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Nothing has been quite the same

PHOTO BY AVERY HEVERLY Lauren Heverly focuses on her homework.

On March 13, I woke early to get ready for school, and endured through another long day of 45-minute classes. When I walked out the doors, I wasn’t aware that that would be my last day of junior year.

Since Central Mountain High School students, along with the rest of the world, have undergone quarantine, nothing has been quite the same. We can no longer pick up a McDonald’s cheeseburger when we’re hungry without being forced to wear a facemask and remain six feet apart from other consumers.

We can no longer ask our friends to go see a movie when we’re bored on a Friday night unless it was meant through a virtual Facetime call. We’re even forced to receive our schoolwork assignments through emails rather than tangible paper.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected every single one of us. For some, this is simply a vacation from the treacherous routine that reduces their healthy eight hours of sleep. For others, they’ve lost the moments that would’ve created memories they were looking forward to since their first day of kindergarten.

“I never thought COVID-19 was going to be this big of a deal,” junior Lauren Heverly explains. “I’ve never heard of anything like this happening, where the whole economy has been shut down, and it’s just kind of crazy to be living through this.”

With the world on lockdown, we’ve all had to find new ways to occupy our free time. “I’ve definitely been able to catch up on binging many more Netflix shows,” freshman Lanea Biggans says. “I’ve also been playing a lot more games with my family.” Sophomore Hannah Brown explains how she’s “spent way more time on Tiktok than I’d like to admit.”

Student opinions about online schooling have been controversial. Some don’t mind it and actually prefer the change, while others find it troublesome because some teachers are giving more work than they would have if they were in class.

“I think the hardest part about online school is just that it’s hard to stay motivated doing the work,” Biggans says. “It’s because school feels optional now, but we have to remember that it’s not.”

Not only has the coronavirus pandemic prevented current activities, but has also ruined many people’s future plans as well. Heverly explained how her family was planning on vacationing in California or Washington this year, but because of coronavirus, the trip has been canceled.

“Because of coronavirus, I wasn’t able to get my permit when I turned 16,” Brown says. “When this is all over, that’s the first thing I’m going to do.”

Senior Carlie Hall was devastated when her planned traditional senior year festivities were destroyed. “I was really looking forward to all the fun senior things, like senior breakfast, senior week, and ball,” Hall explains.

While COVID-19 has an everlasting list of downsides, there are some positive factors that came out of this quarantine experience. For example, during this time Lanea Biggans has grown a lot closer with her siblings and realized that she actually appreciates spending time with her family a lot more than she previously thought.

Lauren Heverly realized how much she took the normalcy of her school routine every day for granted. “I always used to complain about waking up in the morning every day, but now I just wish it would go back to normal,” she says. “I definitely learned that certain stuff we always used to feel is guaranteed, it’s not. Things can change really fast, and it’s important to appreciate these little things.”

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