15 March 2022 -- Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be crammed into a tiny “home” with all your family members? You don't have any personal space and barely get any fresh air. How would you feel?

Well, I’ve got a lot to say about this topic and trust me, it's not exactly the best news. This article is about my 21-day experience in Penny’s Bay Quarantine Center, and there's a lot to say about that! But through our adventure, my family and I did learn a few important life lessons.

The room was rectangular and could only fit about five to six people before it got cramped. The beds were as hard as metal and so very narrow that I barely fit, and the pillows were so thick that they gave me neck pain from sleeping. My sister’s bed was about three feet away from mine, and in front of the beds was a narrow table that we ate meals on. It was a coffee brown and it only fit two, so we had to cram another one in there. This “room” was decorated with mini drawings and post-it notes that we had made. There were also cards that friends had sent to cheer us up and games hidden under the beds so that we wouldn’t die of boredom. Just to the right of the table was a pretty spacious bathroom: it had one toilet, a sink, and an undersized plastic closet that we could put some of our clothes in. Just above the toilet was a shelf built into the wall where we would put all of our toiletries and vitamins. The floor was cold and gray, and there were a few windows above the toilet. This was the biggest room in the “house.”

In the next “room” was my parent’s bed, higher off the floor than my sister’s and mine, and more comfortable. The beds were on different sides of the wall like me and my sister's beds but longer. There were two windows above their beds and the beds were facing the wall. Just next to the two beds was a table that we put all of our food on, along with a few plates and silverware. There was also a little space between the beds and the wall so we could walk around. There was another bathroom but this one was much smaller—it had a toilet and a shower crammed together. When we would shower, we would have to pull the shower curtain in front of the toilet so the water wouldn’t get onto the toilet. Soaps and hygiene materials for showering were just on the floor and the towels hung on the doorknob so they wouldn’t get soaked. Mostly everything was crammed and we also had a lot of stuff so that made everything a little bit worse. There was no space to just be alone no matter what part of the room I was in as I was very likely to see at least one of my family members, whether I liked it or not. I was so annoyed that there was no personal space that I built a fort underneath my dad's bed to get away from the rest of my family!

Food and Other Essentials

There was no kitchen in the room so we got food delivered from the quarantine center. When we first got there, we were given a choice of which cuisine we would like to eat for the next three weeks - the options were Western food, Chinese food, or Indian food.

My sister and I chose Western cuisine and my parents both chose Indian. We would get our food delivered through a tiny glass window close to my bed, which was also our only source of air. Another thing we got to pick when we got there were bedsheets. We were given four bags filled with a pillowcase, a blanket, and a sheet to go over the mattress. They all had different patterns on them, like flowers and the ocean with ocean animals or just boring gray ones. Three times a day, workers would walk by and drop off plastic bags with plastic containers inside and we would eat out of that. Not only did they drop off food but other essential materials such as water and fruit came with the daily delivery. We were only allowed to take the food from the window ledge after the workers dropped it off, for we were not allowed to come in any contact with anybody else there.

There were also many restrictions that they had about food and beverages and tools: no alcohol, no sharp objects, and no weapons - the quarantine center checked our bags for any of those things when we arrived. Since we stayed there for three weeks, we were allowed to get things delivered from our house to the quarantine center. We would have to send photos of every single thing that was being delivered to the people who worked there and they would approve it. It was a very long process and we had to send all the photos of everything we wanted to be sent to us 24 hours in advance.

The next thing was trash; this was the best part of the day! Every day the workers would stop by our mini window and drop off red trash bags on the ledge. Once those trash bags were filled we would open the door of our tiny home and walk outside feeling the fresh air against our faces and the warmth of the night against our bodies. We would stand there for a second and wait outside and whenever we saw a worker we would drop the bag on the ground and go back inside. It was the only time we got the feeling of air against our whole bodies.

Activities During Our Stay

During my stay at Penny's Bay, there wasn’t much to do after we had virtual school but we made it work. Every morning, we would wake up to breakfast which usually consists of some eggs and a croissant, then we would join our Google meet calls for school.

Our parents woke up around the same time as us and when we were doing virtual school they were working as well, but in the most unusual places. Since it was really hard to focus with four people in the same room, we decided that only my sister and I could do school in the room on our beds. That meant that my parents had to work somewhere else, and with only two other tiny rooms, my mom was left to move one of the tables we had into the spacious bathroom and work from there. My dad, well he got the small bathroom with the toilet for his desk and a single chair, which was quite stressful for him as the limited space made him feel claustrophobic.

During lunch, we would move the chairs back to the table and talk about the first part of the day. After we ate, my sister and I were not allowed any screen time so we would do arts and crafts that friends had thoughtfully sent to us through the facility’s delivery process. Before we left America on summer vacation, we were given many gifts including a lot of arts and crafts. On some days we would paint or draw, or sometimes make our own tattoos and bracelets, and on other days we would color pictures from coloring books. Rivera and I sat together at the table doing whatever art and crafts we liked and talking with each other.

Sometimes though, the table would get very crowded with all these things. One time, I knocked over my cup of water and all of my diamond pieces for the artwork got wet. I had to wipe down the table and try to dry off the tiny diamond pieces which made the process more difficult.

Another rule that my parents had was that after school we could only have one hour of screen time so Rivera and I would sit and read books on our own. Due to all that extra time, we also did a lot of physical exercise. We had family workouts every evening depending on what my dad was up for. Sometimes we would do cardio, core, and ab workouts. Sometimes they were so intense that Rivera, my mom, and I left my dad to do them alone.

After our intense workouts, we showered and had dinner, and we did it every day for three weeks. During dinner, we would take another table and place my computer on it. It was the same height as the dining tables but white and narrower. Every night, we would watch a TV show, Avatar the Last Airbender from Netflix, as a family if we wanted to watch a movie.

In conclusion, that's what my life was like for three straight weeks! It seems like it wasn't the best experience but honestly, my family and I were able to have more quality time together, and we were able to enjoy the experience, in one way or another! In the end, my family and I learned a valuable lesson which is to always consider others. I mean, after living in Penny’s Bay for three weeks and being with each other all day, that became the inevitable result.

15 December 2021 -- This year, students of all ages from Junior Grade 1 to middle school are participating in PoP, otherwise known as Passion Projects. Passion Projects first started in 2016 when Mrs. Dunn, current teacher of 4A, did it with her class. The following year, the idea of PoP rolled out to the entire school. Since then, students have been dedicating their term 2 library time to working towards a goal they want to achieve, or something they are interested in making. They then are able to display their hard work at a Passion Project showcase at the end of the term, where parents, teachers and students usually are able to come see what everyone’s been creating over the past weeks.

For students, Passion Projects can be a place for many different things. For some, it could be a time to experiment and learn, but for others, it could be a time for them to simply have fun and practice their hobbies. Ms. Julia, our school librarian across all grades and this year’s PoP organizer, shared with us some of the most unique Passion Projects she has seen from this year. “Two students are making edible slime, and I have to say I am very curious to try that,” she says. She also mentioned projects such as making a dress out of leaves, making home-made perfume, and making a skateboard. Mrs. Schiavon, Grade 6B teacher also added that a Passion Project which stood out to her was that some students were creating their own lipgloss.

Unlike past years, where students did PoP in their classrooms, this time students were split into 22 different groups based on the topic of choice. In each group there are students of different grades working on similar projects. This allows students of different grades to help one another, and for students to receive feedback and help if needed from other peers.

Doing Passion Projects can be a huge benefit for many students. Ms. Light, Grade 2A teacher, shares with us some of her thoughts on the benefits of Passion Projects. “It's a great chance to develop a skill or learn something new that you have not had time to do before. It is also really fun to do something hands-on that you can work on both at school and at home,” she says. Mrs. Schiavon also agrees with her, talking about how “we don't always have time for students to show off their special talents and interests in our regular lessons/class periods, so PoP is the perfect time to allow students to work on something they truly love.”

Although this year’s showcase was planned to be held on March 2nd, it was postponed to March 11th, and had to be held online. Despite these hiccups, however, THS was still able to hold a virtual PoP exhibition via a website shared with the THS community.

We hope you enjoyed watching showcase videos that all students have made after lots of hard work over the term, and look forward to what next year’s Passion Projects will bring.

Think about it, have you ever had to deal with online learning, lockdown, and isolation? Well, I’m sure you have. COVID-19 has had a big impact on our world. It has caused people to get sick, be separated from family, refrain from traveling, and have mental health issues. Around 53.2 million people suffer from mental health issues because of Covid-19. Since the pandemic started, there has been a big increase in mental health issues with people, especially kids - all because of virtual school. Once lockdown started, teachers found a way to still be able to teach their kids through computer technology and what we call virtual school.

Schools took to virtual learning as a solution to still being able to learn during the Covid-19 pandemic but are also looking far beyond the consequences. Without virtual school, kids would have nothing to do all day and wouldn’t be able to learn anything, and for how long virtual school has been going some kids would have even skipped a grade without it. Many people think virtual learning has a positive effect on kids still being able to learn during Covid times. However, research shows just how many students have suffered from mental health issues because of virtual school.

Much research shows, according to the American Psychological Association (APA), that kids have trouble focusing during virtual school due to the fact of having the ability to go onto different pages at the same time. They feel that because their teacher cannot see them it is okay to go off-task which leads to the lack of discipline that students experience during virtual learning. On the other hand, when on-site, students need to follow rules to stay focused while in virtual school, students don’t necessarily have to follow these rules (Stringer, 2020).

At the same time, students’ favorite part of school is mostly seeing their friends, where they get to hang out and talk with each other during breaks. Not only that, but they also get to learn together. They can do group work and discuss what they have been talking about in classes. On the other hand, virtual school has not allowed them to see their friends as much which decreases their motivation. According to the APA, kids need the motivation to learn - “those moments of working alongside a friend or asking a teacher for guidance allow students to feel connected to others” (Stringer, 2020). When on a physical campus, students have the opportunity to interact with other students in their class.

Eric Anderman, Ph.D., an educational psychology professor who studies academic motivation at The Ohio State University, said, "It may be a problem to not interact with fellow students but it is also a problem that teachers cannot give proper individual attention” (Stringer, 2020). He adds that kids’ self-confidence is negatively affected “during distance learning because it can be more difficult for teachers to provide individualized feedback” (Stringer, 2020). When kids are doing in-person school they are able to ask teachers questions for their own needs and get the attention they need to help them learn. While doing virtual school, kids are not able to freely raise their hands and ask for help; they need to ask in front of the whole class. After all, it can even be embarrassing at times and makes kids feel that they should not ask for help in case it will be an obvious answer that the whole class already knows.

According to APA, virtual school is especially hard for children with disabilities - they are considered the most likely to have trouble during virtual school such as kids with ADHD (Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) who have trouble paying attention in class. This is because kids with disorders like ADHD are already at risk or have difficulty in education, and online learning just makes it even harder (Stringer, 2020).

I interviewed Grade 2 to Grade 6 students at The Harbour School to understand their perspectives on online learning:

Question: Do you think you got enough individualized attention during virtual school?

Answer: “No. Because I felt that the teachers were presumably very busy dealing with the whole class,” said fifth-grade student Francis Lui. He explained how he felt that there was not enough individualized attention towards him because the teacher had to deal with everything else that was going on virtually through the other students. This example shows how when kids feel that they don’t get enough individualized attention, they can be put down because they aren’t getting the help they need.

Question: How did you communicate and socialize with friends during virtual school?

Answer: “I used video games like ShellShockers, Roblox, and Minecraft. I also used Google Hangouts and Gmail,” said Kaito, who is a fourth-grade student. He explained how he wasn’t able to physically interact with friends because he couldn’t see them physically during virtual school.

Question: What did you dislike about virtual school?

Answer: 1. Teachers can’t give out individual guides. 2. Kids need parents to watch them. 3. Kids can’t focus on the screen too long. 4. No social environment.

This is according to fifth-grade student Elizabeth Zhu who. This shows how challenging it is to have teachers who can’t give proper individualized help and attention and how kids can’t focus on a screen for too long because it is bad for them as well as how difficult it is to have a social environment because they are separated from friends.

Question: What were you feeling during virtual school?

Answer: “A bit sad and lonely,” said fourth-grade student Viola Moore. During virtual school, she was sad and lonely because she felt no motivation from her friends.

Question: Which do you prefer: real-life school or virtual school?

Answer: Most kids chose real-life school due to all of the reasons which can prove that virtual school does take a turn on a kid’s life.

The amount of suffering that kids have to go through because of virtual school is heartbreaking - no friends for motivation, not enough attention from teachers, and no self-confidence. Kids just like me have had a long journey through virtual school and in some places around the world, kids still have to go through virtual school, increasing the risk of mental health issues towards kids like me.