Katrina Nevinski, Class of 2022

Before COVID-19 hit, life wasn't great. I was burnt out from school and desperately needed a break. The thought of having a few weeks off to just chill out was amazing. It was all my friends and I talked about. They were excited to start their spring sports, I was excited to go to piano lessons and be outside. We were all going to work really hard until after our AP tests and finals, and then have an amazing summer. We all got our licenses during or before Sophomore year so we were so excited to drive around all summer. 

I was really excited to have a break from school for a few weeks. I was sick of school and very stressed out. The thought of just hanging out at home was really nice. My friends and I were going to hang out and have sleepovers. It was like summer in the middle of the school year. I am incredibly lucky to have reliable meals, Wi-Fi, and a good computer. I know that this isn't the case for many students in our school though. The weekend before the governor officially called school off, my neighbor and I drove all over to get non-perishable foods for the school food shelf. 

For me, every day is a little different. I usually wake up around 9am which is really nice. Sometimes I get up right after I wake up, other days, I lay in bed until 11 am. I start my day with easy assignments and work my way through the harder ones. I usually eat lunch around 1, and after that I lose a lot of motivation. I usually start working again at around 4 pm and work until around 7pm. During the day, my dad, younger brother, and younger sister and I are at home. My mom is a hospice nurse, so she goes to work every day. My youngest brother is at daycare during the day, so that his routine stays as normal as possible. At night, we are all home which can get a 

little rough. We are all so bored by the end of the night that tensions can get a little high. I find that nights are the worst for me. After dinner, I never know what to do. I struggle to fill the time between eating dinner and going to bed. School has been really rough. My motivation comes from seeing teachers happy that I turned in my work, or seeing them mad if I didn't. Without going to school in person, I have less motivation. According to my standards, my grades have not been great. I'm very grateful to have such thorough and supportive teachers but despite how hard they try to teach in class meetings or videos, it just doesn't work for me. I’m finding that I'm not absorbing information in the same way. When it comes time for tests, I'm finding that I don't actually know what's happening, so I don't do so well. This is definitely an adjustment that I’m ironically getting used to as the school year comes to a close.

I don't really know what the future holds for me. I was going to help nanny a little boy this summer and help take him to his summer camps, but his camps are canceled. I am incredibly fortunate to only be a sophomore which means that I didn't lose my graduation, my prom, or possibly my fall semester of college. It's really hard to think about ways that our state in our 

country will change after Covid-19. There are so many people who are following CDC guidelines and regulations but at the same time there are so many people who are against it. The people who are consistently protesting wearing masks and the closure of stores and religious places make me think that not much is going to change after this passes. The intense divide over 

masks and PPE makes it really hard to even think about what our country will look like after the virus starts to decrease. I’m just ready for it to be over. The one thing I'm really looking forward to after social distancing ends is school. This sounds really nerdy but I am so excited to see teachers and friends again and continue my routine as normally as I can. I'm ready for my old life to come back. 

Coronavirus has taught me a lot about myself. I've found new hobbies that I absolutely love to do and revisited old hobbies. My brother and I have spent more time playing video games, which has made us closer. Most importantly I realized that I can't take things for granted. Even basic things like going to school. This pandemic has taught me that my “normal” life is actually really great.