For me, school is a place for making friends, learning how to be responsible, and learning skills to be successful later in life. Before this year, I would wake up every morning happy and excited to see my favorite people. Now, I wake up to my screen. School was a place to go see your friends, hanging out with them every day. Now I don’t see them at all. School was my source of social interaction, now that’s taken away from me. Sitting at my desk all day on a screen gives me a headache. I miss walking through the hallways, going to P.E. with others, and having class discussions. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss running the mile. I miss walking to my classes, but now they’re just a click away.  Despite everything about this new reality, we all have to learn to adapt in order to thrive.

This new way of learning has been tough not only for students but also for parents and teachers.  As a student, it’s stressful because it's just me and a screen. During a break at school, I would have plenty of friends around me to talk to and relax and take my mind off of school work. Now, for a break, I lay down and close my eyes because my eyes hurt, and I have a headache. I try my best to focus and not stress, that's why my grades are high, but sometimes that doesn't work. I don’t want to fall back, so I’ll try my best even through distance learning. 

I want school back because it will not only help me, it will also help my parents. This pandemic has affected my parents because one of them needs to stay in the house to help my little sister, so only one can work. My mom feels bad for me because I spend so much time alone, and she’s worried about my mental health. I hope this Covid thing can come to a stop soon because it's very hard and stressful. 

Well, that was my experience with this pandemic, but some students are doing better! For example, if students don’t get something done in class, they can do it after school and go to virtual office hours for help from teachers! Also, while we are at school, kids in the class like to disrupt, but now if they do, the teacher can mute them so that the class can learn and hear.

I thought we would return to school after the weird way that the last school year ended, but I was wrong. My hopes for the future are that we can return to school safely. I would love to see all my friends and teachers again, in-person. I hope we soon get into hybrid learning this school year. I would be so excited to go to school, excited like I have never been before. Two days of going to real school each week would be great. It would 100% make me happier. Well, I hope that we can all return to school before the school year is over. It would be disappointing if we don’t get a chance to go back to school for another year.