By: Amy Suh
No one would have ever thought that March 13 would be our last day of junior year. When the Bay Area started to see cases of the infamous coronavirus, things escalated very quickly. The PAUSD school board decided to cancel all school sponsored events, one of those being prom. Besides from being sad about prom, many students, including me, were frustrated that all events were cancelled and school wasn’t. When more cases started to arise in California, Santa Clara County announced that all K-12 schools would be closed. It was all happening so fast that no one had time to process what was happening. I can’t speak for everyone but between me and my friends, we all wanted school to close because we were concerned for our safety. Now that school was closed until April 13, we did not know what or how to feel. Fast forward to today, school is officially closed for the rest of the spring semester.
We have had the shelter-in-place order for almost three weeks and I’ve had time to adjust and realize things. I find it so ironic that the one place that caused my friends the most stress was the one place they wanted to be. I then realized that for some people, school gave them structure in their daily life. It gave them a reason to wake up. For others it was a safe place because their home life was broken. I’ve learned that my generation can be selfless. That it is important to stay home because, yes, you may not die from COVID-19 but someone with a compromised immune system can be seriously affected by your ignorance. It is in times like these where you can try to change your mindset from have to verus get to. My family and I, we get to stay home and we’re going to be ok. It is a privilege. For some people, staying home isn’t an option or staying home means not getting their paycheck.
I don’t want anyone to twist my words and think that you should neglect your feelings. Take this opportunity to feel the range of emotions. You can be angry. You can be sad. The plans we had for our future and for ourselves came to a halt and everything seems to be off. I urge you to take a deep breath and try to believe that it’s going to be OK and we’re all in this together. We will come out of this quarantine with a new appreciation for human interaction and an answer to “what is one challenge you’ve had to overcome?”
Call a friend; tell them that you miss them and can’t wait to hug them. Wash your hands and stay safe. 🙂
