LASA During Covid

How Quarantine has Impacted LASA Students' Mental Health

By Sparrow Marks

Days pass by in a blur You don't know how many deadlines you've missed, and you know that you need to fix it but as every second passes the load feels heavier and heavier. Yet as the clock ticks by you feel no motivation to do anything at all, and your eyes feel permanently glazed, glued to the screen of your dimly lit computer. You don't know how you can ever keep up with the pace, and right now everything seems so far away. Does it even matter, whether or not it gets done? At this point, you don't know if this is even a possible feat, or if you can manage to take the first step. Do you even want to?

The Coronavirus Pandemic started just over a year ago, originating in Wuhan City, China. It spread like wildfire and reached Austin, Texas in the March of 2020. This plague swept the world by storm and it affected each and every corner, spreading like wildfire. Everything shut down, from small town shops to big business corporations and with an average of around 70,000 positive Corona cases daily, AISD shut down their schools and taught class remotely. But what does that mean for the students?

Olga Alvarado has been working with LASA for two years after graduating from The University of Texas. Alicia Salinas has been with LASA for three years now and graduated from UT as well, previously working for three years as a social worker in the child welfare area. You can reach them at the LASA School’s Homepage in the Counselor Corner.

“When I speak with students about motivation, I try to define it more as a feeling,” Ms. Alvarado said. “If you are having a wonderful day and things are going great, your motivation level is high, however, if you are having a not-so-great day, your motivation level is low. I try to help students understand feeling motivated is just a feeling and if they want to get over the hump of low motivation to try and do something that makes them happy because then they will

be more motivated to do other things and overall improve their wellbeing.”

When doing school from home it can be hard to feel motivated, especially considering that students don't have the option to move around much or talk to other students. The simple fact is that students have no outlet, they are confined to a chair staring at a screen in a dark room for most of their time. In order to stay safe people self isolate, but while that may keep their physical health intact this can do some serious damage to one's mental health. Friends are important. Having someone to vent to or someone to laugh with relieves stress by a huge degree. Online learning is not good for the students, yes, but there is not much else to do when it comes to learning at home. When students can't focus, they are more likely to miss things in class like how to do an assignment, or a new assignment

that is due on this date. This causes all sorts of problems, like having too many things to do in one night, and bad grades. “What may be harmful for one student another

one thrives from. Generally speaking about LASA students, I would have to

straight A's, and most do but are extremely unhappy. Some students appear to not know who they are outside of their grades and if they do not score high enough, then [they] feel