It’s been a rough year, starting with fires in Australia, the loss of a major basketball star, a pandemic that shook the world, to the fires in our own state of Oregon. With these drastic changes, we’ve all had to make adjustments. The biggest adjustment is making space in our lives to accommodate our new roommate, Covid-19. 

“We’re all in this together,” a famous line that doesn’t seem to reflect our current high school lives. It’s true, we aren’t living the High School Musical experience. COVID-19 has put a stop to dancing and singing through the hallways; it’s put a stop to even walking through the halls of FGHS. At the end of the day, it can’t change the fact that we are all still Vikings, and whether it feels like it or not we ARE in this together. 

I wanted to look at how we as students are coping, so I contacted some fellow Juniors to see how online school was treating them. It’s difficult to interact with students and teachers in this new environment with connections going out and the awkwardness of unmuting. That being said, something Lucie Carriker said was her least favorite thing was “ Not getting to have side conversations with teachers,” and missing out on the gossip and drama of other social circles. Lucie isn’t alone in missing that interactive class environment, Anna Terry mentioned missing out on talking and getting to know students and teachers alike. 

We can all agree that breakout rooms can be prime moments of awkwardness and frustration. Something that multiple students are struggling with, myself included, is an unstable connection. It causes a difficult environment to communicate and creates more frustration than necessary for discussion. It’s not just the unstable connection that proves to add frustration, but having to force engagement out of unmotivated people makes it harder to remain positive yourself.

Unstable connections aren’t the only struggle found in our new online environment. Focusing and procrastination have come alive in the worst ways possible this year. Bedrooms, where creativity and sleeping used to live, have now become the places of our educational lives. Anna can attest that this has made focusing especially hard on her. It’s hard to focus on what is on the screen when you have all these different things going on in your bedroom. Lucie has also admitted to having a harder time focusing from her dining room environment. The positive Lucie has found is she is ultimately more productive in this new environment. 

As previously stated, procrastination has become a bigger problem in the lives of students. There are a lot of ways you can try to stay on top of everything. Some ways that Lucie and Anna are working on staying on top of their work are keeping a list or track of when things are due, whether this is a written list, a mental list, or having the one friend that knows when ‘ everything is due doesn’t matter. In addition, making sure to take stretch and walking breaks between classes, along with drinking plenty of water, will help you stay awake and energized throughout the day. 

Quarantine may seem just an endless amount of boredom, but it has gifted us with one of the most precious things, time. Though time would be better spent with family and friends, it’s harder to accomplish those gatherings at the current state of time. Something Anna has picked up in her spare time is painting! She said, “ It proved itself to be a stress reliever and allowed my mind to wander away from the hectic world.” Lucie has found working at the barn, helping with cleaning the horse stalls, and watching Colbert’s monologues, is her way of destressing for the day.  

Adapting has been a struggle for everyone. I wanted to know what some of the biggest adaptations us students have made this school year. Something people have to adapt to is sitting for so long without the short but needed walks between classes. In addition, the other problem we face is staring at the computer screen for a long period of time. Longer than normal at least. 

Little successes are just as important as big ones, they allow you to feel accomplished even if for a moment and that goes a long way. For Lucie one of her biggest successes is getting laughs out of people and getting them to smile. Anna’s biggest success is using her laptop more often and learning how to use it more efficiently. 

In my opinion, finding ways to cope with the stress and the overwhelming feeling 2020 has left all of us with is extremely important. I personally have found painting and tie-dying to be my destresser. Anna also has found a way to cope with partaking in her favorite activities, whether that be walking, playing the piano, or painting. Lucie instead has found ways to cope by multitasking and staying connected to friends via technology. Something else that helps is remembering that you can only change the things in your life that you have control over. Recognizing this can help you feel less like you are holding the weight of the world on your shoulders.