By Halle Benson
Entertainment Editor
Everyone thought that 2020 was going to be THE year, but at this point in the year, it is clear that this is not the year.
With the COVID-19 quickly spreading in the United States, the government announced that everyone should begin social distancing from each other to make sure the hospitals don’t overflow with sick patients. Here in Nebraska, we have been ordered to be in groups of fewer than 10, which basically shuts down all schools in Nebraska.
In the meantime, districts all across the state have been working hard to figure out what to do for the next couple weeks in school. Millard Public Schools has been lucky enough to do online school and continue getting work done through Google Classroom. But how are other students across the United States taking social distancing and schooling?
All the way in New Hampshire, Rey Fuller is spending the end of his senior year of high school on Google Classroom. To communicate with his teachers, he mainly uses Zoom, but some of his other classes are using an app called A Capella and Clipboard. It doesn’t help that Fuller has anxiety when he’s on phone calls, so while using these apps are extremely useful, the constant phone calls on Zoom are very nerve wracking for him, he says.
“Our school wanted to lift everyone’s spirits and so we’re having a spirit week virtually, which is really interesting,” Fuller explains when talking about ways his school is trying to interact with their students from home.
Just like Fuller, Jay, a junior from New York, is also using Google Classroom to access their assignments. Their school isn’t doing group calls or assigning a ton of work for the students, which Jay says they really appreciate. It gives them a lot of time to work at their own pace and take things easy during this time.
“Lowkey this quarantine is driving me insane,” Jay says, “I’m glad to not be in school but the lack of actually being able to see and talk to my friends in person is really getting to me.”
As for Jason Dock, an eighth grader from Mississippi, his school is doing online classes and sending out packets to students who don’t have internet at their homes. Dock says doing school from home isn’t his favorite thing in the world; he gets easily distracted when trying to do homework and sometimes it takes him hours to get one assignment done.
“Really I’m just glad I don’t have to take my state tests, because the time we’re out right now is our review time for state testing,”Dock says.
Some people in the United States, like Jo Moore, don’t even know if they are going back to school this year. Moore is a junior from Oklahoma and she says she is very stressed not knowing if she will go back to school this year. With every decision her state representatives make, it always feels like she doesn’t have enough time to prepare. There still isn’t a word about online school for Moore yet, but she says it is pretty nice being off and not having to deal with school work.
“I think we’re allowed to still be pretty bummed about things missed like proms, our spring shows, and competitions,” Moore says.
No matter what the circumstance is in your state, we are in this together. Students all over the country are struggling to be home for long periods of time when they could have been practicing for their sport or going to play rehearsal if it wasn’t for the virus. Please remember to stay inside and wash your hands and hopefully we’ll get to go back to normal everyday life soon.
