Pandemic Through the Eyes of Students

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

With COVID-19 affecting the world, new and returning Blue Jays were creating their own stories and trying to make the best of a situation that required maturity and faith. Many students are continuing to move forward with positivity in spite of the negative effects of the pandemic.

“Of course, I cannot wait to get back to school,” said sophomore class president Dalton Haydel, who was himself quarantined at one time. “I just have a feeling that all this is happening for a reason, preparing us for a situation to come.”

A sodalist and Pro-Life Club member, Haydel credits club moderators and faculty for being accommodating. The newly elected student council executive board continues to instill school spirit when, at first glance, enthusiasm seems hard to come by.

“Christmas week was just a breath of fresh air,” Haydel said about the various activities that occurred just before Christmas break. “Online and hybrid learning were certainly difficult, but Jesuit still tries to instill its mission, in whatever way that may be.”

From cheering on their favorite team in the “gizzard” student section to sharing the same lunch period, students reminisce about countless touchstones of student life that used to be taken for granted. The whole student body knows that times are difficult, but the return of Blue Jay spirit is what keeps hopes high, even if some underclassman have not experienced its full potential.

“While this is the only normal that I know,” pre-freshman president Aidan Wang said, “my big brother has mentioned the ‘before times.’ I’m already enjoying my time so far, so I cannot wait to see what the future might look like.

“Like for most people here, the hybrid learning was an adjustment, but being fully back at school, even with restrictions, has been formational and enjoyable. You have to find faith where you are and take it from there.”

“Taking it from there” will look different to everyone, but it usually starts with the sense of camaraderie whenever someone walks through those doors at Carrollton & Banks, even when the times seem out of order.

“It’s that feeling of everyone being a family that makes getting through the pandemic a lot easier,” junior class president and band member Michael- Paul Fine said. “It makes the seven hours feel like much more than school. You actually look forward to it.”

In a year when students can feel so apart, faculty continue to bring everyone closer together. “They have been so accommodating through the whole situation,” Haydel said. “I can only imagine how tough it is to manage a personal life and teach during a normal year, not to mention under these extraordinary circumstances.”

Through the conscious effort of the Jesuit community, these students find that abnormal times do not have to equal unsatisfying times.

“Blue Jay Spirit is very much alive,” Fine said. “While I look forward to packed-in sporting events, cheering can still be heard even now, and the mission of Jesuit can still be seen each and every day.”

Even with all this continued support, there will always be challenges.

“Staying at home with just my family was definitely a different experience,” senior track and field member Daniel Douglass said. “But, at the same time, it taught me valuable lessons of appreciation for what Jesuit offers and how essential a strong family life truly is.”

There may be two lunch periods and masks throughout the halls, but students have shown the ability to weather all storms by not looking at what is on the surface but by instead digging deeper to find where the true Blue Jay Spirit lies. Each student is on his own different path of blue and white, but they all share one goal: becoming a man of faith and a man for others. “Turning to God is truly the way to get through any hardship or success,” Haydel said. “Jesus has a plan for all of us, and these days are a part of it.” •

28 | JAYNOTES | FALL / WINTER 2020