STUDENT REFLECTIONS
CHOOSING RESILIENCE IN UNCOMMON TIMES Students rise to the challenge of the pandemic, and show us how we can, too. Each St. Andrew’s student has their own story to tell about their life during the COVID-19 pandemic. When it comes to their school life, many miss the same things. It’s hard to remember the last time they could squeeze into a lunch table with their friends in Mac Hall, or the afternoons when they would wait for the 6 p.m. bus just so they could spend a few more hours studying and socializing together. Now, their teachers are no longer in the hallway to exchange a good morning, or in their office to answer a question. Teachers can no longer catch a student at lunch to remind them to turn in an assignment or compliment them on a great answer in class. Those vital moments of interaction that happen in a brief second and help build a rapport between student and teacher must take on new and different forms. Through it all, our students have demonstrated remarkable resilience, creating their own solutions to the questions that many adults still wrestle with: How will I get through this? What will I learn from this time apart? What will the world be like when this has passed? Here are four student stories that answer those questions. Perhaps they will help us answer our own.
Zoie Walden ’23 has volleyball on the brain. During a typical fall, she would have just wrapped up a season of serving and spiking for the Lions in her second year on the varsity team. For now, she’ll be waiting until February at the earliest to get back on Lions Court. Tryouts for her club volleyball team took place in November, but it wasn’t clear if she would make the cut. Limited capacity in gymnasiums means that fewer players can take the court, so even though she played last year, older players may have been first in line for those spots. A postponed sports season and an uncertain club season, however, didn’t stop her from making volleyball central to her distance learning success strategy this year. Attending school from home means sitting in front of a laptop screen for hours. Taking deliberate brain breaks and playing volleyball with her dad made a difference. “Going outside was just a mental reset and refresher as I was getting used to virtual learning,” she said. “After going outside and having that break, it helped me focus much more during class.” Her family is cautious and limits their outings. She’s seen friends while wearing face coverings and social distancing, but misses going to the movies and walking around the mall. Until she’s back on the court, her focus will be tackling a more challenging course load, which includes AP European History, Honors English, and Algebra 2. “It’s a change in the workload, so it’s challenging, managing all of that work with also staying sane and doing normal things,” Zoie said.
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