QuaranTEEN

The pandemic has affected me in many ways. Starting off senior year was not as exciting as I hoped it would be. I was really bummed to find out that we had to be virtual for at least half the school year. I was really looking forward to going all out on every event and every spirit week. Senior year was supposed to be the "fun" year, but that's not what it's like. School for me has honestly been really hard because of virtual learning. I feel like I don't learn as much as I would if we were in person. Also, some teachers are being really inconsiderate of our situations and have been giving more work than they would normally give if we were in person. Teachers aren't really taking time to make sure that we understand the material because they are focused on cramming everything they can into the 120 minutes that we have in class. I've been kind of working really hard on trying to do assignments early because that's the only way I can really be caught up with everyone. Another thing that Covid-19 took away from me is my final basketball season. Although there might still be a season, I don't plan on playing unless there is a vaccine. It just really sucks because I was definitely not satisfied with how I played last year. Okay, now about the staying in place. Staying at home makes me feel really unmotivated about everything especially with school and exercise. I have always been an athletic person my whole life and I actually looked forward to working out, running, and playing basketball. That has not been the case these past few months. Now I try to force myself to workout and it has not been going well. It's like I lost my passion in everything I love to do.

Welcome back to my quarantine entries. This is my second entry. I'm going to be talking about the results of the election and the California positions and how I feel about them. When they were counting the votes, I felt very anxious, and I couldn't really focus on my schoolwork, because I was constantly checking my phone to see if there are any changes. The election was pretty close so that's probably one of the main things that made me anxious. I feel like teachers didn't really acknowledge the election at all. I don't think they know how much the election actually affects the students, because they didn't really ask the students how they felt about it. Anyways, the day I found out that Biden won, it was a huge relief. I was so happy that day. I know, obviously Biden isn't really the best candidate but he's the better one out of Trump or him. I'd rather have Biden than some racist dude who lies to the country and makes us think that his presidential term is benefiting us when it’s really not. I know he's done some good things but overall, it’s bad. He divided the nation into two. He's done a lot of harm more than good so I'm happy to see that he's being taken out of the office, and being replaced with someone who's better. The California propositions, I think the one that I relate to the most is proposition 18. That's the one where they would allow 17 year olds to vote if they would be 18 by the time of the next election. They voted no for that proposition but I feel like that should have been a yes because this is our future that we're talking about, and feel like we should have a stronger voice. I feel like the youth’s voice is constantly being silenced. They don't really listen to us, even though this is gonna be our future and not theirs. I just feel feel really bummed about that. I would have wanted to vote, but I wouldn’t have turned 18 on time before they counted the votes.

Hey, this is my third quaranteen entry. I'm going to be talking about virtual learning and mental health. So virtual learning for me has been really hard. I know that it would be way easier if it was in person mostly because I know the teachers’ class times are very shortened this year and they're not gonna get the same amount of time as they would if we were in person. They tend to rush through everything in class and not thoroughly explain everything. They don't take the time to make sure that the students really understand the material, because they're just rushing through it really fast. For me, as an example, if I have a question, I wouldn't want to unmute my mic and interrupt so I would type it in the chat but by the time I finish typing, they've already moved on to the next thing. I just end up not asking the question. Also, teachers are giving us a lot of work. I'm pretty sure they would give less work if we were in person. I also think that relates to the shortened class time but I feel like they should understand that the class times are definitely shorter. That means that they're not going to get through everything. They're not going to get through the whole curriculum. I know some of them are still trying to just zoom through everything. It's just hard to keep up. The amount of work that we get in school, or from classes, is just really exhausting. Normally I'd be the one to take my time and do my homework so I thoroughly understand everything. But as of right now I'm just doing my work just to get the grade, and not to learn. I feel like that's the same thing with other students as well. Yeah, virtual learning is not for me. There are so many distractions at home. Even though I try to not get distracted, it’s inevitable for me. Once I get distracted to it's hard to focus again. Yeah, overall, virtual learning has just been really hard. My mental health definitely took a hit. Starting this year, my stress was really really high. I’ve managed to come up with la routine, and it helped with the stress, but it's not enough. Virtual learning is just really hard.