My students are sharing more stories as part of the global project “A Day in my Life: living under the Covid-19 Pandemic.” We hope you and your students enjoy reading them!
To see all reflections shared so far go to the Educate Magis Covid-19 page
A Day in my Life: James, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
“The Corona virus in my country (AMERICA) is spreading quickly and everyone is on lockdown unless completely necessary. It is very weird being in the house for so long and hard to keep a balance between activity and screens all day. These changes have impacted my routines because I am usually active at school and after school with sports. I have been on a screen much more that I usually was because I have school online and I play videogames more often because I don’t have very much to do other than that. The challenges that I have been having is finding ways to entertain myself other than with screens because usually I hang out with friends at public places and with other people which is not allowed anymore. Also going to parks to practice my sports was a way to entertain myself and I can’t do that anymore either.
Some gifts and graces for this pandemic is that I can be at home more and help my family with my brother who has a very rare disability and is 24/7 care. I also get to spend more time with my family and go on walks with them. I think we will get over this once we find a vaccine and the spread slows down. Our society should learn to conserve and not waste because we are low on food and drink and cleaning products. We have wasted a lot as a country and now we are forced to not waste during this lockdown. My concerns are about my family especially my 11-year-old brother because due to his rare disability he is at risk for the virus. My hopes is that we can find a vaccine and this will all boil over soon.”
A Day in my Life: Jameson, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
“In my country, we have recently been informed to go into quarantine and resist interaction with others, which is due to COVID-19 effecting much of the planet. With these changes, I have become bored almost every day, having to stay home, I used to go to a football field near me and play football, however I am no longer able to work out.
Many of the changes in the current situation are a lack of food in grocery stores, people hoarding groceries, a poor social life, people getting sick due to COVID-19, people dying, boredom, and people being out of a job due to them not being able to attend work.
The gifts and graces from the situation are people coming together and uniting, as the world is determined to end the virus and bring life back to the way we know it, individuals being able to spend more time at home with their families, and having more free time at home to get certain things done. This situation has made me feel little anxiety; however, I am remaining calm as I am sure the world as a whole will get through this together, and I feel confident in the future world as this situation is making people realize new things.
Truly, I hope the situation in the world currently will resolve soon with healthy people and life back to normal. While, people remember this period in time and take it as a lesson for them to work together and be aware the world as a whole can accomplish great things when working together.”
A Day in my Life: Jan, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, my day-to-day lifestyle has changed significantly. My life changed from being centered around my school, to being centered around staying home. I used to start each day by waking up, eating breakfast, and driving to the train station. Then, once the train arrived, I would get on and start studying for whichever test or quiz I had coming up. An hour later, once the train arrived at school, I would get off and walk to my first class. Seven hours later, after school ended, I would change clothes and go to the track for Track practice. I would always enjoy Track practice since it was a way for me to exercise and talk with friends. Once practice ended, I would go to the
Robotics Lab, and help work on our robot for a few hours. Then, after all my extracurricular activities ended, I would go to the train station and wait until my train came to take my home. Every day I would go to bed exhausted, knowing that I had a productive day.
This lifestyle not only kept me busy but also gave me freedom and taught me how to properly manage my time. Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19, my lifestyle is primarily focused around staying home and staring at my computer. Now, since all of my classes are video chats on my computer, I have to sit at my desk all day, listening to the teachers’ lessons. This outbreak also caused all of my afterschool activities to be canceled, which means I don’t get to run or work on my robot. I try to substitute these activities by running in the park or putting together puzzles with my family, but it isn’t the same. Although I appreciate the freedom of being able to lie on my couch and eat snacks during some classes, I still prefer walking from class to class and being able to talk to my friends.
All in all, this outbreak significantly impacted my daily routines since I went from having various complex activities at school to sitting at home all day. I believe that this outbreak will teach our society the importance of being prepared, and the importance of not forgetting these types of events, which could happen at any time. I also hope that our government will create laws that will help prevent outbreaks from getting to this scale in the future.”
A Day in my Life: Jasper, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
“The coronavirus in my country is exponentially spreading. Mainly found in Seattle and New York, there are many cases here in the U.S. These impacted my daily schedule by waking up about an hour later but going to bed about an hour later just because I am so accustomed to being on a screen, so I am having trouble trying to go to bed. Screen time, or online school, is quite tedious, it’s nice because I can just role out of bed and I am at school already but I miss the person to person interaction that I get every day.
The challenges are not being able to see my friends and family. I’m just stuck in my room, even going outside, my mom is scared to just go on a walk. The many gifts that are brought with the corona virus is the larger amount of family time. Also, I am able to work out in my room, but I also look forward to just the time to relax. I feel that everything happens for a reason, even though it might seem scary right now, I know that there will be something good for us at the end, or the good thing is happening right now, we just don’t know.
I think that our society needs to savor the time we have before its all gone. We never know what the future holds for us, what if we will never see our family or friends ever again, or what if this is just a minor setback for a major comeback, we just don’t know. My concerns are my family right now, they work for and with the people, being exposed make me scared, if they will contract it. But my hopes right now are that people follow the steps provided by their respective cities and everything will get better with time.”
A Day in my Life: Joey, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
“In my country coronavirus is the most severe because we have the most cases. Where I am, I can’t go outside unless it is for a very necessary need, I am pretty much stuck in my house. I can’t go to actual school anywhere; I do online school instead with a video chat. The main thing I did almost every weekend is hangout with friends and we can’t because you have to keep a six foot distance from people if you can and you shouldn’t meet in groups.
The main challenge to me is having nothing to do except play video games and maybe occasionally basketball. It’s extremely boring at times and the only way to pass time for me is sleep so I do that a lot. From this situation though I have realized from many reports that lots of areas have gotten better water and air quality due to the lack of people outside. I think it is a part of God’s plan honestly because in the bible I have seen different verses about staying inside and I think it is great because we are helping restore the planet as a community by doing our part.
I think that our society should realize that we really all can work together to accomplish something. It doesn’t always have to be when there is a crisis, it can be in many other situations to accomplish important tasks. My hopes are that we realize that if we all work together to do an important task, we can help get rid of global warming and many other things that hurt our planet. My concerns are this virus will spread way to quickly and we won’t be able to find a cure in time.”
A Day in my Life: John, 14, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
“A typical day since the outbreak of COVID-19 has been uneventful. I have only done schoolwork, played video games, eat, and sometimes clean around the house. In California, the governor issued a shelter in place order, so everyone has stay inside and practice social distancing. This change has impacted my daily routine as I do not have the leave the house at all. Not for school, mass, or an social events because they have all been moved online or cancelled. This allows me to wake up late, not have to prepare anything for school, or commute to school. Essentially, I have a lot of free time.
Some challenges from this situation are that school has become more complicated. The whole online learning thing just cannot compare to actually learning something in the classroom. The gifts and graces from this situation are that I can relax a bit more as I am always at home. I have almost too much free time on my hands, most of which I can spend playing videogames.
My feelings about the world we live in have not really changed. I always suspected that if a serious illness came around, the world would not handle it well. The amount of people I see leaving the restroom without washing their hands is disgusting and shocking. In the future, people might take more hygienic caution, but otherwise nothing is going to change. From this crisis that has affected us globally, our society should learn that keeping good hygiene is important. My concern is that I might not be able to return to school for the remainder of this school year. I enjoy Bellarmine very much and it would be disappointing to not finish off this year on campus. My hope is that this illness can be treated soon so that people do not have to worry or suffer for too long.”
A Day in my Life: John, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
“Since the outbreak of COVID-19 the world has been a lot different. I feel like a lot of people have really realized what the world can turn into. My area has been impacted quite a lot. All schools have been shut down and everyone has to stay inside unless of a medical or personal reason. I never really expected for corona virus to get this bad and now that I see it has, it frightens me to hear what has happened to everyone.
The challenges that have affected me is by being inside. I really like playing sports and getting outside a lot, so it has been a struggle for me to stay inside a lot. Also, its really scary to think that this virus has spread so far, and it is important that we try to take care of our bodies the best we can right now. The gifts from this is that we spend a lot more quality time with family. We get to engage a lot more with our parents than a regular school day which is nice.
My concerns is that my friends and family get the disease and it goes on for a long time and gets worse. This plague has gotten really bad and I’m sure no one wants it to go on for longer or get worse. From this, our society should learn that it is very important that we take care of our body and make sure every choice we make is good for us. Everyone should make sure that we are being safe and doing everything smartly. I hope everyone’s families stay safe!”
A Day in my Life: Jonathan, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
“My country is currently the first in number of covid-19 cases, even with inadequate testing. The federal government has been largely ineffective; however, my state’s governor has put a shelter in place mandate into effect. For me, that just means learning from home using Microsoft Teams, but I hear we might be switching to Zoom soon. The commute to school is gone, so I’ve been sleeping a little longer.
Some challenges from this situation are that some teachers seem to think that now that students are stuck at home, they can give us hours of homework a day. My mother is also starting to get on my nerves. Some gifts and graces from this situation are no commute time, for me at least, and more time with family.
Covid-19 has shown how unprepared the world is for a pandemic such as this one. On the governmental side, the virus has been used as a political tool, and promises such as testing kits for whoever wants to be tested have been made and broken. What I’ve learned about our society from this pandemic is that selfishness is quite prevalent everywhere. Around the world, people are hoarding supplies such as toilet paper and hand sanitizer, leaving little for the rest of us. My concerns are that not enough people are taking covid-19 seriously and my hope is that those people receive consequences for their actions.”
