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: Sergio, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19, my country has handled the situation by acting, they have shut down stores and schools and initiated the shelter in place rule. These changes have affected me, I am a freshman in high school, and 1/3 of the year will be spent at home, in front of a screen. While this is a major change and we are pushing through it, some gifts and graces from this situation is that I have more time to use, either with my family, playing video games with friends, or learning something every day like cooking or a language. My school has also been very supportive, my classmates and teachers are all making sure each person is doing okay and that we don’t become afraid of this pandemic, that we stand together united.
Our society should learn from this crisis to not fall into fear. I have seen videos of people fighting each other for rolls of toilet paper, empty shelves in grocery stores and long lines in Costco. When we walk with fear in our eyes, it causes us to do stuff like this. We are all afraid of the COVID-19 outbreak, some more than others, causing them to buy extra supplies, leaving none for others. If we walk with eyes of faith, we can learn to be compassionate with one another, only taking what we need and leaving some for others as well. This pandemic is showing us how greedy and selfish we can be, but, if we can all learn to walk with eyes of faith, we can unite, stop it and prevent this from happening again.
A Day in my Life: Shaun, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
In the United States we are currently in quarantine where I live. I know that most states are in or starting the quarantine process. Are schools, businesses, and stores have been closed for the last week. Our country has stated that this has become a National Emergency. We know have the most amount of cases out of every other country in the whole world. This has affected my daily life by stopping me from going to school, fortunately I am able to get my education online now.
This has also cancelled my track season and has forced me to stay home. The challenges I have had is just staying occupied during quarantine to make sure this isn’t a waste of a couple weeks. I have been trying to get new hobbies such as redesigning album covers. My concerns are that we don’t find a way to stop this virus and it keeps spreading.
And that this starts killing younger people, that would show how dangerous this could be and how vulnerable anyone is. This is really showing me though how the world can home together in a tough time to unite and help each other. My name is Shaun, I am 15 and I go to Bellarmine in San Jose. I live in the United State of America.
A Day in my Life: Simon, 14, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
Coronavirus is a highly contagious virus that began in Wuhan China. It seemed so distant at first and I just expected that It would not every affect me and it would just be something I saw on the news. There are always natural disasters, outbreaks, and tragedies and they usually are just something that you hear about that can never happen to me. So, when they shut down the bell and said that we were at risk it surprised me and scared me a little. It got even worse when they told us to stay at home and not to be out. It has been about two weeks of quarantine for me and there are good and bad things that go with it. A good thing is that I have been able to spend a lot more time with my family and we’ve been getting closer. I have also been trying to keep myself busy and finding new hobbies away from screens.
I have always really loved music, so I have been trying to learn how to play one of my favorite songs on the guitar. I also have been trying to go outside and skateboard anytime I can when it’s not raining and I’m not doing schoolwork. I have been spending a lot of time outside in my free time even just sitting on a bench and listing to music feeling the sun. I feel closer to God and the nature around my house has been so pretty. I have a newfound appreciation for it. I would not have been doing all of that if It wasn’t for the virus.
However, there are also a lot of bad things that come with this new lifestyle. I have not been able to see my grandparents in a while and I miss them, but we can’t go see them because the virus affects the elderly the most. I also miss seeing my teachers and friends. It was just weird from going to seeing them every day to not seeing them at all. My friends and I would come to my house everyday afterschool and hangout at my house. I miss those days and I should have appreciated them more then. I can’t wait to have them all over again and be able to be with them. I didn’t expect that something like this would ever happen. I talk to them every day still but its not the same over a screen. I miss having my family over and us all being together. I hope that as a society we can all do our part in practicing social distancing. There has been so much hoarding and greed and reselling of necessities this is not what we should be doing we should be helping each other out. My sister is going to school in Madrid Spain next year and she doesn’t even know if she will be able to go anymore. We need to come together so that we can put this behind us.
A Day in my Life: Stanton, 14, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
Currently, the coronavirus crisis in my country, the U.S, is worse than ever before. We just became the country with the most COVID-19 cases, our economy is plummeting, and all of California has been instructed to shelter in place. Essentially, we’re not exactly having the best of times. However, COVID-19 affects my daily life much differently than I had predicted when it was in its first stages. Certainly, it has its challenges and restrictions for me, but it also can teach all of us lessons about selflessness and love.
For example, take my school life; now that physical schooling is gone, my school has replaced it with online learning. Now online learning is certainly not optimal. It comes with tech difficulties, issues with test and quiz taking, and distractions that are only found with one’s home. Yet, online schooling has come with two great positives; I can sleep in more since we don’t have to drive to school anymore, and also, I get to spend more time with my family. This allows me to be better rested for school, and to build the bonds between me and my family, two underlying positives in a seemingly great negative.
Similarly, if we want to stay hopeful and make the best of this situation, there are a few things we can do. Firstly, we have to prevent the spread of the virus by staying home with our family. Not only does it lower the peak of this crisis or decrease the maximum amount of people infected at one time, but it also allows us to focus on love during this time of fear and conflict. Secondly, we must understand what’s happening to the earth while we’ve been staying in our homes. Many readings have shown that pollution has dropped a great deal since companies closed due to COVID-19, and we must understand the importance of reducing pollution in the future. Finally, we must see the silver lining, which is that crisis brings people together. Is
COVID-19 a danger? Absolutely. But are we going to let it divide us against one another? Absolutely not.
A Day in my Life: Thomas, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
The Corona Virus has a huge impact on my daily life that I’ve been going through for all my life. In the US, the Corona Virus has caused our whole nation to go into a shelter in place because of this virus. This means we cannot leave our houses unless for essential items until the government ends this shelter in place. My daily routines have remained similar in the mornings, but once online school starts, it is a lot different than what I was used to.
The biggest challenge for me has been not being able to see my friends because before I saw them pretty much every day. This was a big change because I wasn’t used to being at home for 24 hours with online school.
The gifts and graces from the Virus have been getting to spend more time with my family. I usually play board games, watch movies, and talk with my family. Now having COVID-19 affecting many people and being spread worldwide, and the choices of the government, it seems like life will never go back to normal. People should learn from this that everything happens for a reason and look at it trying to be as positive as possible. My concerns are that this shelter in place will never end and that this Virus is going to get way worse.
A Day in my Life: Vijay, 14, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
As of today, coronavirus has had a major impact on my country, America. America has the most confirmed cases in the world right now and is exponentially increasing because of the liquidity of the virus. Coronavirus had impacted my daily routines from going to school, exercising and resting enough. But it also came with its benefits like not having to be present during the many activities I participate in and not having to get up early and around places.
Some challenges I face like the many students across the nation is getting bored from not having to go around to places. And it can be tough for those who pursue activity as they start to find themselves less active. The gifts and graces of this situation is the continuous hope that one day this frustration and confusion and scariness will all suddenly just go away and that, that is truly remarkable. This makes me feel so lucky to be a part of the future that lies ahead and this world because it will be a time where people have experienced this issue and a time where people will begin to take initiative after this time of pandemic, like an Enlightenment Period.
Our society should learn about the realism of the situations where you can’t always fix a predicament immediately, sometimes it will take time. Some concerns I have is when will the coronavirus take its last breath. In the end the hope is that coronavirus pandemic will be wiped og the face of the earth and it is God who makes things happen.
A Day in my Life: Vinnie, 15, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
As of right now my life is being impacted by the Coronavirus along with almost every part of the world. In my country, we are currently in the middle of a shelter in place where we are advised to not go outside or be within 6 feet of people. These changes impacted my daily life heavily since I do not actually go to class and I cannot play my sport anymore.
The changes are currently, online learning, minimal baseball practice with my father, and home-made meals usually. In this situation I have been granted gifts of grace because I do not have to go wake up that early in the morning now and I can do class in my bed. I feel like this is a big deal right now but it will blow over soon and people will move on with their lives and not care.
Our society should learn to be extra cautious about wat we touch and what we eat especially places that prep food should be super clean and make sure they cannot be hurting anyone. As of right now, my hopes is that people take it serious now so it doesn’t ruin the summer because we all need this break and no one wants to be trapped inside their home for the entire time.
A Day in my Life: Wilber, 14, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA
My life hasn’t changed much. It hasn’t affected me that much, it just instills me with a little bit of fear as the number of cases in my country, the United States of America, keep growing exponentially. Right now, cases are at 115,000, but this number could be outdated within a day. The crisis has heavily impacted hospitals and people in the medical fields. It has also heavily affected the economy as stocks have dropped dramatically. People are out of work and many are losing jobs.
Although I haven’t had many challenges to my own personal life, thank God. I don’t really get outside much and this indoor quarantine has given me a chance to let loose. Although it means my family is on edge, so we all argue as we have little patience. But I try to not argue so much as it would be disrespectful to my family, which in turn makes me target my little sister more. Learning from home isn’t a challenge nor is staying inside.
Some graces from this crisis is that luckily my family hasn’t been affected by the pandemic in many ways. We have been doing fine. Though I feel the world will feel the virus effects on a large scale, as the economy would be damaged, people would be fearful of each other and many would be unemployed, many countries might be more isolationist, and many countries would restrict travel more, other countries would enforce strict airport policies, much like after 9/11 but in testing for sickness rather than for a weapon. Still, from this I think that the world can learn to react quick to these crises and respond earlier, to listen to those who know what they are doing and to follow rules that can help us. I think this crisis can bring people closer together. But I hope the world as a whole can get through the crisis now.
