MHS Crier | Issue 8 | 3.12.2021

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COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID

HOW OUR LIVES WERE CHANGED

BY COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID

A Crier special issue focusing on COVID-19 and how it has affected students and teachers at Munster High school. A Crier special issue focusing on COVID-19 and how it has affected students and teachers at Munster High school. A Crier special issue focusing on COVID-19 and how it has affected students and teachers at Munster High school.

I really have to push myself to get work doneI don’t feel like readjusting all over againKnowing what they’d endured, and how many people were lost, I didn’t know what to expect when the epicenter shifted from Italy to the US.I tend to try to keep a positive mentality, but covid occasionally interferes with it because it will deteriorate my motivation.I wanted to focus on my mental health because I was really stressed during the school year. But during the lockdown I was able to reconnect with myself, in a sense.I wish I could go back, but from that I’ve learned to live in the moment and appreciate things while you can.It feels like the world is spinning in the opposite direction for me.I used to be a really social person. I would always go out, and have a lot of friends. As we stayed home and weren’t really allowed to go out, because my parents were more strict, I lost friends and I stopped talking to certain people that I used to be close with. That kind of affected me, because I felt like I was trapped forcingly, like I didn’t really have a choice. And then with my family, it was actually really life changing. It’s (covid) limited opportunities to do a lot of the normal things that people do. Obviously, it’s affected me that way, just as it has everybody else. I always try to look at what positive came of it. this gave me time to work on myself and figure out who I am as a person.I know this is kind of weird to say, but the pandemic coming at the time that it did was almost a little bit of a blessing in my household because I have a very young daughter at home.Me going from traveling, to not traveling at all, it’s just been hard work. Like at the end of the day, it’s just been hard. I love this job, and I love coaching, but I can’t wait to get back to traveling. That is the biggest thing that I miss, because it’s part of me.The hardest experience during the pandemic was the eLearning, all daily tasks, outside time, and video games all in one day. I was able to do it. I played a lot of video games in my room almost the entire day during the lockdown.Even as crazy as it was with politics and everything, I think people are a little kinder. They’re a little most considerate towards people. There has been a change in people in that, there’s no sense in being nasty or mean to people, because we’re all in the same boat here. Speech and Student Government were great but it felt like I couldn’t do them to their fullest extent. COVID being on screens for competitions made me feel a little less nervous as opposed to being on stage, but I do want to experience that eventually.

Lack of human contact kind of makes a person go insane. It’s just my parents, my brother and some family members. Same rotation of people gets a bit boring after a while. There’s nothing to do anymore, just sit around, do schoolwork for most of the day. There’s absolutely nothing, it’s just boring. I want to crawl back out of it, but the guidelines aren’t really helping me all that much with wanting to communicate with other people. That’s leading me to now, where I almost just don’t want to do anything. I really wouldn’t know what to expect when it first started, and I didn’t know how serious and long it would last. I feel like a lot of people would say the most difficult part of this all is online school and just trying to keep up with everything. And, you know, that is difficult, but I think a more difficult part of it’s just really trying to just readapt to everything, because none of us have ever been through anything like this before.As a teacher I have found it very difficult to teach. I didn’t go into teaching to sit at my desk, and I definitely didn’t go into teaching to do it online. I try to keep the kids engaged, but it is hard since they cannot do certain things that the curriculum would normally want them to do. at Munster High school. A Crier special issue focusing on COVID-19 and how it has effected students and teachers at Munster High school. A Crier special issue focusing The last day of school—March 13—I erupted in cheers of joy like everyone else in the hallway. Initially, I thought “Wow, we can do this,” but that quickly changed—about 3 weeks in, I was done.Into quarantine, I was tired of it. (My family) didn’t do anything—no restaurants, no nothing—we just stayed home and the store was the only place we ever went to. We had plans—my in-laws—down in Tennessee we go every summer, and we go to my parents’ house every summer—they live in Florida. We wanted to go several times to visit (my daughter) in NYC—during Thanksgiving—that all died. It was not happy—with Sarah going to NYC, it was a hard, hard adjustment. If we go there, we have to quarantine—so we

COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION

read

living through history: one year of COVID-19

inside

march 12, 2021 issue 8 volume 55 munster high school 8808 columbia ave. munster in, 46321

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COVID COVID

vocab

munster high school crier — march 12, 2021

COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION

ICTIONARY ICTIONARY ICTIONARY ICTIONARY ICTIONARY ICTIONARY the new terms we learned this year

PANDEMIC

The graph of the number of daily cases forms a “curve” from which we can tell the status of the pandemic. Flattening it refers to lowering the number of cases, so the curve isn’t as high.

SUPERSPREADERS

House parties, family reunions, weddings. All seemingly innocent events. All with the strong potential for mass transmission of the virus.

How Crier created this issue “Knowing what they endured,

ASYMPTOMATIC The scariest aspect of the pandemic: not

and how many people were lost, I didn’t know what to expect when the epicenter shifted from Italy to the US.”

knowing you’re infected since you show no symptoms, but possibly infecting others.

VIRTUALLY PRESENT

MIRA COSTELLO, SENIOR, ITALIAN-AMERICAN

The attendance mark of an eLearner or an inperson learner who decided to stay home for the day.

“I didn’t really tell many people

SHIELD/DIVIDER

A piece of plastic used to enforce distance between students. Often used in the context, “Ah shoot! I left my divider at home.”

COLLABORATE

A program used for eLearning. Good for breakout rooms. Not good for seeing everyone.

BREAKOUT ROOMS

A way in-person learners can work together with eLearners during class; it’s also a way to weed out which of your peers do well with group work.

MICROSOFT TEAMS An alternative to face-to-face learning, unless you don’t like staring at yourself mirrored in the large group presentation mode.

ONE-WAY HALLWAY The long and winding new paths we have to take to

get to our classes, implemented to limit face-to-face contact and completed by following the arrows.

MASKNE a.k.a. mask acne

The acne breakouts that happen after wearing a mask for a long period of time. Thankfully our masks cover those breakouts anyways.

CURBSIDE PICK-UP Having your items brought out to you contact free

after ordering online. It’s the way we ate Panera food without actually being inside a Panera.

SOCIAL DISTANCING The new golden rule of remaining six feet apart and avoiding direct contact with others.

Aside from masking up, it’s the main strategy to prevent spreading infection.

DRIVE-BY BIRTHDAY PARADE Everyone has had a birthday during the pandemic. This was one way we celebrated them while socially distant.

locally JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY2020 Jan. nationally World

9 Health organization announces mysterious Coronavirus related Pneumonia in Wuhan, China

“I really have to push myself to get work done.” n n I wanted to focus on my mental health because I was really stressed during the school year. But during the lockdown I was able to reconnect with myself, in a sense.

To help me improve my mental health I would not go on social media as often, I went on bike rides around town, and went outside more in general.

I think mental health is important because we forget about it and just push it off until we reach our breaking point.

FLATTENING THE CURVE

The place for all class material: learn.munster.us

MRS. BRIDGET SPERANZA, ORCHESTRA DIRECTOR, PROUD MOTHER

ALYSSA SANGUEZA, JUNIOR, MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE

When a disease or virus spreads to multiple countries and eventually across the world.

BLACKBOARD

“Sleep training my daughter during the early weeks of the pandemic was a big thing for us. A whole year of sleep changes a person.”

NOW OVERHEARD IN CLASS “Can you please turn on your camera?” | “Sorry, I was having wifi issues.” | “Are you there?” | “I like your Teams background!” | “I think I need to restart my computer.” | ”My wifi crashed.” | “Sorry, my email is weird right now.” | “We can’t hear you.

You’re muted.” | “I couldn’t find it on Blackboard.” | “You weren’t sharing your screen.” | “I’m eLearning for today.” | “Hold on, my camera is loading.” | “My mask hurts.” | “I need to restart my computer.”

FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY

Jan. 21 CDC confirms first US Coronavirus case

I had the virus.”

MAJA KAURIN, JUNIOR, RECOVERED FROM COVID

n n I didn’t really tell many people I had the virus because we didn’t tell certain family members.

We didn’t want to freak them out. But most of my friends knew.

It was definitely frustrating, having to watch and not slip while talking to them, but it was kind of nice to have some of my close friends know.

It wasn’t fun knowing you can’t leave, but I did get a lot done while I was sick. My symptoms weren’t that bad, although I lost my smell. I still can’t smell, even three months later, and I had bad headaches for about five days.

I’ve had about six tests so far, and it’s nothing at this point I’m so used to it. I wasn’t happy about it but I needed to know, so I had no choice.

My whole family had it, my dad had it first and then a couple weeks later, my grandpa got it, as well as my mom and sister. We were in quarantine for two weeks, then right after we were clear my grandpa picked it up somewhere and then the three of us got it. We were basically in quarantine for a month, and I missed about 10 days of school.

I‘ve been eLearning since August, and I still am because my grandparents are at high risk. Being home and having so much extra time to think, I realized so much. I needed to start focusing on myself more. So I started to get on my own stuff, and only focus on myself and not worry about others.

MARCH 6 Indiana’s first case of 13 COVID-19 confirmed MARCH by the IN state Munster High school department of health shuts down until April Feb. 3 US declares public health emergency

MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH

MARCH Trump COVID-19 National

13 declares a Emergency

MARCH First death

MARCH 23 Eric 16 Governor COVID-19 Holcomb orders state in Indiana shutdown until April 7 MARCH 25 Reports find extended shutdowns can delay second wave

three three three three three three

narratives

NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING HAS BEEN NOTHING NOTHING EASY. NOTHING NOTHING

COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION

COVID-19 has been a process of learning how to lose. Here are the stories of how you coped.

“It just doesn’t feel the same. It doesn’t feel like an actual school year anymore.”

confidence, a lot of self esteem. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

But it was up until when everything closed down and the start of my senior year, this year, that it sort of went tumbling back down. It was partially because of all the safety stuff, like the shields, the masks and all social distancing, that kind of brought me back to my antisocial self. I want to crawl back out of it, but the guidelines aren’t really helping me all that much with wanting to communicate with other people.

Now I almost just don’t want to do anything.

Choir doesn’t feel the same, Theatre doesn’t feel the same, class doesn’t feel the same. I know the teachers are trying to make it feel the same and trying to make it the best that it can be. Especially the Choir and the Theatre teachers—they’re really trying, but it just doesn’t feel the same. With the virus and all the safety guidelines, it doesn’t feel like an actual school year anymore.

HUNTER CROWLEY, SENIOR, MEMBER OF CHORALE AND THEATRE

I’ve always been the kid in the back that never said a word—shy. I always said at most three words, if I was lucky. I was very antisocial, in elementary school I’d say I had at most 10 friends.

That continued almost all the way throughout sophomore year, until I joined Choir in freshman year. My confidence rose up a little bit, and then I joined Chorale during sophomore year. That was one of the best years of my life, because we went to New York that year. That significantly boosted my confidence, and my ability to really believe that I could actually do something great. Then, it was “Addams Family” that really set the ball rolling in terms of self esteem.

It was my first play, ever, and I auditioned, and got the lead role. I was so ecstatic about it. There was almost nothing better than that. It gave me a lot of

n n

“COVID HAS BEEN LIKE A NEVER ENDING GRAY.” SOFIA PAVLIC, SENIOR, IN-SCHOOL STUDENT

“You just don’t know how bad it is.”

MS. CHARITY DAVIS, TEACHER OF EXCEPTIONAL ABILITIES, FORMER TEACHER IN CHINA

n n

I found out about it in December, and it wasn’t a big deal, because I was living in Beijing. We didn’t really take it seriously, because we were like, “It’s in Wuhan, and Wuhan is probably about a five hour flight.” So, we weren’t too worried about it. We thought it was just going to be down there, it hadn’t reached up to where we were.

Then, in January, most of my students started leaving, but it was also leading up to the Lunar New Year, so I was just like, “Oh, well, my students are just leaving because the Lunar New Year, they’re not getting pulled because of the virus.” We also would always wear masks out there on bad pollution days, so more people were wearing masks, and it was still clear weather, so I didn’t really think too much of it.

But in the end of January, I was going to the Philippines for the Lunar New Year. I was backpacking through there, and a lot more people started talking about it, because everybody was on vacation from different countries. They were talking about it and worried about it, and I started getting APRIL

2

calls from my school saying, “Hey, we’re gonna extend the holiday break a little while longer.” When I was island hopping, they were starting to take temperature checks. They would take temperature checks before I went into malls or different places. I made sure to wear a mask on the plane to the Philippines, and every time I got on a plane while I was there.

Then I came back and I couldn’t get back into Beijing because they were stopping flights. So, whatever I was backpacking with in the Philippines is what I came back to America with. My whole life is still there. When I came back, I had worn a mask and I landed in New York. I remember getting into a taxi car, and because I had my mask on, this guy was like, “Why? Why do you have a mask on? It’s only happening over there.”

I just said, “No, it’s not.” I got back Feb. 6, and it had (already) been a full year that has been bad. I was just like, “You just don’t know how bad it is.”

Then, March hits and everything closes down. (By then), I had already experienced it. And, I had to work remotely, so I was teaching my Chinese students from America. It was interesting. None of this, like coming to the school was planned—coming to America was not planned, and I had to build everything back up.

Me going from traveling, to not traveling at all, it’s just been hard. That is the biggest thing that I miss, because it’s part of me. It sounds cheesy, but there’s so much more that needs to be explored.

MAY 1 announces MHS has their first Governor day of asynchronous f i v e - s t a g e reopening plan eLearning

locally APRIL JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY nationally

APRIL 28 14% of people reported avoiding care for COVID-19 symptoms due to cost

MAY

4

Parts of Indiana have moved to stage 2 (certain businesses opening with restrictions)

FEBRUARY FEBRUARY MAY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY

MAY 22 Most of Indiana’s counties have reached stage 3

MAY 28 US COVID -19 deaths pass the 100,000 mark.

munster high school crier — march 12, 2021

“It feels like the is spinning in the opposite direction.”

world

ANUM MINHAS, FRESHMAN, ELEARNER

n n

My life has changed so much since COVID-19 has stepped in. It feels like the world is spinning in the opposite direction. In December 2020, my uncle went from New York to Pakistan to attend a wedding where no masks were worn, so he got covid. My uncle and my family are the only ones that live in America, so we don’t visit our family that often.

Covid is making things difficult for us day by day—my mom needs to go (to Pakistan) and make my grandma a legal citizen so she can come and stay with us because she currently lives alone. As an eLearner, there isn’t anyone home to make sure my little sister and I are okay, so sometimes I will have to go to my dad’s store or a friend’s house since my older sister is now working. My grandpa from my mom’s side and my grandma from my dad’s side died recently, so our family dynamic is already delicate.

My family and I have been on a journey and covid just tops it all. My sister was about to apply to medical school and things just got complicated after covid came out. Her studies have also been stopped. We haven’t been able to see my brother in Thailand either because they won’t let him travel here. We are restricted from seeing each other, which sometimes makes us think about how ungrateful we were for the people we would see everyday— our mother, father, siblings and grandparents.

They were always there for us, standing beside us waiting to assist, while we didn’t even take a glance at them.

As an eLearner, I haven’t been able to learn the way I’m used to, but it’s okay since I am quick at adapting to new environments. On the other hand, I got rid of the people that made me feel insecure, and found people I could trust. I spend almost an hour everyday talking to my close friends about family problems and school. Those are the people I want to surround myself with.

For other people, the changes of covid might not be about death, but financial issues. There are some people who lost their jobs, are homeless or are dealing with the death of their close ones. I know some of us are just continuing with our lives, not caring about this virus, but I strongly encourage you to look around and just imagine it taking out someone you love—will you be able to survive?

Will you be the same person you are now? These are the questions that I ask myself. Obviously I want my family to be close to me, but one day I have to let them go. That’s what I keep reminding myself. 2020 has been a horrifying year for me, and I hope 2021 will change that.

How How Crier created this issue HowCrier Criercreated createdthis thisissue issue

“I can’t help but miss the cheering students and halftime performances.”

MS. VALERIE ZEMAITIS, ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, SAC SPONSOR

read more at mhsnews.net read more at mhsnews.net read more at read more at mhsnews.net read more at mhsnews.net mhsnews.net

JUNE 7 8 The MHS Class of JUNE 2020 starts outdoor MHS first day of graduation celebration online summer school

MARCH JUNE MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH

JUNE 10 US COVID-19 cases reach 2 million

JUNE 22 Study suggests 80% of cases in March went undetected

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narratives

munster high school crier — march 12, 2021

“Microaggressions are

deadly because they force people to suffer the racism of being made invisible.”

EMILY SHU, SENIOR, PROUD CHINESE AMERICAN

We’re flawed.

Not in the “oh, we all make mistakes” or the “sometimes I put Sprite in my water cup” kind of way. I mean that we’re all biased and sometimes a little closed-minded. But that’s okay.

Humans are imperfect, and it takes knowing that before understanding that being a “good” person doesn’t automatically mean you can’t do bad.

I didn’t realize that until this past year when I became increasingly aware of my Asian-American identity.

Before, I had never thought of myself as different. Now I was stripped of my American title and labeled a “foreigner” in my own country. Sometimes it was obvious: two men once yelled out derogatory words to me from their car. Most of the time, it’s small: strangers would unconsciously back away from me at the supermarket, or refer to the virus as the “kung flu.”

These experiences heightened my awareness of racism and made me realize that, good person or not, I was part of the problem. Racism isn’t always point blank, or from people with bad intentions. A lot of the time, it’s unintentional. But when these comments get ignored, it forces people to suffer the racism of being made invisible.

I understand that to many, these remarks are a normal part of conversation and in the grand scheme of things, there are bigger problems to solve. It’s not always worth arguing with your friend when they said something was “gay,” but it’s worth asking yourself where these biases come from and why they’re so readily accepted.

Social justice shouldn’t be left to activists. We have the ability and responsibility to create open conversation, one that doesn’t place blame on any one person, but pushes for change together. By creating accountability, we can be aware of our own identities while listening to what others have to say about theirs.

We’re flawed. But we’re also kind, caring and resilient. We make mistakes, and sometimes we do bad things. But we can learn from it, if we take the extra step to seek it.

n n

WE ARE MELTING WE ARE MELTING WE ARE MELTING WE ARE MELTING WE ARE MELTING WE ARE MELTING WE ARE MELTING WE ARE MELTING WE ARE MELTING living through history

“We couldn’t see him to say goodbye due to COVID restrictions.

He was alone when he passed away.”

MRS. KELLY BARNES, ENGLISH TEACHER, LOVING FAMILY MEMBER n n I lost a family member to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was my great uncle Wayne. He and my great aunt Betty had always been close to us because they were good friends with my grandpa, who I lived with. He was a great, genuine, honest and kind person and an important part of my life.

My uncle Wayne actually married Mr. Barnes and me. He was a pastor, so he officiated the ceremony. He married my mom and dad and my aunt and uncle. He married everybody. That is what he always did.

When I was a little kid, I made him promise that when I got older, he would marry me.

Ours was the very last ceremony he did before he retired. On our wedding day, he was more nervous than we were. He was so nervous that he jumbled our vows. It was such a genuine loving moment to have him there with me to have him fulfill that promise after all those years.

He had been in the hospital for a few months with pneumonia. After he had spent some time recovering, they sent him to a rehab facility to get his strength back. While he was there, he caught covid. He was then read more on mhsnews.net

“WE COULDN’T GO TO THE FUNERAL— THEY CANCELED EVERYTHING.”

MR. LARRY HAUTZINGER, SCIENCE TEACHER

COVID-19 A S METAP H O R

“It feels like my world is spinning in the opposite direction.”

Anum Minhas, 9

illustrations by Daniel Nozick

locally JULY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY nationally JULY US

sent back to the hospital, which quarantined him in March of last year.

We hadn’t seen him for three months when he died because he couldn’t see anybody. The only thing we could do was call and try talking to him, but at that point he wasn’t really responsive. For three months, his wife, children, his grandkids, us, no one saw him. All we did was try to call and say something.

We haven’t done anything to commemorate him yet. We wanted to celebrate his life since he was always someone who was there for all the major events in our lives. If we were in the hospital, if anyone had surgery, he was there. To not be there for him felt like such horrible sad irony. His son said they wanted to wait to have a service where we could all be there. It wouldn’t have been fair that there were only ten of us there.

JULY 22 Mask mandate announced in Indiana for everyone 8+

7 surpasses 3 million infections, begins WHO withdrawl

JULY 30 MHS announced summer reading cancellation due to the new school re-entry plan

JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY AUGUST JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY

JULY 16 US reports mew record of daily COVID-19 Cases (75,600 a day)

COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION

COVID-19 has been aaa COVID-19 has been COVID-19 has been process of learning process of learning process of learning process of learning how to lose.

Here how to lose.

Here how to lose.

Here how to lose.

Here COVID-19 has been a are the stories of are the stories of are the stories of are the stories of processyou of learning how coped. how you coped. how you coped. how you how to lose.coped.

Here are the stories of how you coped.

“I had to watch (my father) go off into the ambulance while I was in my first hour class.”

JULIE ALVAREZ, SOPHOMORE, ELEARNER

I really wouldn’t know what to expect when it first started, and I didn’t know how serious and long it would last.

A lot of my family members had covid. My father had it in the beginning of October. He was sent to the hospital because he wasn’t able to breathe and talk. He went home with an oxygen tank until two weeks ago, and needs a breathing machine for when he sleeps. His lungs are messed up pretty bad. We really need a miracle to help us.

I had to watch him go off into the ambulance in my first hour class.

I was scared and nervous to know what was happening with him, and how long he would be this way. I lost a lot of focus in school because I’ve watched him get sick. It’s nice that I’m online and can help my dad when he needs it during passing periods or study halls.

My father hasn’t been to work since September, and we haven’t had money since. We are struggling so much. There were times I had extra money put aside to help. My mom’s sister helped us with groceries and brought stuff to the house.

I wish teachers wouldn’t put so much pressure on students. You might not know what’s going on. I wish students knew that everyone goes through hard times, and if you ever need someone to talk to, you should join the Mustang Mental Health initiative. You should communicate your struggles with your teachers.

Now, the best thing I do is take it one day at a time.

n n

“But it was up until when everything closed down and the start of my senior year, this year, that it sort of went tumbling back down.”

Hunter Crowley, 12

AUG. 6 Link for Virtual MHS Freshmen Orientation sent to families AUG. 17 COVID-19 now the third-leading cause of death in the US

AUG. 23 Indianapolis 500 held without audience for first time in 109 years

“It fee driving the de night, are no lights around just dr speed the da Mira C

FEBRUARY SEPTEMBER FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY FEBRUARY

SEPT. 23 Governer announces that Indiana will enter Stage 5 in three days, the last stage of reopening

28 SEPT. 16 SEPT. COVID-19 Trump administration Global releases vaccine deaths surpass 1 million distribution plan

FEBRU FEBRU FEBR OCTO FEBR FEBR FEB FEB FEB FEB FE FE FE FFFEF

“I’m going absolutely crazy and small social interaction is the only thing preventing me from just completely losing all touch with reality.”

HOLDEN BUCHMEIER, JUNIOR, ELEARNER SINCE MARCH

n n Lack

of human contact kind of makes a person go insane. It’s just my parents, my brother and some family members. The same rotation of people gets a bit boring after a while. There’s nothing to do anymore, just sit around, do schoolwork for most of the day.

I miss just being able to talk face-to-face with people and have an actual conversation rather than just going on Microsoft Teams all day and stare at a bunch of faces in boxes. I miss being in public. I miss queuing, just like

going to Menards and standing in line, something so simple as that, or even going to get groceries.

Before the virus I was very anti-social—I never went to any school sports events, none of that. I was part of debate, but that was just because it’s not an actual conversation really, it’s talking and responding and making an argument, which I’ve always been good at. I just never really liked to talk with people. I would never really hang out with anybody after school.

It’s just now I really want any sort of social interaction back.

I’m going absolutely crazy and small social interaction is the only thing preventing me from just completely losing all touch with reality. Before the virus, I could show some emotions. I could speak to people, but at this point, lying to people seems a bit easier since I haven’t had to talk with them. Nobody feels real anymore. Everybody exists around me at this point, that’s what it feels like.

So—be nice to people, try and have conversations. Do whatever you can to make somebody’s day better, and try to form meaningful relationships with others, especially during the virus to prevent people from going insane.

Be a good person. Try and help others because they probably feel the same way as you do.

“BEFORE COVID, I NEVER HAD TO WORRY ABOUT THINGS. NOW, I HAVE TO BE RESPONSIBLE AND MAKE CHOICES FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS RATHER THAN MYSELF.” MACKENZIE STRICKLIN, SENIOR, IN-SCHOOL STUDENT

ANONYMOUS, FRESHMAN surprisingly. But it feels like

n n I used to be a really social a family member or someone

person. I would always go out, and have a lot of friends. As we stayed home and weren’t really allowed to go out, because my parents were more strict, I lost friends and I stopped talking to certain people that I used to be close with. That kind of affected me, because I felt like I was trapped forcingly, like I didn’t really have a choice. And then with my family, it was actually really life changing.

I was sexually abused by my dad. It was really hard because I really didn’t know what was going on, and I was quiet about it. I would never have expected it to happen especially since we were in lockdown. We were closer, and then I thought it was gonna be better, but it ended up being worse and completely different. I had to be involved with the police, and still am to this day.

That one incident that happened with me was one of the hardest moments in my entire life. I was really close with my dad, and I actually liked him better than my mom

“It’s like I don’t know an exact date as to when this will all be over, because it keeps getting postponed and postponed.”

Mrs. Katie Harris, math teacher

els like I’m g through esert at and there o streetor trees d me. We’re riving at full through arkness.”

Costello, 12

BRUARY OBER RUARY EBRUARY FEBRUARY BRUARY RUARY EBRUARY FEBRUARY BRUARY UARY RUARY EBRUARY FEBRUARY BRUARY UARY FEBRUARY

OCT 8 COVID-19 cases in White House rises to 34

close to you has betrayed you, when you thought that being stuck at home made you closer with your family but instead did the opposite. That was really hard for me to overcome.

I don’t really understand why it happened but that was really tragic in my family, and affected me mentally. Now I’m good.

My family is safe now. My dad is getting what he deserves.

Everything was taken care of.

Now I have to focus on me mentally.

If it was in normal times without covid, it would be completely different because I would be able to go out with my friends and distract myself.

But with covid going on, it’s kind of like I’m trapped. I can’t go out; I can’t go out with friends as much; I can’t really do anything. I’m just stuck with more time at home. The only place I get to go and just enjoy myself is at school where I see some friends and my boyfriend.

Being stuck at home after the whole situation happened, I actually got a lot closer with

OCT Cases rise, 60,000

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15 sharply reporting new cases

my mom since we’ve had more time to spend with each other and talk more. She’s taught me many things. She gives really good advice, so we got closer and that’s how I got better mentally.

Appreciate the moments that you have with close people because you really never know when that can just go away or when you’re going to lose them. There’s always going to be something in life that happens and you just have to learn to be strong and to overcome it, because I know anyone can. There are so many famous people that have had horrible childhoods growing up, or they’ve had incidents that really changed their lives, kind of like this one, even though this one’s worldwide, but they’ve overcome it. It can literally be anyone. It can be a parent, a sister, a brother, a cousin. If you don’t have someone to look up to, even if it’s not a family member, they’re always going to be there. You just have to appreciate the little moments with them.

there are more stories and much more to read online: crier was limited by the space in the printed paper

read more at mhsnews.net read more at mhsnews.net read more at mhsnews.net read more at read more at mhsnews.net read more at mhsnews.net mhsnews.net NOV 13 Earlier this week, announcement stating that Community Hospital will be one of the first to receive the vaccine NOV 4 US reports 100,000 cases in one day

NOV 16 All MHS students mandated to switch to eLearning for two weeks

five five five five five IN OUR OWN W O R D S munster high school crier — march 12, 2021

crier documents their own experiences for history MADI GREEN, JUNIOR, CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

n n Lockdown

was dreadful. I found myself separated from my friends and loved ones while being confined to the four walls in my room.

It was hard for me to adjust.

But now that I think back to it, I may have adjusted a little too much. With the chaos of life returning to normal, I was faced again with the burden of schoolwork, sports, clubs and managing an after school job. I wish I would not have taken that time for granted when we had it, but now when the assignments and responsibilities pile up, I often find myself longing for that solitude and sense of ease I overlooked a year ago.

MS. SARAH-ANNE LANMAN ADVISER

n nI

am not a crier.

(And no, that is not a pun).

But then the pandemic hit.

The sheer amount of work that’s been required to teach has been overwhelming. What does one do when they are pushed to the limit and all coping mechanisms escape them?

They cry. During first semester, I would just cry and cry. Sometimes I wouldn’t even know there was a lump in my throat— I’d open my mouth, and instead, tears would come out my eyes.

The simplest things got me: “How are you?”

The simplest tasks got me: updating Blackboard would happen through watery eyes. My yearbook rep tried to give me some friendly advice, and it got me: I sobbed so hard, I had to wipe the snot off my desk.

I rarely cried in class. But sometimes my eyes would well up and I’d start to feel my mask getting wet. And then something even worse happened: I learned that, behind a screen, behind glasses, behind a mask, no one can see you cry.

That’s how it went, each week, sometimes each day, buckets of tears. Sometimes they were rational (a friend asked at lunch how I’m doing and I’d be honest), dangerous (I’d call a friend as I’m driving home and I wouldn’t be able to see through the tears) or totally insane (I thought the lid to my Lil Bub tupperware had been recycled). Really, I cried harder than anything when someone, usually someone well meaning would say, “Don’t worry—it’ll get better.”

And then, second semester, it did.

Now that we are a year into the pandemic, I don’t cry over school anymore. I want to cry, but I’m blocked. I want to cry over how isolated I feel from my students. I want to cry when I see so few students have completed assignments. I want to cry—weep, really— over the immense pride I feel for my publications students, who have produced exceptional work under the worst of circumstances.

I have to hope it’ll get better soon. But I have a lump in my throat.

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DEC In-person students

2 MHS return

DEC 14 First COVID-19 vaccination in Indiana DEC 31 US falls short of goal to give 20 million vaccination before 2021

six six six six six

munster high school crier — march 12, 2021

M

ALISON LEE, JUNIOR, COPY EDITOR

arch 4, 2020. I looked forward to going to my first choir trip to Nashville, attend DECA Internationals and study abroad at Spain. Then the choir trip was canceled. IUHPFL was canceled. DECA Internationals was canceled. We found out my grandma had come in contact with patient zero in South Korea. Then a week later, we got the announcement that school was shutting down for two weeks. It felt like my world was ripping apart at the seams.

As I sat home alone, isolation caught up to me. I lost motivation to exercise, go outside, do something creative. Social media sucked me in, and my eyes rarely left a glowing screen. My eyes were glued to the news of Asians being attacked, my heart was filled with fear for my mom every time she went to the grocery store and my body ached from the hard reality of racism. The Black Lives Matter movement truly opened my eyes, and it was a hard process to admit my own shortcomings and reeducate myself.

Having all this time to myself brought up

many things I never addressed.

What do I really want to do with my life; how am I fulfilling myself? The thoughts came crawling forward, and I drowned in them.

Junior year is an extremely important year and I aimed to be the best student possible, get good grades and show what I am capable of. However, I never accounted for my depression.

To put it into perspective, I cried at least five times every day and had a mental breakdown at least once a week. My thoughts run 24/7, degrading, and hopeless. I haven’t been able to get a therapist, so I always told myself to show up with a smile, and wait a little longer.

As I waited, I saw my grades slip letter by letter, my screen time tick up by the hour, and my thoughts were soon filled with horrible thoughts of worthlessness. I felt horribly trapped, and lost all hope.

It’s getting better, and I’m learning to be kinder to myself. I’m trying to let myself cry and be proud of myself once in a while. I’m learning to take breaks, and I’m still fighting. I wish I could give a happy ending, but this part of my story isn’t over yet. Many people’s depression doesn’t end in a poof. It does get better, but healing isn’t linear. So I encourage you, if you know someone suffering from depression, check up on them everyday, and realize that one good day isn’t a guarantee of more good days to come.

“There are some people I haven’t seen in nearly a year.”

“I had little to no motivation to get up.”

JANAI MUNOZ, PAGE EDITOR

“I am honestly so exhausted from trying to appear strong when I am internally suffering.”

CALI PETERSEN, PHOTOGRAPHER

“THIS PANDEMIC HAS FORCED ME TO EXPERIENCE THE FEAR OF LOSS.” GAGE HOEKSTRA, PAGE EDITOR

“I loved almost

every moment of

quarantine.”

BAILEE DEJARLAIS, PHOTOGRAPHER

“THIS YEAR HAS MADE ME VALUE MORE THAN JUST MATERIAL ITEMS.”

CHRIS PEREZ, PHOTOGRAPHER

“It didn’t take long for that excitement to turn to desperation.”

“I soon became mentally exhausted from the events happening around the world.”

ANNA EVILSIZOR, PHOTOGRAPHER

“

“It’s hard to improve yourself when you can just curl up into a ball and watch countless hours of Netflix.”

HENRY HOFFERTH, GRAPHICS EDITOR

“It just doesn’t feel the same.”

LINDA RAMIREZ, SENIOR, PAGE EDITOR

When the shut down first happened, I felt complete and utter relief. I was still a junior at the time, and I wasn’t doing so hot. I was constantly overwhelmed and upset, but also apathetic and numb. A break from school was a godsend.

I spent the initial break lazing about, it was honestly the peak of quarantine. But soon it was announced we wouldn’t be returning that school year, my parents split time differently.

I ended up moving every month or so between Iowa with my dad, and Tennessee to visit my stepdad with my mom, so I wasn’t home for months.

It wasn’t bad, both places were in safe zones with low rates, so the rules were generally more lax. The malls

n n

locally JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY JANUARY 2021 nationally JAN 1 Amount of

JAN 8 Vaccine available to Hoosiers over the age of 80

JAN 7 N u m b e r C O V I D - 1 9 ofCOVID-19 cases exceeds deaths per day 20 million surpasses 4,000

JAN 20 President Biden inaugurated

COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION

ANTHONY YOUNG, GRAPHICS EDITOR

REENA ALSAKAJI, PAGE EDITOR

were open early on, and the restaurants were serving.

By then, the school had taken to remote learning. It was a lot different from the eLearning we know now.

Lessons were whenever you wanted, with attendance being nothing more than an assignment turned into one teacher. It should have been bliss, but I struggled. There was no structure to my day, and I lacked the will to do my work. I felt so much guilt and shame, like a total failure. Yet I still had too much anxiety to start.

The mountain of work felt like it was going to kill me, but trying to start anything was out of the question, just the notion of it made me ill. I actually have an extreme fear of vomiting, but the ball of stress and fear in my stomach made me wish I could throw it up and get far away from it. I eventually got in a better state of mind, but I’ll never forget how desperate I felt. It’s a little ironic how the free time and loose leash learning I always thought I’d love ended up tormenting me.

narratives

“Everyday was repeating and nothing was changing.”

ALEXIS PEREZ, PAGE EDITOR

“Good and bad in a lot of ways” THOMAS ZANGRILLI, PAGE EDITOR

“Then,

everything hit.”

MAX LINDENMAYER, PHOTOGRAPHER

“I didn’t know much about the virus (at first).”

ROBERT BRUNETTI, PHOTOGRAPHER “It was painful to see myself lose hours of my life.”

JOSEPHINE MITTELBERGER, PAGE EDITOR

read more at mhsnews.net read more at mhsnews.net read more at mhsnews.net read more at read more at mhsnews.net mhsnews.net

FEB 1 People 65+ now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines

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FEB 27 As of today, Lake County has reached 48,389 cases and 876 Deaths

FEB 22 US COVID-19 death toll reaches 500,000

ATARAH ISRAEL, JUNIOR, MANAGING EDITOR

n n Throughout my life, I’ve always felt

motivated to be better—the better student, the better staff member and the better friend. Whether this meant nodding in agreement and laughing on cue, or being helpful and diligent in my work, the ultimate goal was always reaching a better end. This strive for perfection became intrinsically attached to my sense of self worth, and shaped who I am today. This trend fluctuated throughout my high school career as I struggled to stop defining myself in terms of better or worse, and avoided using others as measures for success. However, the looming pressure of failure remained.

COVID-19, for better, but mostly worse, disturbed the very fabric of this identity. The margin for failure became wide and the room for error became narrow. The impending threat of failure consumed me—what was I worth if I could not brave even the toughest of challenges?

During a time when isolation was prevalent, the new rhythm I found was a constant rotation between bouts of extreme lack of motivation and lethargy, immediately followed by intense, guilt-driven fixations on school work, extracurriculars and personal “passion projects.” This false sense of productivity only served to further damage any semblance of identity I had. From the abrupt end of last school year to the beginning of this one, every new challenge faced made me feel as if I were lurching in unstable waters with an increasing sense of motion sickness.

Despite my waning sense of self, and the crumbling empire of esteem I had built along with it, I eventually found solace in the consistent cycle of work thrown at me. I succeeded in my failure—challenges that were once insurmountable remained intimidatingly insurmountable, but now my only option left was to overcome them.

Interviewing others offered an unexpected comfort in an otherwise dreary world of decreasing motivation. I soon realized that the utter awkwardness of Zoom calls represents what this past year with COVID-19 has been—a mishmash of shaky starts and clumsy endings.

Despite the uncomfortable silences, I found a renewed rhythm in the chaos.

The looming threat of failure and inadequacy that once characterized the challenges of the pandemic were replaced with a drive for better.

MARCH 8 As of today, MHS has reported a total of 43 student positive COVID-19 cases

MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH MARCH

SOURCE: AJMC, THINK GLOBAL HEALTH, IN.GOV, NWI

MARCH One MHS

year

13 since shutdown

MARCH 13 One year since start of national lockdown

seven seven seven seven seven seven

editorial

COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION

munster high school crier — march 12, 2021

in a word

staff members share their covid experience

creative

“I finally found an outlet with photography.”

-

Chris

Perez,

12

SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL SURREAL “There are huge things happening and I’m just going on my little life with no clue to the future.”

- Linda Ramirez, 12

SAD

“It is sad to see how many people we have lost during this time.”

- Robert Brunetti, 9

I

LANA SALAHIEH, SENIOR, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

don’t think anyone could have imagined where we’d end up today.

A year ago, I was burnt out. Junior year carried so much weight to my life— I was lifting fifty pounds of APUSH readings a night, iron pumping several AP Lit essays a week, bench pressing the AP Psych master terms and concepts list throughout both semesters, bulking on extracurriculars. The thing is, I’m no bodybuilder.

This struggle might sound familiar. Maybe you too spend hours of your life bracing yourself for the cold, hard realities that adulthood has to offer: the piles of financial ruin and student debt from college, living on nothing but ramen noodles and pizza crusts for the next four or more years of our lives.

As a senior, it’s on my mind constantly. How will I balance studying for my college courses, an inevitable part time job, participating in clubs, and socializing with an entirely new set of faces? How can I possibly be expected to master this way of living in the future when I can hardly get by now?

On Aug. 12, 2020, I officially became Editor-In-Chief of the Crier. We decided to continue publishing as regularly scheduled, but since the virus was so easily spread, our traditional distribution methods were out of the question. Consequently,

half of the school wouldn’t really be reading the issues that my staff spent weeks working on. This year should have been the highest point in my high school career. Instead, I felt like every minute I poured into my work was for nothing.

At home, there was so much tension. My parents separated in November, and a lot of responsibilities fell to me to care for my sisters. It was one of the lowest points of my life. I fell into severe depression and developed an anxiety disorder that I continue to struggle with today. I lacked all motivation for school, a loss that went beyond senioritis. I wanted so badly to work at the same pace that I had for my whole life, but every time I opened my laptop to work, I had a panic attack. It was even affecting my work for the newspaper, the one thing I held onto so dearly.

I desperately needed to do something about my situation. I talked to my friends, my teachers, my counselor and was lucky enough to see a therapist. I started medication. I relied on the other editors on staff more than I had witnessed any other editor before me do. The hardest part was asking for help.

There just isn’t an end-all be-all cure for mental health. I can’t say now that I’m fine, that I am back to the way I was. I think that in all my struggles, I’ve grown stronger. I know now that life is a balancing act, and it’s okay to put down a few weights and give yourself a break.

editorial why crier printed this issue editorial editorial editorial editorial editorial editorial editorial

A year from yesterday, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. A year ago from tomorrow, on March 13, 2020, the School Town of Munster closed its doors for the school year. The world hasn’t been the same since.

In a year, so much has happened. As a community, we’ve adapted to things we never expected to. A year ago, we couldn’t have possibly imagined everything to play out as it did. We have grown into an era of change; we learned, we loved, and we lost.

As a staff, each of us have various levels of experience when it comes to journalism, ranging from our education in Journalism I or an Intro to Photography class, to having attended various state and national conventions where we were taught by world-renowned journalists and advisers on how to have good reporting. In the end, none of it could have prepared us for what we were about to face.

It has been one of the most difficult years to

tackle in terms of student journalism. We had to change the way we interviewed, the time we had to build our paper, and the way we communicate amongst ourselves. But our biggest struggle was grappling with the fact that with every letter we typed in every story, we were documenting a time like never before. To put it into perspective, Crier is a primary source—we’re literally writing history.

Now more than ever, journalism matters. That’s why we decided to create this special edition in order to tell your stories. The stories that have been overshadowed by all this chaos. We also wanted to take this opportunity to speak to our readers like never before, because we’ve struggled too. We want our readers to know that they are not alone.

We’ve made a lot of progress, and it seems like the worst is behind us now. That’s not true yet.

While we can thank the vaccine roll-out for the dropping of infection rates, we can’t dismiss the half of a million people who have died in the US. Crier urges cautious optimism. We must continue to be vigilant in our efforts to be safe.

Crier, Munster High School’s official student newspaper, may be reached via mail at 8808 Columbia Ave, Munster, IN 46321; via phone at 219-836-3200, ext.

3443; or via fax at 219-836-3202.

Crier is published through the Honors Newspaper Advanced Writing and Editing classes and extra-curricular involvement. Crier’s official website is accessible at www.mhsnews.net.

•The newspaper serves as a public forum and two-way communication for the school and community. •Crier is a source of information, entertainment, advertising and opinion for the student body, faculty, administration and community •Published material will stress objective reporting except on the editorial page where opinion writing will be featured. All published material will stress accuracy, integrity, honesty, responsibility, objectivity, fairness and independence. Corrections, when necessary, will be published on page 2.

•Opinions expressed in the newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the School Town of Munster, faculty or administration.

•Letters to the editor and reader suggestions are welcomed, but should be limited to 250 words. All letters must be signed and should be either emailed to the editor (lana.salahieh@gmail.com), given directly to any staff member or delivered to the Publications room, N155, one week prior to publication. Letters must not contain personal attacks against an individual. Editors reserve the right to edit for length, clarity, and grammatical errors. Crier will accept letters from anyone, provided that the content pertains to school or school issues. Feedback may also be submitted on Twitter @munstermedia.

•Mailed subscriptions cost $25 per year. Digital issues can be found on issuu.com. Crier is published 13 times a school year. Ad rates and policies are available to anyone upon request.

CRIER CRIER CRIER CRIER CRIER

D I S H E A R TENING

“Aside from the cancellation of various Pub events, such as traveling to state, there’s also a disconnect between staffers this year due to how difficult communication has become.”

- Atarah Israel, 11

unexpected

“I did not expect this to happen, especially for this long.”

M a x Lindenmayer, 11

BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING BORING “After two weeks of doing new trends and binge watching Netflix, there was nothing to do but stay home.”

- Anna Evilsizor, 10

how criercreated created this this issue How Crier created thisissue issue How Crier issue How Crier created this

nn Sent out a survey to the school via email

asking the question: “We have been living through one year of the COVID-19 pandemic. What’s one thing—specific to your life—that has impacted you the most?”

n Reached out to those who responded for n follow up interviews via email more information via zoom nn Collected meetings, distanced in-person meetings, and further email correspondence

n Compiled each interview into a narrative n n Divided narratives to be covered in our n paper, as well as our website, mhsnews.net

n All illustrations, unless noted, were n created by Henry Hofferth, Graphics Editor

Copy Editor Alison Lee Design Editor Alexis Perez Page Editor Reena Alsakaji, Gage Hoekstra, Josephine Mittelberger, Janai Munoz, Linda Ramirez, Thomas Zangrilli Graphics Editors Henry Hofferth, Anthony Young Head Photographers Max Lindenmayer, Cali Petersen

Our Staff

Chief Photographer Madi Green

Editor-in-Chief Lana Salahieh

Photographers Robert Brunetti, Anna Evilsizor, Chris Perez

Managing Editor Atarah Israel

Adviser Ms. Sarah-Anne Lanman

eight eight eight eight eight

student life

munster high school crier — march 12, 2021

ing on COVID-19 and how it has affected students and teachers at Munster High School.

I really have to push myself to get work doneI don’t feel like readjusting all over againKnowing what they’d endured, and how many people were lost, I didn’t know what to expect when the epicenter shifted from Italy to the US.I tend to try to keep a positive mentality, but covid occasionally interferes with it because it will deteriorate my motivation.I wanted to focus on my mental health because I was really stressed during the school year. But during the lockdown I was able to reconnect with myself, in a sense.I wish I could go back, but from that I’ve learned to live in the moment and appreciate things while you can.It feels like the world is spinning in the opposite direction for me.I used to be a really social person. I would always go out, and have a lot of friends.

As we stayed home and weren’t really allowed to go out, because my parents were more strict, I lost friends and I stopped talking to certain people that I used to be close with. That kind of affected me, because I felt like I was trapped forcingly, like I didn’t really have a choice. And then with my family, it was actually really life changing.

It’s (covid) limited opportunities to do a lot of the normal things that people do. Obviously, it’s affected me that way, just as it has everybody else. I always try to

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS KNOW ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS THAT YOU ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS DESERVE ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS TO BE HERE ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS

I

NATASHA TRUETT, JUNIOR, ARTIST

lost my grandmother the first day of lockdown and eight months later I lost my father. Through that time I think we went through a whole spiritual revelation because my family has always been grounded and nature connected.

At times I felt like the universe didn’t want me to be happy and that I wasn’t living the life that I was meant to live.

There was one day where I stayed up for 24 hours because I didn’t feel like sleeping. I would sit and stare at nothing and think about things for hours. I would just listen to music or scroll through TikTok and Instagram for no reason. I felt lonely at times. I am extroverted and being inside has wrecked me. I have a physical need to be around people and not being around people makes me feel lonely and angry at myself.

Three months after my grandmother died, I got back together with my boyfriend after breaking up five times previously and we’re still dating. He was there when my dad died. That was really crazy in my opinion because nobody expected him to do that, that came out of nowhere, even to me.

That was the moment where I was like ‘I am supposed to be happy.’ The universe wants me to be happy. All of these big changes in my life happening at once while being in a controlled environment has been good for me, rather than being out all of the time.

Me staying in one place with all of this is going on, while being with my mom, who has been my emotional support this whole time, has been better before. In a way covid helped me but didn’t.

Art was an emotional outlet for me, especially when I made a piece for my dad. It was a collage, so I was breaking things and slapping things onto this big wooden board. It was an accurate expression of how I felt and unresolved anger and pain with him. I also did another one for my grandma after she passed. It was a paper collage of how much I loved her and missed her because she was such an amazing woman.

My pandemic experience has been eye opening. It has changed me so much compared to how I was when this whole pandemic started. I feel like everything happens for a reason. Everything happens because the universe has plans for you.

MR. BEN BORUFF, ENGLISH TEACHER, GEESE NAMER

The past twelve months have easily been the most challenging of my career, and the evidence is everywhere. It can be measured in caffeinated drinks, painful silences, half-finished hobbies, and hours of lost sleep. Even tears.

One former student kindly noted that I seemed “wearier” than usual this year, which broke my heart a bit. Not because it isn’t true—it is—but because I want to be the best teacher I can be, and weariness does

“It’s not about you.”

MRS. KATIE HARRIS, MATH TEACHER, LOVING MOTHER

n n The last day of school— March 13—I erupted in cheers of joy like everyone else in the hallway. Initially, I thought “Wow, we can do this,” but that quickly changed—about three weeks in, I was done.

Time away from friends and family has been rough—anxiety is high. I find myself not sleeping as well at night, and for my kids, it’s not being able to see their friends and family. We have taken COVID-19 very seriously and gone to great lengths to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

The lowest point was our big family trip—my mom turned 70 last year, so we had a big extended family trip to Bermuda—we were going to sail out of New York City and spend that week with everyone, but we had to cancel it.

It was so disappointing for her to not be able to have that time with all of us as this big family trip.

My parents probably won’t ever go on a cruise again because they feel nervous about the sanctuary conditions on a ship and being in enclosed spaces.

Some good things have come along—my family having time together, as life’s slowed down and we could re-evaluate what is and isn’t important in our lives.

Friday nights are movie nights: we eat a bunch of junk food and pretend we are at a real movie theater, more intentional time together. Life gets in the way, so we’re more focused with how we spend time together.

It’s also been a learning opportunity for me to teach my kids about how it’s not about you, but it’s about other people: giving and taking care of each other. Help out one another— check on your neighbors and friends, make sure they’re okay— and help them if they’re in need.

Get rid of the things that don’t really matter and keep the things that do.

HEART HEART HEART HEART HEART HEART HEART HEART HEART

COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION

What has helped me is to have a compassionate heart for myself and others through challenges - Mrs. Valerie Zemitis, assistant principal

“You are going to come out stronger even though it may not seem like it.”

LAURALYN COURTNEY, SOPHOMORE, INPERSON LEARNER

n n Covid was rough: quarantining, staying at the house and not being able to see friends. Along with not being able to see family as much because I am family oriented since my family gets together all the time. As I was forced to stay home due to covid, I grew a lot mentally.

Emotionally it affected me pretty well, I still go through rough things but it could be worse. I pulled myself out of a really bad spot. I told myself, “you can do this, you just go to try a little harder.” I was really fortunate to not have anyone pass away and I’ve never had any super big losses in my life. I did have members that had covid, but it was never super bad.

I’ve been struggling lately where everyday feels the same.

Sometimes you feel like there aren’t things to look forward to and you have to make things to look forward to. I don’t have a ton of hobbies and I am not in school clubs or anything. So it’s just I wake up, go to school, come home, eat and do homework.

I have some free time to go on my phone and just do it all over again.

I would just like to put out a word of advice. Everything happens for a reason, but everything that happens, you are going to come out stronger even though it may not seem like it.

“KEEPING YOUR HEALTH UP IS IMPORTANT.” TAYLOR PEREZ, JUNIOR, SELF-CARE ADVOCATE

not feel like excellence.

I have struggled recently, and I see no value in sugarcoating that fact. While in quarantine last year, I learned about the concept of “toxic positivity,” which refers to a type of superficial and often assertive positivity that dismisses the struggles of others. Toxic positivity is a mutated form of optimism, often appearing as advice to “be happy” and “look on the bright side.” Empathetic positivity can heal, but dismissive positivity can create scars.

As I sat on my balcony last spring thinking of names for all the geese that wander around my apartment complex, I remembered William Carlos Williams’ poem “Between

Walls” and the idea of beauty in brokenness.

Positivity can be found in times of struggle, but the “broken pieces” need to be acknowledged first. For that reason, I taught “Between Walls” to my sophomores earlier this year.

To any student who has struggled through the past year: please remember that you are not alone.

Your feelings are valid.

Your experiences and your struggles matter. Your mental health is important. You are not alone—far from it.

COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID COVID living through history: one year of COVID-19