The Written Voice - 2023 - North Shore Hebrew Academy High School Literary Magazine

THE WRITTEN VOICE

OUR PANDEMIC

NARRATIVES

MAY 2023

EMERGING YOUNG WRITERS

Get to know how the pandemic impacted the lives of THIRTEEN North Shore Students

** Due to the personal nature of these pieces, the students have chosen to share their experiences anonymously. **

MY EXPERIENCE... 1.

If someone had told me that I would live through one of the most deadly pandemics in the history of the world, I would have thought that idea was crazy. I would have thought that pandemics are things that happened in the olden days or to countries that are poor and underprivileged. I would never in a million years imagine that a pandemic would impact my life the way it did and that it would come so close to home. Although I am one of the lucky ones and did not lose anyone close to me, the pandemic did turn my world upside down. There were many negatives but also some positive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. One thing is for sure, though: life is completely different now.

March 1, 2020 began as any regular month. I remember thinking that we were one month closer to June and summer vacation, which meant several trips, parties, and events with friends and family. “Just get through this month and then it’s just April, May, and June,” I remember telling myself. I spent the first weeks of March doing things just like I normally would. Going to school, shopping, hanging with friends, and spending time with my family. I went to the movie theater, a concert, out to dinner, and to a sporting event. My days were filled with being around people: lots of them. Little did I know that this was all about to change and I would soon be forced to be home and alone. I remember first hearing about coronavirus in the car on my way to school. My mom had the news on and there was something said about a virus in China. “Scary,” my mom said, and I agreed. We did not think about it further. As we entered the third week of March, more

news of the virus had begun to spread and I began to get nervous, but still never thought the United States or New York City would be as badly affected by the virus as other countries. How wrong I was.

March 10th, 2020 was my last day of in-person school for a very long time. I did not know this. We all thought it would just be for a few weeks, which turned into months. Six months to be exact. At first, part of me could not believe that I was going to get to stay home and learn from my bed and in my pajamas. No finals? This was going to be awesome! And the first few days were awesome. I got to sleep later, did not have to worry about commuting to school, packing lunch, and I didn't even have homework. However, once Google Classroom and remote learning really kicked into gear, I realized how hard this was going to be. Navigating my classes and assignments was a huge struggle in of itself. Also, learning the new content without a teacher in person teaching me made it that much harder. I found myself extremely stressed throughout the day keeping up with my assignments and understanding all the new information being thrown at me. Then, there was the loneliness of it all. I missed seeing my friends everyday, being able to ask someone next to me for help, or talking about the homework. Sure, we were texting each other, but it wasn’t the same. I found myself being exhausted from this new adjustment and from staring at a computer all day, all while being so nervous and stressed about catching Covid or having anyone close to me catch the virus.

As I watched the news and scrolled through social media, the images were horrifying. In our country and our famous city, people were dying. So many people were being put on ventilators and dying. How could this be? Both my parents were essential workers and had to go work in person everyday. What if something happened to them? This

constant state of worry and fear was very hard on me. I know I wasn’t alone in feeling this way, but I was alone at home. It was all so stressful. The pandemic made me realize how I took things for granted, like in-person learning and in-person conversations with friends and family. At times, it made me very depressed and lonely. Things got worse when we all got sick. My mom was first, then my dad and my brothers and me. There was no vaccine at the time, so we just had to hope for the best. Those days were incredibly stressful and I was so fearful. After a while, we all healed. Having Covid together brought my family closer together, which I did not expect. We were forced to support one another and spend much more time together. I valued them more because they were the only people I was around for months. Looking back, I will always remember that quality time we spent together. We played games, watched movies and sometimes enjoyed being home. I can’t say that this family bonding would have happened without the pandemic and I am grateful for that.

The pandemic changed everyday life for me as a teenager. I missed out on almost two years of a “normal” high school experience. Those are years of high school that I will never get back. I was not able to go to parties or large gatherings like most kids my age. I couldn't meet my friends at the mall or go to a movie. Instead, we had zoom hang outs and we would watch movies together via Facetime. It was strange, but again, there was something special about the way we were able to adapt to what was going on. Looking back, it was kind of fun. By the summer, we were able to arrange outdoor hang outs and eat at restaurants with outdoor dining. It was all about adapting to our surroundings and making it work. I remember being so excited to see my friends in person again. I don’t know if that is a feeling I will ever experience again. I learned that friendships are stronger than the time you spend apart. I

also learned that I can literally have fun with my friends doing nothing!

The COVID-19 Pandemic will always be a defining part of my life. It will be what I tell my kids and grandkids about when they ask me what high school was like. I am reminded of the pandemic every single time I submit an assignment on Google Classroom. Although it was a struggle to be alone, not see friends, and hold myself accountable when it came to school work, it taught me several life lessons. The first is that I can adapt to change. When I was hit with adversity and was forced to adjust my entire life, I was able to make it work. I am proud of that. The next lesson I learned is that family time is valuable and important. Although the pandemic is ending and life is getting back to normal, I realize how important it is to make time for my family. The pandemic allowed us to spend more time together and I am grateful for that. The last lesson I learned is that friendships are more powerful than distance. I did not get to see my friends in person for months, but we became closer than ever. We all experienced this unique high school experience together, which is something not many people will understand. So yeah, if someone had told me that I would live through one of the most deadly pandemics in the history of the world, I would have thought that idea was crazy, but now it is my normal.

2. MY EXPERIENCE...

Before the global panic of COVID-19, my family inhabited a carefree home. Getting sick still required my presence at school, or when it was more severe, a fever, it meant a tranquil stay-athome day to finish up our work or binge Netflix. Even then, for dinner, we would gather around the table all together. Furthermore, there was never any issue with public transportation. The primary concern was getting mugged or jumped. Besides that, public transportation was a practical service we often utilized. I would use this transit to get to a friend’s house, of which no issue could be fathomed. Being over at a friend’s or a friend by me was a frequent activity with no conceivable problem.

My freshman year of high school was, frankly, quite short of memorable. I attended my classes and extracurriculars without a second thought. The only perturbation of mine was that every day over the course of the next four years might be that monotonous. As the year slowly progressed, the news of a virus in China arrived at North Shore Hebrew Academy. However, it seemed distant and irrelevant, therefore remaining disregarded by my family, peers, and myself. As cases continued in China, this “CoronaVirus” went from being irrelevant, to a joke, to a month later, a source of concern. With its name established and cases arriving in the United States, fear began to permeate my home. I clandestinely eavesdropped on my parents’

conversations where they traded back and forth COVID statistics and compared the virus to the flu or SARS. When the school announced that they would be closing for two weeks, I was not surprised as I recalled that secret conversation between my parents. We anticipated that this hiatus would last a mere two weeks or even a month. However, those two weeks rapidly became two months.

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An array of different masks were purchased by every household and worn everywhere. Without a mask, one was essentially under house arrest, as it was forbidden to leave your property without one. Everyone estimated how long this would last, but no one truly knew. The end of my freshman year was solely on Zoom. My camera roll was just a series of biology and math assignments that I had to send my teachers via Google Classroom, rather than handing them in. I was stuck inside what was becoming the claustrophobic walls of my home and my levels of boredom surged. At that point, I preferred to be in school, but the lack of finals was an advantage!

The world began to implode. A global pandemic pervaded throughout hundreds of countries, each attempting their own tactic to halt the virus. The summer following freshman year, I worked in a day camp. Rules and regulations were imposed in order to accommodate the new virus. Our temperatures were taken daily upon our entrance and jotted down; only a certain number of people were permitted indoors at all times; each bunk was spread out from all the others. Despite all the changes, my family and I were doing okay. That was, until I realized the pandemic had only just begun.

Sophomore year started and I was excited for what I thought

“

would be back to normal. I was ready to enjoy what I had previously taken for granted. However, it was not yet normal. We were only allowed to enter the school building on certain days of the week and we remained half the time on a virtual education. After a couple of months of this tedious routine, my family started to get sick. I got COVID first, followed by my siblings, and then my mother. Although it was unpleasant, it was all manageable until my father got it. Before my father got sick, my mom went into panic mode and reorganized the entire house. She installed a sanitizer dispenser by the door and had a basket of disinfectant. She urged everyone to take Vitamin C pills daily, of which we had an abundance. Yet, in spite of all her efforts, my father still fell ill. At first, we thought it would affect him like any normal virus. However, within three days he was rushed to the hospital and each day, he grew sicker and sicker. My father’s health was rapidly deteriorating and he lost his ability to breathe on his own. My entire family was in hysteria, as there was little to be done. My siblings and I stopped going to school and continued our learning virtually. We noticed that the hospital was quite futile and only degenerating his health, so with the help of my uncle who is a doctor, we were able to transfer him to a different hospital. Slowly, his health improved due to the better doctors and he finally recovered.

We began to go back to school and continued in our standard daily routines. At this point, sophomore year was meeting its end, but I did not mind as it was truly the lowest point in my life. The summer before junior year, I signed up for Mach Hach, a summer program in Israel. Soon, everything began to look up for me. It was the beginning of something new. After the program, I was much happier and eager to enter my junior year

year of high school. That year, we began school with masks, but besides that, it was rather normal. I felt alleviated that my family and friends were healthy, school was no longer virtual, and I was ready to embrace every opportunity without taking it for granted.

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3. MY EXPERIENCE...

Before the pandemic was a fun time; everything seemed normal. My brother was in his first year of college, I was in my first year of high school, and my little brother was in his final year of elementary school. The only thing that I was not looking forward to was the week that school got canceled, as I had multiple tests and soccer games in the same week, and as a freshman, I had no idea how to handle this. To be honest, I was very excited that school got canceled because I didn’t want to have to deal with what at the time seemed like a tough situation. Little did I know, there will be a lot more going on after that.

I heard the school was going remote and was excited to be home. In one of the first zoom meetings, we had a history class, and the whole grade was in one class. As an immature freshman, I had a lot of fun with the lack of order. Many teachers who already had a bad reputation with students made it worse by assigning multiple essays to students who were stuck at home. Looking back, I would not have done all this work just to get a “ pass with distinction“ versus getting a normal pass on my report card. I spent hours writing and editing essays for no reason. Instead of actually learning the material teachers focused more on assigning busy work which most students ended up copying from online.

The next year, when school was split into “A-day “ and “Bday,” it was very difficult academically. Having to be in another school every other day, taking tests, and learning tough subjects like chemistry without a consistent schedule was hard as a sophomore. Even Shiriyah was

weird, they canceled the more fun activities like competitive sports and switched them to “safer” competitions. After looking forward to having Shiriyah going into high school, it was honestly frustrating that two years in I still didn’t experience what my brother had told me about. So, even though the beginning of remote learning was very enjoyable as a student, getting “back to normal” halfway through 11th grade was a relief.

School getting canceled as a freshman was honestly kind of awesome. However, the first negative aspect of the pandemic hitting me was the shul being closed. At this point, I had my weekly set up with it, all my friends and I would go to our shul and run our youth congregation. It was really fun, but when the shul was closed for “ one week,” it was upsetting. I prayed at home with my parents and siblings and we even read the weekly Torah reading, though it was not the same. The rest of the day was really fun because I got to spend so much time with my family.

The scariest part of the pandemic was seeing my Dad come home from work every day. He worked as a doctor on the “front lines” and as a pulmonologist, he saw endless amounts of Covid patients. My Dad would come home every day, change in the garage, leave his “contaminated” clothes there, run upstairs to shower, and not kiss anybody for MONTHS! As much as the kid in me was having a blast at home playing video games and Facetiming my friends, I could tell how mentally this was taking a toll on my dad. I couldn’t visit my grandma or other family members, but we were able to facetime. My family did not take food out until after Pesach, and when we did my dad was so nervous we had to wash our hands after touching the pizza box!

Overall, the Covid experience had its ups and downs. Looking through the eyes of a kid, the beginning of it was

fun. However, looking back now I can see how rough these experiences were. From the perspective of my academics, family, and community, I can see how significant that gap in time affected these areas. I do miss some of the memories I had at home with my brothers and parents, and while Facetiming my friends, but at the same time I understand that we have to move forward. I can whine all I want about losing half of my high school experience, and honestly, I am still upset about the lost memories. However, the Covid 19 pandemic caused many people to suffer and affected so many lives, so I am thankful that it did not significantly harm me, my family, and my friends in any way.

4. MY EXPERIENCE...

Prior to the pandemic, my life was completely different. Desks in school only inches away from each other, constantly hugging my friends and elderly family members, sharing food without a thought crossing my mind as to the germs being transmitted, and so much more. When school was closed, there was never an idea regarding online classes — there were simply no classes administered. People either went to work in person, or didn’t work at all. The COVID pandemic completely changed all of this. Around March 12, 2020, my life was completely altered, and I’m not sure if there will ever be a world again that is similar to how it was before the spread of the coronavirus.

When I first received notice of the pandemic, I remember feeling happy –– no school for two weeks! Freshman year was fun, but it was the point of the year where the workload was piling up, and a two week break sounded like the best thing that could have happened for us. However, the two weeks soon became a month, then the month became 6 weeks, and then we were simply notified that school would be closed until further notice. We were in uncharted territory –– unprecedented times. The feeling of being in the unknown became familiar: the modern world had never undergone anything like this. Unemployment levels skyrocketed, and so did the price of masks, gloves, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer.

Not only was the world going crazy getting used to this new

lifestyle, but so was I. When the pandemic first broke out, I was basically forced to stay confined in my house. I was not allowed to see my best friends, to hug my cousins, or to kiss my grandparents. Hearing that someone was infected with the coronavirus was one of the craziest things ever. The pandemic took a toll on my emotions. I didn’t like the thought of being controlled by what other people were saying, what other people were demanding me to do. I wanted to have the power to do what I wanted to be able to hangout with my friends and not have to stand 6 feet apart from them. The pandemic was a strange time, and the lack of control I had over my own life was hard to deal with and even understand. One feeling that really stuck with me was this feeling of being alone. Yes, I was with my immediate family, but that was it. I’d lost the feeling of socializing — something that is truly vital to one’s mental health and directly correlates to happiness. Being stuck inside a house and only being allowed to leave for walks was hard. I remember begging my parents to let me hangout with my friends. I pleaded, “I’ll stay 6 feet away!” but it didn’t work. The COVID-19 pandemic literally had us confined into our houses. It was as if we were in jail. As the year progressed, mandates slowly lifted, and I was finally able to get out of the house and see my friends, finally able to spend time with my extended family. However, it still wasn’t like it was before the pandemic. Schools were still administered for zoom, people weren’t able to go on planes for vacation, and the fist bump was the new hug and handshake. The summer of 2020 was weird — everyone stayed in Great Neck as opposed to going away. This could be a silver lining of the situation — it was a

bonding experience for me and my friends. But still, COVID robbed us of the experiences we would have had going away: plans to go to Israel were canceled. A virus, something intangible, was stopping us from living our lives the Hajibay 3 way we wanted to. It was hard to comprehend this idea, but overtime, I was able to get used to the “new lifestyle” before me.

As sophomore year approached us, we were still in uncharted territory. School was split into two days, so I didn’t even go to school on the same day as all of my friends. I learned remotely for half the year needing to adapt to a completely new teaching style and learning experience. Though I’d somewhat gotten used to the groove of this new schooling environment, I was relieved to hear that we were all able to go back in person together at the end of the year. While there were still restrictions in place, keeping us 6 feet apart from each other, I was happy to finally be back with everyone; to finally be united and have some sense of normalcy reinstated.

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From that point until now, restrictions have been slowly decreasing, and I can finally feel like the COVID pandemic is a thing of the past. While some people still get infected with it, the symptoms are just like the common cold, so it’s not a big deal. I’m very happy that my senior year hasn’t been very negatively impacted by the pandemic. I’ve been able to go to Poland and Israel, and get the experiences that I’ve been looking forward to since the start of freshman year. I love being back in school with my entire grade, and we finally feel like a true family. Although I’m very upset that the majority of my high school experience has been affected by the ups and downs of the virus, I am happy that high school can end on a positive note with no feeling of

being controlled by a virus, but rather being able to have power over the way I want my year to go. COVID completely changed the world, but I am fortunate to be able to hangout with my friends whenever I want, to be able to hug my extended family members, and to go to school in person with everyone. My experience in the pandemic had its ups and downs, but coming out of it, I learned to truly appreciate all the small things in life that I may have once taken for granted.

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5. MY EXPERIENCE...

High school, the most exciting time of our lives! It was the first day of freshman year that I finally made friends who truly want to be with me. Classes were going pretty well and people were being super nice. Everyone thought about having fun, but no one ever truly appreciated their lives. At the time, I thought living life is going out every night, parties etc. It was all about what I will wear tomorrow or what she said about me. It was never about how grateful we are to be alive. Going into high school, I was pretty young, only 13 years old. My life was so chill until one night, I closed my eyes to go to sleep only to wake up, get dressed and find out school was shut down. Sometimes people don't live their lives to the fullest until something hits them so hard, they cannot see life how they saw it before ever again.

”School will be held on zoom until further notice”. That notice was not until a whole year later. One would think that after making so many friends and being in various friend groups they would never lose their group. Well, being on zoom made us so distanced from one another because we always just felt so tired. It was like the same day playing over and over again. We hadn't realized how valuable life was until this event occurred.

Once I became a sophomore, things really started to change. Everyone's lives were on their phones because we did not interact with each other in person. Once we came back from the summer after freshman year, we had a one day zoom and the other day in-person classes. This really made us so distanced from each other. I would say that my

sophomore year was one of the most difficult years of my life. I went through so many things at home, I lost so many family members due to covid, I lost mostly all of my friends and there was a false rumor being spread around about me. All of this really put me down in the worst way possible. My teachers put me down that year by telling me I was not studying enough or I was not trying hard enough. Oh boy, was I trying.

At least, I thought I was trying. The problem was that I was trying for the wrong things in life. I lost someone super close to me that year. August 2, 2020 was the day that I lost one of my best friends. We grew up together, we did everything together, we even dated at a certain point. Unfortunately, Covid-19 took his life. I had so much on my chest because we were friends from a very young age. I see how this is a feeling that people had in the Holocaust because he did not deserve to die. He deserved to see the world, to experience new things and this one thing took his life. It took the best of him; he was once the best part of me. He made me a better person. When he passed, it felt like a part of me drifted. A part of me that I hope to get back, but in reality I do not know if I ever will. This was a main reason that school was really hard for me, because my focus was on something else.

Junior year! Well, some might say this was the worst year of their high school lives, but for me it was completely different. I actually started to work on myself, I gave myself no breaks, but it was worth it. This year was truly incredible because I found my happy places, which are the gym and writing. I worked so hard that my focus was completely on school. I realized that by thinking about the past all the time, I will never reach the future. I took school really seriously. I would be on Mrs. Wecksell's Zoom every night, I would do my work a whole week in advance. Overall, I

really stepped up my game. I told myself that I could have my moments to feel sad because of the loss, but those moments were limited to 5 minutes. My friends were kind of there for me. The false rumor was still going around, but I tried to stay out as much as I possibly could.

Junior year was the year I hustled, and I loved it. Even though it was stressful at times (most of the time), I still appreciated every part of it. Independence is a major thing people crave. Being independent is just such an accomplishment, well at least for me. It took me a really long time, about three years, to try and figure myself out.

Finally, senior year came. Yes, now I do not have my best friend with me even though I know he is always watching, and yes, I lost most of my friends at school because of the covid pandemic and the fact that we did not communicate with each other for over a year. But quite frankly, it doesn't matter. Senior year has been a hustle as well, at least the beginning. Now, I am just trying to breathe. Sometimes being too independent and closed off is not such a great thing because you tend to lose a lot of people, but the real ones stick with you. Senior year is definitely the most difficult year with friendships, but that's ok. Although the past 4 years have been a rollercoaster, I still think that I have become the best version of myself that I have been in a while. I guess I have become home mature and understanding. Covid definitely had a major impact on my life, but at least I can write about it and share my experience. If there is anything that Covid has taught us, it is to appreciate life.

6. MY EXPERIENCE...

Before the Covid epidemic I was a different person. I was the type of person who did all of their homework assignments two weeks in advance, who didn’t speak at all, and didn’t know her self-worth yet. I had never gone through any losses, and hadn't known how to separate work and fun.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I treated online school like regular school. I would get up at 7 am, get ready, eat breakfast, and compile all of the codes for Zoom on a Google Doc so everything could run smoothly. I wrote down all my notes, participated in every class. I gave everything and everyone 110%. Then, once I realized that there were no tests and you could receive participation points for just going on the Zoom, instead of writing down notes I would just take pictures of them on my computer. Viable information I soon learned was that when you’re on mute, the teacher has no idea what you’re doing. I was “corrupted” in a sense when I learned how to take the easy way out of school. I spent my days pretending to pay attention to the teacher when in reality I was either talking to one of my friends, or watching Netflix. When the teacher would call on me, I would either ask one of my friends for help, or pretend my computer was glitching so the teacher would have to repeat the question.

The only class I genuinely enjoyed going to and participating in was English. We were learning about, and interpreting poetry. I would participate all the time, and come up with all these

different types of analysis. I have gotten better with my negligence, however ever since I got Covid for the first time it has also affected how I work, and operate. I have become exhausted, and my head feels foggy all the time. It’s hard to concentrate, and I don’t grasp things as efficiently.

During freshman year I had befriended a few people. During the epidemic I had an excuse to not speak to anyone I didn’t want to. I never realized how many people I had just entertained because I had to. The pandemic helped me narrow down the people that I wanted to surround myself with. I became very close with a select few people. I would call and text them all the time. This group of friends that I had made during this time, I later realized, didn’t truly have my best interests at heart when we got back to school. I had made them my priority and didn’t really branch out as much because I wanted to make sure I gave them all my attention. That was how I felt I needed to behave so that they would stay friends with me. It took me two years to realize how abnormal that truly is in a friendship. During these past few years I have developed a new outlook on a few things. One of them on how I want my friendships to be. I have spent far too much time dealing with people who treat me less than I deserve. I realized that I shouldn’t have to pray for my friends to talk to me, or pretend to be in a good mood so that they won’t ignore me. That it’s okay to just want to have a nice conversation with someone, and not be hyper all the time. Most importantly, to not feel judged on everything I say or do. I realized that just last year, and I decided to start over because it’s never too late to be happy.

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It was hard at first; I was alone a lot. I had lunch everyday in the

art room. The first time I realized that none of my “friends” cared that I wasn’t there I truly started to move on. I realized that it was better to be alone than be with people who make you feel that way. I also started to like being by myself. I didn’t feel any pressure to impress anyone, I got comfortable with who I was, and now I actually like who I am. I like my personality, I like how I’m not afraid anymore to let someone know when I’m upset, and I love that I hug my friends in the morning, and they appreciate it. I love how I have learned to balance how to put myself first without being selfish. My outlook on this whole situation is now completely different than how it was initially, because now I’m grateful for these experiences; without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.

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Lastly, I went through some losses in my family. I had never lost anyone before this pandemic. I lost my grandmother and my uncle. My grandmother died due to Corona in late December of last year. It was very sudden and hard on my mother. It was also hard for me because my whole family had gotten Corona during this time as well. It was very scary getting Corona again after my Grandmother's passing. During this time I also realized which of my friends cared for me, and who didn’t care at all. I had friends checking in on me almost every day, and some who didn’t even write to me once. It was a sad but eye-opening experience. My uncle died in late March because of cancer. This was especially hard for me because my uncle was one of my favorite people. He knew how to make everyone laugh, and his presence in the room made everything feel lighter. My favorite family tradition is going to my aunt and uncle’s house for Thanksgiving, and now he won’t be there. Covid stripped me of my last chances of hugging him, and laughing with him. I will never fully get over his

death. He meant so much to me and now I will never be able to see him again, or have another conversation with him. I will never forgive Corona for taking that away from me.

I remember the first time I went to their house after he was gone. The house was full of family members, but it felt so empty. It immediately felt different walking in. He wasn’t there to hug me while wearing his pajama set, and I didn’t smell his cologne anywhere. I didn’t know how to act, I just wanted to cry and leave. I will never forget that feeling. It will never be the same without him. I just wish I got to see him, or at least talk to him one last time to tell him how much he meant to me. The only positive outcome that I can think of was that I got closer to my aunt, and now I get to see her more often. This pandemic has given me, and taken a lot of things away from me. However, looking back now, I think I am a much stronger person mentally. I am proud of myself for who I am, and I wouldn’t change these experiences, and periods of growth for anything. I am lucky to have, and be where I am now. I have a new outlook on life that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

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7. MY EXPERIENCE...

What clothes was I gonna wear to school tomorrow? What did I want for lunch? Did I have any weekend plans? PreCovid, these are what my freshman mind would think about. I had just entered a new school and my life was changing so fast. I loved the freedom high school offered me and the new and interesting people I was meeting. I went to school in Queens all my life, so people in my community were strangers to me. Making friends with people who lived close to me was refreshing. I immediately joined any club or sport that I saw a sign-up sheet for. I wanted to try everything and anything. High school was everything I hoped for, until it wasn't.

Everyone knows that feeling when you wake up in the morning and you see snow outside so you quickly grab your phone hoping to find an email from Dr. Vitow with the title “School Canceled Today”. Essentially, that is what the Covid break felt like. School began to heat up with work because finals were around the corner, so when I got the email with the title “School Closed Until Further Notice” I was happy to have a break before finals hit. One week off turned into three and we began online learning. My mom was telling me I was no longer allowed to hang out with my friends until this whole Covid thing cools down. Next thing I know I'm finishing my freshman year on a laptop screen isolated in my room from everyone outside. I was living my worst nightmare.

The summer felt like a fever dream; my life no longer felt like my life anymore. I rarely saw my friends and when I did, it would have to be outside at the proper distance. My

mom began buying boxes of masks, hand sanitizers, gloves, Clorox wipes, and anything else that she could get her hands on. I thought she was overreacting and that by the start of next year, Covid would slowly fade away. I missed going to the movies and shopping with friends. However, I will not deny that I didn't completely hate my Covid experience. My family decided that since we were all at home, a family dinner was something we should do every night. It became something I was excited about every day. My mom began making stupidly big dinners with an array of different foods. I used my free time to build on my hobbies. I would sit in my room with my favorite show playing on my laptop and I would just paint. I felt peaceful in this space that I created for myself and I think my space is what saved my mind from all the craziness that was outside.

When sophomore year came around, there was talk that our class would be split into two groups. The first group would come to school Monday and Wednesday and the second group would come on Tuesday and Thursday. I prayed that I was in the same group as some of my friends. I felt weird walking into the school that I hadn't seen since the middle of Freshman year and it felt even weirder having to do it with a mask on my face. Work was challenging due to hybrid learning because I didn't feel like I was able to learn at home. Sitting in my bed listening to Mr. Wyke’s voice at 9 in the morning made me want to turn off my screen and pull the covers over my head. I did begin to adjust and learning from home became much easier over time. Covid restrictions were getting the slightest bit better midway through the year. Covid was still very present but not as strict as it was initially. Malls were open to me and my friends and movies with mask restrictions were now available. I felt the smallest bit of normal seep back into my life.

Summer going into Junior year was a lot better than my

previous summer. I was able to do all of the usual things I would do in the summer as long as I followed the proper Covid protocols. I got a job at a pharmacy working three times a week. I mastered a balance between leisure and work. When school started, I felt more optimistic. My whole grade was able to go to school together and I was able to go to school in person every day. I was able to meet all of my teachers in person and zoom was only used if we were in contact with anyone who had Covid. I was able to focus on what I was going to do for college and do my best work in school.

Junior year was very challenging school-wise and Covid no longer felt like a worry. I finished Junior year on a high, Covid was something of the past, and I knew that senior year was gonna be great. Summer going into senior year was the best summer I’ve ever had. I decided that this summer was gonna make up for all the summers that Covid ruined. I got a job as a lifeguard, interned at an eye doctor's office, and worked at a basketball camp for a week. I went out every day with friends and I made sure I soaked up every minute of my summer. I was so excited when school was starting because everything just felt so normal. I'm so thankful that I get to enjoy my senior year free of Covid restrictions.

8. MY EXPERIENCE...

There I was standing at the top of the key on the basketball court. I was debating if I should attempt to shoot the three pointer or pass the ball to one of my friends. It would have been the last point of the game, and I decided to shoot. I scored. I went to take a sip of water, and that is when I checked my phone. I'd received a worrisome text message from my mother; she mentioned the coronavirus. I thought she was overreacting. I had never heard of it before, and I thought it would be similar to a fleeting and meaningless flu. At first, I made jokes about it, and I laughed at memes I saw on social media. No confirmed cases had reached the states yet, and foolishly I thought they never would. I could never have foreseen what was to come.

“

Shortly after, school was canceled close to Passover break. All I thought was, “This is awesome, no school.” Little did I know, life as I knew it, was about to undergo a drastic change. Lock down began, two weeks became two months, seasons changed, and I felt stuck. I remember going into the city one random day in June. I associated it with what I imagine an apocalypse would feel like. The streets were empty, there was a single car driving up third avenue, and there was not one person walking on the sidewalk. New York City, the city that never sleeps, was dead. At that moment I realized, we would never go back to the normal we knew pre-pandemic.

I was meeting a friend I have not seen for months. We planned

to get some pizza, and throw around a football somewhere. It was weird spending time with someone in person again. It was almost as if I forgot how to speak out loud. I spent so much time behind screens, that meeting someone, even a close friend, felt uncomfortable. After five minutes, though, everything was as it used to be. Then, I felt relief and hope, and thought that at least my friends would remain a constant.

As summer continued, so did the restrictions. Masks became mandatory, and everyone became faceless. Stores, theaters, and most restaurants remained closed. Being outside became tiresome. I was trapped at home most days, and that created tension with my family. I remember being in the living room watching TV, my siblings joined and wanted to watch something else. We couldn’t agree on anything, and this disagreement escalated into a battle. At first my family was strict: we adhered to the lockdown rules. We simultaneously learned what the virus was, and how we would combat it. Eventually, my parents became more lenient. My friends and I would meet up at Benny’s Pizza. There were some weeks we even went more than once. Before basketball season started, we would wonder how the games would be played. When the NBA announced the teams would be isolated for the whole season, I was confused. The players would not be able to see their families, stadiums could not have fans, and they were to be tested before almost every game. At some point, almost whole teams would have to quarantine. At times, I wondered why playing the sport was worth all this hassle. This made me grateful, because at least I had the option to be with my friends and family.

“

The school year was about to begin. Sophomore year was hybrid. Half of the days were online, and the other days were in

“

school with masks. The class was split in two, and we were designated A days and B days. Here, the class would alternate their in-school attendance. I was looking forward to being in class again. However, it was very strange having to wear masks all day. Eventually, it became the standard, and I didn’t even think twice about it. The days online were especially grueling for me. Staring at tiny boxes on zoom for 8 hours a day was difficult. I did not want to focus on class, and staying engaged in these lectures grew increasingly arduous as time went on. I can admit that I often found myself doing other things in class, yet it did not really matter. I did the work I had to do, and Netflix could casually be playing in the background. With honesty, getting to press the “leave meeting” button was the highlight of my day. I would be counting down the minutes to be able to finally get out of my chair and stretch my numb legs. Eventually, the vaccine was released. It served as a symbol for this pandemic almost being over. I was hesitant about getting it at first. I learned that vaccines usually take years to be cleared by the FDA, and then even longer for them to then be released to the public. I was both skeptical and impressed with how quickly it came to market. It was funny to see how many conspiracy theories began due to the distribution of the vaccine. The best conspiracy I heard is that tracking chips were placed inside them. I don't even know what purpose that would serve. I compared Covid-19 to what I learned about the black plague in European History. Even though we have not experienced a global pandemic in hundreds of years, I expected society to be better equipped. I thought that modern science and technology, a tremendous difference society has had since the middle ages, would have awarded us with the possibility of avoiding this

situation entirely. In retrospect, a lot has happened over the past three years. The pandemic made the world re-evaluate a lot. The financial market crashed, supply chains were disturbed, wars ensued, businesses went into bankruptcy, movements began, presidents switched, inflation rose, and so much more. It was a bizarre high school experience to have, yet I do not think I would change anything. I learned a lot about the world, I grew closer with my friends, and I am very grateful for my circumstances. Many people experienced losses and deaths due to Covid-19, and I am very appreciative I was not directly impacted by that. Ultimately, I look forward to finishing high school and navigating life after a pandemic.

“

9. MY EXPERIENCE...

I went into high school with a burning passion to do well and get into my dream school. My everyday life was simple. I would go to school, come home, study, and on weekends I would hang out with my friends. Little did I know my simple life would take a turn. Every time I would get sick, I would just stay home for a day until I got better and it was no big deal. I would hug my friends and hang out with them all the time with no worries about spreading germs. Now, a simple activity like hanging out with my friends always raises a hundred questions in my mind. Is it worth the risk? Where have they been recently? Are there more than three people going? The life I knew was changing in ways that I never thought would be possible.

It seems like only yesterday that everything started. In the very beginning of lockdown, I was just eager to have a break from school. Zoom... the first few weeks were amazing. I only desired a break from the demanding work I had been receiving for months prior. To wake up later every day, have no tests and barely any homework was all I could ask for. The first few weeks of Zoom school, I did my best to concentrate during the Zoom classes and put away my phone. However, over time I progressively lost interest and stopped paying attention and taking notes. I lacked the drive to perform well in school, and over time, even my ambition to get into my ideal college failed to spur me on.

Waking up late, spending my classes in my bed, and not looking up from my phone during classes started to get repetitive. Staying home every day and not seeing my friends turned into a challenge for me. All the cons of online school started to outweigh the pros. I decided that I

could not live the same day over and over; I needed to pick up a few hobbies. Since going to the mall, movies, hanging out with friends, and going to restaurants were no longer allowed, I needed to find other ways to keep myself busy.

I began sewing, cooking, making jewelry, and knitting. I bought a ton of beads, necklace chains, and jewels and I would sit on my bedroom floor making jewelry for hours. I also developed a reading obsession. I used to read constantly, but then school started getting hectic, so I stopped. Even though I couldn't go to the library and pick up books, I would order them on Amazon and go to my brother's room to find as many interesting books as I could. Instead of reading books that I was assigned for school, I started to read books I actually enjoyed and I am really happy I did. I developed a new appreciation and love for reading. The jewelry-making hasn't stuck with me, but the reading has. I read almost every new book every Shabbat. Reading used to be a resentful activity for me but now it is something I really do appreciate. I can thank Covid-19 for that.

However, nothing stuck with me as much as my interest in fashion. I've always loved to shop and order new clothes online. Going to the mall was not possible anymore and shopping online was just getting old. One day, I was in my basement and found huge boxes of clothes. I started to look through them and my mom told me that these were her old clothes from the 90’s. I instantly fell in love with all these clothing pieces from so long ago. The different styles and designs used back in the 90s really caught my eye. I went back upstairs with a whole new wardrobe and tried everything on. There were many pieces that I felt needed a little bit of re-shaping, so I grabbed scissors and began to make them my own. I really loved the results and just began to cut and re-adjust more pieces. A week into this new obsession, I came up with an idea to sketch and draw

some of the new pieces I'd made, and that's what I did, I got some loose-leaf paper and just began to sketch my fashion ideas. This is really where it all began. I didn't know that I was actually not bad at art. My brother came to my room and just saw a pile of lined paper filled with all my drawings, so instead of using sheets of paper he bought me a sketching book to use. Now that sketchbook is almost filled up with all my fashion designs. My love for fashion hasn't faded away; it is now a new passion of mine.

My sister and I also decided to start our fitness journey during quarantine. I went from drinking one cup of water a day to drinking three liters of water. Not drinking water was a big problem that I always had. During school, I simply never got thirsty, even if I bought a water bottle with me to school, I would never drink from it. I also would never work out. I wouldn't necessarily call myself fat, but I was out of shape. Every day, my sister and I would do Chloe Ting's ab and leg workouts, and sometimes I would also walk on the treadmill. It was a good and healthy routine I started to build. Over a few weeks, I began seeing the results in my body. My skin started to get more clear from drinking water and my abs and legs began to get more toned. Since my sister and I were on the fitness journey together, it was much easier. I was very proud of myself for really sticking through it and following up with it every day.

After 6 months of no school, we finally returned in September 2020. However, it wasn't a complete back-toschool routine yet. We were split by last time on A and B days, meaning based on your last name you would come to school every other day. This was not something I was happy about because half my friends were on a different day than me. I was happy to be back to school, but it still did not feel right. The days that I would go to school though were always great days. I still had a lot of my

friends with me, and I did enjoy learning in person again. The days that we were home were fine because it was not every day; it actually was a nice break. I really just missed my friends and sitting with them at a normal lunch table laughing together. There were so many changes coming back to school, one being that there were no more lunch tables. We had to sit at school desks in the lunchroom to eat in order to maintain social distancing. It was weird, but it was better than nothing. We also had to wear masks every day, which did not bother me so much but sometimes it was really just hard to breathe. Wearing a mask for 8 hours a day really is a lot, but I was never one of those people who couldn't stand not wearing a mask.

The following year we returned to school on a normal, everyday schedule and things started to get back to normal. Thankfully, now, we are still back in school and no longer under zoom conditions. Overall, I bealive I grew in so many ways and learned so much about myself during this time. Although at times the quarantine was tough and boring, it was a nice break from reality to focus on myself.

10. MY EXPERIENCE...

Dating back to the times my parents were born, there has never been a virus that has affected so many people so immensely. The corona virus had spread to the US in the middle of my 9th grade year, which ultimately made everything go downhill from there. Before the pandemic, life, in retrospect, felt simple and for the most part, normal. I would eat in public, go on vacations with my family and even shake hands with other people. Months before Covid hit the US, everyone was hearing things about this virus that was infecting Asia, but no one felt scared. Until one day, everyone started getting emails that school has closed and they’ll be notified when they are reopening. The first thought in my head was, “Wow, this is the best day of my life. I don't have to go to school because people are getting a cold? Sick!” But now, looking back, COVID-19 has affected almost every aspect of my life. Things like my daily routine, my dreams, social interactions, religious facets, and athletic life were all put to a halt in as quick as a snap.

Early in the lockdown, I would wake up excited to leave the house and have an action-packed day just to realize I had to sit at a desk all day looking at a computer. It came to a point where I would wake up earlier than classes started just to get outside and get some fresh air. My life felt repetitive doing the same thing over and over; at least before the pandemic, I would be able to move around between places. Something about being in the same house all day didn’t agree with me and I’m sure many

other people as well. Without having a daily routine, everything felt bland and sometimes I wouldn’t be able to remember so well what happened days before because there was no structure to my day. I started to become lazy and hated weekdays and subsequently would start falling asleep in classes just to get them over with quicker. Overall, the lockdown made it harder to live day by day in general, especially with online classes.

Another major thing that Covid had affected was my spirituality. Before the Pandemic, I would go every morning with my father to synagogue before school. He was obligated to go because my grandmother had passed away recently at the time and he encouraged me to join, and honestly, I started to enjoy it. This all stopped when the lockdown was implemented and we weren’t allowed to go to Synagogue anymore. It was hard to adjust to praying at home with just my father, when I was used to a whole ordeal with a minyan in a huge shul. As a result, my father decided to form a minyan right in our living room with a few of our neighbors to cheer me up and that genuinely made my days better. This single handedly made me more religious and taught me to appreciate my religion more. The pandemic may have altered my life in a huge way, but little things like that went a long way.

“

I grew up being an athlete, competing in sports like basketball, surfing, skiing, soccer, hockey and more. Doing any type of exercise was my type of freedom and for that to be taken away in an instant was detrimental to my life. I was on multiple sports teams in and out of school before the Pandemic, but as soon as it hit, it was like sports didn’t exist. I needed that energetic freedom to get through my day and because I didn’t have any of

that I had to improvise. I implemented running and workouts into my everyday life just to feel better about sitting in my house 24/7. I built a pull-up bar and set a goal to hit a certain number of pullups everyday just to feel productive. It was difficult to stay active during a time you're not allowed to leave your house, but thankfully I was able to devise a plan to stay fit and healthy.

Another thing that affected my life negatively during the pandemic was not having social interactions daily. Without school and without seeing my friends everyday I felt like life was so boring. Waking up everyday to do the same things and see the same things became dreadful and my own home started to feel like jail. As the pandemic went on, I was in need of a different scenery, so I would go to a different relatives house everyday to do online class just to sit in a different setting. This helped a lot not only with scenery but social problems as well. I learned a lot about my family’s heritage and where I came from, which in turn made me appreciative of the pandemic in a way. It gave me time to spend with family that I never had before and really showed me how much everyone struggles with similar things. Even though I may have not been able to spend time with friends, I was able to use that time to spend with family.

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The thing that affected me the most during the lockdown was online classes. Day in and day out I would be on a screen for 8 hours just to realize at the end of it all that I learned absolutely nothing. All I got out of online classes was a lack of motivation, back pain, and glasses. It was simply too hard to wake up and 20 seconds later, open my computer to math class and somehow not fall asleep before the period started. By the time I started to feel energized during the day, it was impossible to focus on my

teacher through a screen for more than a minute. School started to feel pointless online and I started to stop attending classes. My grades plummeted and so did my motivation. Fortunately, full online classes were only a half a year for me and as we started to get back into the groove of regular school in the beginning of 10th grade, I started to learn better and get better grades. This pandemic has been happening for the majority of my high school years, and has had its ups and downs, but I think we could learn many things from this whole surreal experience. One thing that stands out to me though is that it is easy to form bad habits but hard to get rid of them.

“

11. MY EXPERIENCE...

December 31st, 2019 “SARS-CoV-2” or what we know as the coronavirus was discovered in Wuhan, China. At the time no one knew how much it would change and shape the modern world. Until early 2020, people shrugged it off as another cold or flu-type disease, which it was until March 2020. March 11, 2020, Covid-19 had affected 114 different countries causing over 4,000 deaths. On March 15th, 2020, the United States of America declared a national lockdown, shutting down schools, transportation, and businesses. While schools were closed, students like me had to attend virtual classes using Zoom.

In Spring 2020, back when we were all just confused Freshmen in the midst of a pandemic, we didn’t understand. Personally, I can’t describe the fear of others, however for me at least, I was scared but only really scared of the unknown. Many people were being sent to hospitals and the first covid related news broadcast I saw was the situation of Trump ordering ventilators to be shipped to hospitals. This was scary for many reasons, the president of the US ordering ventilators to be sent to hospitals while they were taken. I personally spent the summer in a new house my parents bought prior to the pandemic. It was a crazy start to a pandemic that would affect us for over two years.

By November 2020, most schools were held online. I can't remember if the school was open or closed for September, but I do remember the world being slightly adjusted to being at home for a period of time. I had just finished working my summer job and I believe I had started 10th

grade. School wasn’t really a top priority for me personally with everything else going on. The world was adjusted to digital learning which was a good and bad thing. Digital learning for me personally has never really been the best. Being on Zoom didn’t provide me with any form of knowledge. No kid at home would sit and listen to a Zoom call. Personally, for me at least, I spent most of my time not paying attention as it was 10 times harder being at home than being at school. Sometimes I would try to pay attention but lose interest halfway through. Most people would probably judge me for not trying so hard online, but it just wasn’t compatible with my preferred form of learning. Looking back, I missed out on a lot. I wish I would've paid more attention to everything; if I could go back and change I would, but life doesn't work like that. I honestly threw away most of my learning experience because of this pandemic. It hurts a lot in retrospect, but again time travel doesn't exist so I have to learn to live with my mistakes and learn from them.

Honestly, the last two years have felt like a never-ending black hole that I’m just starting to see the light of. I’ve never been that studious and that is a fact I’ve been ready to face for some time now. This pandemic has sent my life as well as others into a never-ending void. Mental health for most people to say the least has declined in some way. Humans biologically are social creatures. This pandemic took that aspect of human life away. Even now, some people are just starting to come back out of their shells. I wasn't ever really social and, to be frank, during the pandemic I was in a really dark place; a lot of people were.

Personally, the lowest point was when I stopped talking to my friends and stopped going to school because I lost all motivation to even get out of bed in the morning. I felt lost, I felt like the world hated me, and most of all I just wanted everything to be over. Talking to anyone was out of

the question; I felt as if my friends wouldn’t understand what I was going through. I felt like anyone I went to with my problems, that it would just be a burden to them so I didn’t talk to anyone about it. I can truly say I wouldn’t wish for my worst enemy to be in the mindset I was in.

But realistically speaking, I’m still here and I still have a life and I couldn’t stand letting time tick away with me wallowing in my own despair and sadness. Keep in mind I live a relatively good life, so I have no reason to be depressed. It's kind of random. But I guess two years of basic isolation of both social and mental health is enough to make people lose themselves. Over the course of the pandemic, the “ yay no school” act dropped after a week and turned into “when will I see my friends again” or “when will I be a normal kid again”. I personally think I, like many others, took the pandemic very badly. For the most part the pandemic halted all of our lives for two whole years, but now we ’ re at the end of it. I’m slowly coming out of my shell and beginning to see a brighter outlook on life. Now, I’m wondering what the next day holds instead of why the previous day always seemed better. All people have their burdens, but this was a burden the entire world shared. I’m excited to say most of us made it through.

Currently, I’m trying to rebuild my life. I still have no idea what I wanna do with my life but I’ve started to put more of an effort into school so I’m happy about that. I’ve also started hanging out with my friends. They mean a lot to me and I'm happy for every single one of them. I can’t wait to see what life has to offer me. If anyone else had similar struggles, I’d tell them to live in the moment and to stop worrying about everything

12. MY EXPERIENCE...

On March 10th, 2020, my father and uncles hosted a large gathering of people from our community to spend Purim together in their work office. It is customary. Annually, our family reads the Megillah during the holiday to complete the mitzvah and we ask anyone with free time to join us as we celebrate. The thought of any attendees testing positive with COVID-19 (a brand-new virus) was not something we'd ever expect; however, it became true 24 hours after the gathering. Those attendees happened to travel to a location where the virus was prevalent before the event, but they still joined us, placing the rest of us in danger, especially my 86-year-old grandfather. My grandfather, generally referred to as my Baba, was a busy man who was always prepared to work. My Baba informed my grandma and children the day following the Purim celebration that he wasn't doing well, which is highly unusual for him since he never gets sick. He didn't even inform his wife when he was feeling unwell occasionally. Another remarkable quality of my Baba was that, up until March 11th and 12th, never once had he skipped a day of work. As the time passed, my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles all became more tense and worried.

My school was closed on March 13, 2020, due to COVID-19, until further notice. Life felt different. It was Friday night and my parents weren't home yet. Shabbat was approaching. Given the level of how religious my family usually is for Shabbats, this was highly unexpected. I didn't give it much thought when my

siblings and I decided to eat our Shabbat meal without my parents. My brothers ignored my question about where my parents were and continued acting routinely. Later that night, I noticed my parents turn into the garage. My father gave us a cheerless face and there were tears rolling down his face when he then told us that “Baba went to Hashem.” There was no instant as unforgettable as this was. My stomach dropped as well as my heart. Both my siblings and I had never experienced this kind of suffering in our lives. Baba was the first member of my family to leave this world, despite being in excellent health, serving as essentially the greatest and biggest inspiration for 20 grandkids to look up to. It came way too suddenly and too quick. This was how my COVID-19 lockdown experience unfortunately had to begin.

“

Since I have always been a very diligent student, the thought of not completing any classwork for school, even though it was all online, was certainly something that did not make me feel so accomplished. Although I knew I had to, I despised having to join my online classes simply to act like my life was back to normal. Nevertheless, as if the news of my grandfather’s passing wasn’t enough, it got to the point where the investigation for the cause of his death emerged. All of my worried relatives, completely clueless to the reason of his death, all suspected a slight possibility of COVID-19 being the sudden cause. The amount of anxiety that immediately formed from this single thought was through the roof. We knew that if my grandfather had tested positive for COVID-19, that would put my grandmother at risk as well. This traumatic moment had all of us at the edge of our seats because we couldn’t have possibly dealt with the pain of losing another grandparent. It then came to our attention that

my Baba did, in fact, test positive for the virus. This terrible news brought my entire family to pray our absolute hardest, with the hopes of my grandmother staying completely healthy, which essentially came true since her COVID results tested negative! Although we did face several obstacles, this journey only united our family, making us closer than ever.

Learning online in my freshman year was certainly not the best way we could’ve learnt in our classes. No student, including myself, was enthusiastic about completing any of their assignments while learning on Zoom. For the most part, everyone took this and decided to completely lay back and do whatever they wished to do. From my perspective, you’d be used to all the late-night talking with friends, naps during classes, and so much more. Even though I was definitely never once a student to be like this in the past, the lockdown seemed to have an effect on everyone, and no one wanted to take this moment for granted. Every assignment that was given was ignored or copied, whether it was from the internet or other students. For every holiday, nobody was able to go to synagogues since every place was shut down. This led to numerous synagogues being held in the backyards of different people in my community. People left their door open to anyone that wanted to attend their “minyan” to pray, one of which was my grandma, the spouse of Baba. My father and his brothers decided to host their very own synagogue in the backyard of the house they grew up in to honor Baba by naming the minyan “Shaare Yonatan”

” “

(Yonatan’s Synagogue - Yonatan was Baba’s name).

There was nothing I was more grateful for in the moment when we were told that we’d be going back to school for my

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sophomore year of high school. As soon as I became aware of this incredible news, I immediately knew that this year would be better than the last. Despite the fact that we were only able to go in twice a week, I truthfully enjoyed it. I had time to relax at home, being with my siblings in between classes, and I also had the opportunity to see my friends on the other days. The only part of sophomore year that was unfamiliar to me was not having any after school activities, especially sports teams to participate in. Not everything was officially open yet to everyone, but it was more that I could ask for. Finally being allowed to leave the house was something that made me appreciate life so much more that I originally did. I started to value the most minor things in life such as the outside air, the cars that drove by me, and even the random strangers that walked past me. Because of COVID-19, I started admiring life to a new extent that I never knew I was capable of.

As sophomore year came to an end, it felt like my whole life transformed. From that moment on, COVID-19 was something that barely ever crossed my mind. The summer of 2021 was the beginning of the most amazing adventure I experienced. It began with three of my siblings celebrating their birthdays, bringing lots of joyous celebrations to my family and I. The one that brought me the most happiness was my older sister getting her first car, which was also her dream car. Weeks later, all of my friends and I attended a summer day camp as camp counselors. By chance, I’d been placed as a counselor for the same grade as all my closest friends. I spent my entire summer with the people I loved most along with the most amazing and well-behaved campers. This summer was like no other and I don’t go a day without being grateful that COVID didn’t have

such a huge impact on it.

Fast forwarding to something I never knew would come so soon: my very last year of high school. So far, this year has only consisted of phenomenal experiences such as constant hang outs with friends, midnight drives in my very own car while blasting my favorite songs, visits to colleges, and so much more. I wouldn’t have ever thought life could go uphill from such a dark time. School was never something I looked forward to as an underclassman, but today, it’s the complete other way around. There is nowhere else I’d rather be than spending time surrounded by such incredible people. This adventure was so surreal and it was definitely something like no other and I am so blessed to have grown so much from it.

13. MY EXPERIENCE...

Life before COVID hit was going great for me. I enjoyed going to school every day and seeing my friends, going to classes, and participating in clubs and sports teams. North Shore during my freshman year was an amazing place. I entered the school without any friends and I made so many that I hoped would last a lifetime. No one was mean to me and no one made fun of my height. In my middle school, almost everyone was hitting their growth spurts except for me, so I was one of the shortest kids in my class. Because of this I got made fun of a lot and became very insecure about my height. I came into North Shore also one of the shortest and no one said anything about it. I felt very welcomed by the students and faculty. This school seemed perfect and I had little to no concerns about it.

I had Dr. Maxwell as my writing teacher that year, and one day she gave us an assignment to write a rant/rave and I ranted about being forced to wear a kippa during gym class. Looking back on this, I now realize that this is a very silly thing to complain about which shows how much I liked the school. Furthermore, I loved attending the Investing club and Medical Minds club. I was interested in learning about stocks and medicine at the time. One activity that highlighted my freshman year/life before COVID was being on the hockey team. This is where I met many friends and got to know a lot of people in the higher grades. We didn’t get enough players to have a junior varsity team, so everyone played varsity. The juniors and seniors on the team were very funny people and I enjoyed sharing a locker room with them. Even though I was the worst player on the team and got very little playing time, it

was still the most enjoyable sports team I’ve ever been on. I remember one time the coach played me, and my teammates started chanting my name, which was hilarious.

In the days leading up to the lockdown, the hockey team and I lost in the quarterfinals of the playoffs and I joined the soccer team for the spring season. Soccer was going well for me as we had one game before the lockdown that we ended up winning and I scored a goal. I was very excited for the season to continue as we had a very strong team and a shot to win a championship. I remember the last day before the school shutdown was a fast day. It was also the last day that I would see a bunch of my classmates who didn’t come back to North Shore. It was the last day that I would step foot into school for six months and be there without a mask for two years. It was a sad day that no one realized at the time.

The next day was Purim, so school was closed and I spent the night with my cousins. I didn’t stay too late, though, because there was school the next day. Oh, wait. I woke up at 6:30 am, which is my usual wake-up time for school, got dressed, and went downstairs. I checked my phone and saw an email that was sent by Dr. Vitow while I was sleeping that said school was shut down for the rest of the week due to someone in the school being in contact with COVID. I was very happy and annoyed at the same time that I woke up for nothing and that I thought we would get a week off of school. My fellow classmates and I had been waiting for someone to get COVID so school could shut down and we finally got our wish. We didn’t know that it would be for the rest of the year or affect our lives for the next two years.

The lockdown period from March to June was one of the best times of my life. I had more time to engage in my

hobbies and be with my family, there was no pressure to go out anywhere, and there were no parties or social gatherings. Even though a lot of people were getting sick with COVID and dying, which is horrible, it was a very peaceful time in my own life. School became very easy since it went online and sometimes was very funny. Some students would mess around during zoom classes by making funny drawings on the screen, pretending to be people they were not, and inviting their outside-of-school friends onto the zooms. This must’ve been very annoying for the teacher, but enjoyable for the student.

This lockdown period felt very relaxing because I had so much more free time. I got two extra hours of sleep and I wasn’t in school for ten hours anymore. My friends and I started talking to each other on Zoom and FaceTime, and I started to talk with my friends from my old school more. I also began using an app called Houseparty, which is a video chat service that allows you to play games while on the phone with your friends and helps you meet new people. It’s ironic that I expanded my social network even though I hadn’t been seeing anyone in person. Another significant thing that I began doing during this quarantine was working out. I had some gym equipment at home and I began learning how to use it. I fell in love with exercising and it is something that I consistently do to this day.

The summer of 2020 kicked off when I gathered with my extended family to celebrate my cousin’s birthday in June. It was the first time I had seen family other than my siblings and parents for three months. It was a nice little reunion. That summer overall was pretty boring. There was not much going on. Most summer camps were virtual and there were a lot of travel restrictions so I didn’t work anywhere and didn’t travel that much. I hung out with friends and cousins occasionally and I went on a little three-day trip with my family to Lake George. That was

basically it. As the summer progressed, I started to miss school more and more. Before walking into school on the first day of sophomore year, I was very excited to see my teachers and classmates. Once I stepped foot into North Shore, though, all I got was a depressing vibe. The lockers were taped up, everyone had to wear a mask, and only half the school was in the building. It felt like there was no one at school. It was like a ghost town.

Tenth grade was a very depressing year. Most of my learning was online, there were no sports, the school didn’t provide breakfast, clubs were boring since they were on zoom and I was separated from some of my friends. There were so many more things to complain about as opposed to ninth grade where my biggest concern was wearing a kippa in gym class. That school year felt like a blur. Looking back on it, there was really not much going on. It was just a sad time in my life.

The summer of 2021 was a great summer, however. I went on a vacation to Mexico with my family, worked with my Mom in her dental office, and hung out with my friends and cousins a lot. I also got vaccinated against COVID due to the techniques the school used to get us vaccinated. If I didn’t get vaccinated, then I would have to get tested for COVID every Friday and wouldn’t be allowed to participate in sports. I was very excited for sports to come back. which was the main reason why I was ecstatic to start my junior year of high school. On the first day of school, I was very happy to see everyone back at once even though we still had to wear those annoying masks. The year was going smoothly until the Omicron variant popped in and infected everyone, including me. I spent the very last week of 2021 in quarantine.

After that horrible winter passed, the mask mandates were finally lifted, and my life felt like it was completely back to

Currently, as a Senior, I have grown tired of being in this school until 4:40. I can barely survive after lunch. Even though I’m still on the hockey team, I think COVID has made me more lazy as a person. This corresponds to my lack of interest in clubs. During freshman year, clubs would be packed with people and now my friend had to beg me multiple times to come to a Dentistry club meeting due to a lack of participants, and I still didn’t come. COVID also caused inflation, which is probably why there are no bagels or muffins being served during breakfast anymore. There are many more complaints I now have about the school that are much larger concerns than having to wear a kippa during gym class. I catch myself reminiscing about how pre-Covid ninth grade was like almost every time I’m in school and I get severe nostalgia from it. I truly believe that Covid ruined my high school experience.