. Everyone leaves their ion on the screen, because teachers don’t want to have kids embarrassed of their home life, but it's home and school now.

It has been close to a year now of this back and forth. This last week my friend got quarantined and I can’t see her for ten days. This means the two days of school I could interact with her are gone now. A group we are both in outside of school also was not an option. That may not seem like very much, but that little is better than nothing.

Who knows if masks will stick around and for how long. Who knows when stores will be able to peel off the floor stickers marking six feet. Who knows when you won’t have to worry about the extreme maskers and anti-maskers. If you wear one, the anti’s see you as stupid, and if you don’t the markers see you as a terrible person. I obviously do what I feel I need to do, but a lot of people are harassed for their decisions whether or not it be wearing a mask or not.

I am hoping this summer can be like the one we missed last year. Me and my friend made a bucket list of things to do in the summer, before we knew about covid, and we couldn’t do any of it. Things like going to Elitch Gardens at least once a week couldn’t happen, or watching a movie we picked out of a hat. Everything closed, so we didn't do anything. This was before we knew what covid really was. Hopefully now people will know to mask up and keep distance, if it is even an option.

When asked about how she felt in relation to the ups and downs of COVID, Kendyl Estridge, a ninth grader said "It makes me feel nervous because I don't know what will happen for school so I can't do much to prepare." This means that this stress of not knowing is on top of stress incoming tenth graders already had. This unsettling feeling for the past year.

Second blog- (March 3)

Music is something I can always depend on being there. It's there when I am happy, there when I am sad. When things are out of my control, my music isn’t. At first glance, my playlist may seem odd. Why love songs, jazzy, pop, and rap? What one person would listen to all of this? It's me. It's the music of me.

My number one song right now is a new song called Drivers License by Olivia Rodrigo. This song is about a cheating boyfriend, which I can’t relate to, but the song itself is so well written that I wonder how someone else could have another song as their favorite right now.

It's a song to scream in the car with the windows down on repeat for hours. Which I may or may not have done.. The type of hurt she felt when her boyfriend cheated on her isn’t a specific pain I relate to, but the overall feeling of emotional pain is universal.

My second is an artist named Ruel. This was my best friend and I’s favorite person to listen to while avoiding our literacy work in eighth grade. I like the artist’s type of music, which is a calm pop, almost jazzy. I’m not sure, you’d just have to listen for yourself.

It is mainly my second favorite at the moment because of the pure nostalgia. So much has happened since then, and it feels like more than just a year and a half ago. Life was simpler. On top of that we now have to deal with COVID. We can’t even sit close enough to plug in earphones to listen together. I listen to him when I am home just to feel like COVID maybe doesn’t exist for some bit of time.

Number three would go to Post Malone, more specifically his album ‘Hollywood's Bleeding’. To tell me I got to go to his concert, my mom gave me this album on a CD and said a copy came with every ticket. I got to go to his concert in early November of 2019 with my brother and it was a night that I will never forget. It was the most fun and memorable thing I had done in a while. On the drive home we just happened to find a bunch of songs by him on the radio.

My family and I went on a long road trip between getting the tickets and actually going to the concert, and the only CD we had in the car was it. There was a solid four hours while the radio was out and we listened to it on repeat. By the end we knew every single word to all the songs. To this day when I listen to it I can tell what song comes next because it repeated itself so many times.

Third Blog (March 10)-

We are trying to get a puppy. My mom’s friend is a puppy foster and we always go and visit her new puppies. This last week we went and fell in love. His little personality reminds us of our oldest dog Stewart.

We have gone through so many names to decide what fits him the best. I liked Pauly at first, because he is a character from the movie Rocky, but then my mom pointed out that people might think it’s like ‘Polly wants a cracker.’ That ruined it for me instantly. Polly is too much of a girls name, even though it sounds the same as Pauly. In my defense, I say Pauly with a strong New York accent.

Then, after many other ideas, we thought of Oaty or Oatis. This came from the name of one of the characters from The Andy Griffith Show, which we , as a family, have always liked watching. We think it would be cute to have those names short for Oatmeal, because he is the color of oatmeal, I know we are super clever.

One of the cutest things about him is that he snores. I had to babysit yesterday because my mom's friend had something come up, and he fell asleep in my lap and started snoring. Not a cute little snort, it's a big snore. You can hear him snore from a room over.

When I hold him, he likes to chew on my hair, and sometimes bites my ears. For such a small thing, he has very sharp teeth. He’s too cute to get mad at, so that is good for him, while not so much me.

First blog, 3rd six weeks (April 7)-

Spring break-

The Friday before was my oldest cousin on my mom’s side’s wedding. They had a very short ceremony and then food. Then came the dancing. Everyone was having so much fun dancing, and their daughter was trying to copy all of the adult’s dance moves.

On Saturday it was my Moot Court competition for nationals. I was so stressed for the month previous, but I thought I did really well. I tried to not get flustered and really take my time. The whole time I was thinking to myself, I want good answers not quick answers. This really helped me because just that extra two seconds to really think of how to state the answer you are giving. I didn't make it to the semifinals, but I will definitely try again next year. It was cool to hear that another student from Pomona had placed as 3rd for the entire national competition.

I am glad in a way that I didn’t make the semifinals because then I couldn't have gone to my cousin's daughter's 2nd birthday. It was a very big deal because the year before for her first birthday it had to be over a Zoom call due to Covid. Being so little, she couldn’t understand who these people were on the computer screen and so she just cried. This year she got to have her smash cake, but instead of smathin it she ate it with a fork.

On Monday me and my mom flew out to California. The first day there we went to the flower fields in San Diego and went on a tour on a tractor. It was like a pumpkin patch but with flowers. The flowers are called ranunculus and they only grow in the environment like California has. They plant the flowers in different color groups and one separate garden is the american flag.

We did things my brother wouldn’t want to do because we had never been there without him. This included a day of shopping, tanning and seeing sea lions. I got some really cute clothes there because I figured it was always hot there, so the clothes would be summery all year round. I got some new Vans, which happen to be my new favorite that I have been looking for and couldn’t find at the shops here. Neither of us really like tanning because we like to be doing things, but we did stay out for an hour and a half just to say that we tanned. The sea lions were funny and my mom got a video of one that scratched its head and then smiled.

We came back on Friday at midnight and got home to a mess of a house. Archer let our new puppy do whatever he wanted and decided to not pick anything up. Toilet paper was his favorite toy while we were gone. After some picking up we were back to our normal lives. Our reality.

Second blog (April 28)-

This Summer is going to be good.

Last Summer was ruined and I didn’t see most friends for a majority of the Summer because no one knew what to do with COVID and we weren’t able to assume how to be safe. We saw each other from a screen for months.

While COVID is still around, we now know how to be safe without the complete isolation. Social distancing, masks, disinfecting and vaccinations are precautions we can all take to do so. These things are not an excuse to whatever you want whenever you want, but they are almost like something to keep us in place.

My best friend and I are going to get Elitch Gardens passes so we can go this Summer. That was our plan last year and now it can actually happen. Limited numbers of people let in, being outdoors, cleaning all the rides and everyone wearing masks makes it a pretty safe place to be if concerned about COVID.

Another place my family likes to go is our little cabin. While we could have last Summer, we didn’t for some reason. I can go with friends or just our family and it is tons of fun. The fires in the mountains recently stopped right on our property, so we need to go up there to cut down fallen trees and cut it into firewood too.

One of our favorite places in the Summertime is the Drive-In movie theater. They weren’t open this past year and I am so glad they plan to open this year. It’s a cheap night and it’s more about the experience than watching the movie itself.

Kendyl Estridge, a freshman said, “I am looking forward to visiting my family in California.” Seeing family is important for everyone, and with COVID it has been hard to not see the far-distance family members.

Third blog (May 3)-

18 days. 18 days until no responsibilities, no stress and fun with friends.

This year has been so stressful for me personally. All of my classes had started off on a good foot, and by now in the semester, it has piled up. Missing assignments after missing assignments keep popping up on my campus portal. I can see the relief I will have in those short 18 days.

The due dates have been hard, everything is due at 11:59 on Friday. I am a procrastinator, so all of my assignments somehow fall right before they are due. Over the week they stack up, and I convince myself that I would do them during the week. Three to four assignments that I have to rush to do on Friday within the hour they do is not the best option. The responsibilities I have will be lifted and I will have the freedom to do what I want, without feeling guilty about not doing my work.

I haven’t had the time to hang out with friends, other than at school which has had a large impact on me. When we were half remote and half in person someone would pick up me and my best friend and bring us to either of our houses until around 8:30, which is when someone could bring the other home. We got used to that schedule and when our parents had changed schedules, that wasn't able to happen.

I have been trying to make my room look better because I want to like my room more than I do now. I had succulents and I let the majority of them die, so I bought new ones that I will have to water. I also have clips that are battery powered, so they glow kind of yellow-ey. I had taken them down, but I want to put them back up.

Going to school itself takes time, obviously, and having seven extra hours of free-time will be a huge relief. I get the opportunity to do what I want to do with my time. I can paint and read and journal and play with my dogs and just do what I want to do.

Freshman Kendyl Estridge said, “Summer break will relieve me of stress because I won’t be worrying about what assignments I have to do.” Even when away from school, we have the stress of what we will need to do hanging over our heads.