Some More Reflections Submitted by My Students from Bellarmine College Preparatory for the Global Project: “A Day in my Life During Covid-19″

Here are more reflections submitted by my students from Bellarmine College Preparatory as part of Global Student Stories Project A Day in my Life: living under the Covid-19 Pandemic. Looking forward to sharing with my students reflections from students of other Jesuit schools around the world!

A Day in my Life – Written by Marcus, 18, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA

For me I was extremely disappointed finding out my school was shutting down. I was a leader of Kairos 152 and I was looking forward to giving the talk on Living the 4th. We found out that school would be shutting down and that we would have to leave the Kairos retreat the next morning. We only got through 2 of the 4 days of the retreat. I felt terrible for the retreatants whose experience was ruined by this pandemic.
After a few weeks of being stuck in my house I thought I would enjoy not having to go anywhere. It is quite the opposite. I miss seeing my friends and teachers and being at school in general. I feel like I am wasting days as I haven’t been doing much other that school working out and playing board games. Even though it is tough for many students and families I know that there have been harder times in the past. All we are being asked to do is sit at home and not go out. As World War II began high school seniors were drafted. Some of those seniors never came back home. I am sad about my senior year most likely being over, but I know that myself and everyone else can get through this to help those at risk and make the lives of health care professionals easier.»

A Day in my Life – Written by Noah, 17, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA

From a young age, the one thing I commonly think of around this time of the year is High School Graduation. As I see this yearly graduation partake, it gets me excited as I think about my own. It brings be joy to imagine seeing all my friends and family members. That was just one fond memory I envisioned, amongst the many other that come with senior year. However, my hopes have started to diminish. The day in found out about our school getting shut down, I was extremely disappointed for many reasons:

I knew it would be longer than two weeks, so I wished I could have done that day over again, spending more quality time with everyone.

Professional Sports were cancelled, making the world seem really empty.

School sports were canceled, so all the offseason work felt like it went to waste. They were also my extended family because I spent so much time with them. Normally, something like this would not have so much meaning, but the fact that it was my last chance for so many things hurt.

In response to the virus, we moved to online school which is quite interesting. After a few weeks, I can safely say I hope we never use online schooling again. With the combination of online school and the shelter in place, I have spent way too much time at home. My typical day usually consists of the following: school from 8:15-2:45, some form of outdoor exercise until 5, dinner and homework, and lights out at 9pm. We meet up with our teachers and are given work to do on call, or on our own time. The homework has been pretty minimal but has gone down to reduce screen time. After, I usually ride my bike for an hour and then walk to the beach which is a nice way to relax. I find it enjoyable because it is very quiet, and I can think about stuff. Then after a nice meal, I go back on my computer and finish my assignments. This routine feels very normal now, and the pain of not being with my friends has slowly decreased. I have accepted that it Is reality. Each day as it worsens, I wonder how my college situation will play out. I am supposed to study in London for my first semester, but as each day goes on, I start to think it won’t be a reality either.

As everything seems to be spiraling down, I try to look at the good things that can come from these times. It is a chance to spend more time with my family before I leave for college. More sleep can’t go wrong with that. I can go spend time around town, something I do not do often due to my busy schedule. More people are taking care of their hygiene, something that most definitely will continue later on. I am thankful that I am healthy as the virus spreads more. When I see others complaining that they are bored, I try to not do the same. I have been blessed with so much, it makes me feel a little ungrateful. Each day brings a new challenge, but all I can do is pray and be grateful. Rather than whine about what is happening, try to embrace the challenge.

A Day in my Life Written by Sam, 18, Bellarmine College Preparatory, USA

Well, it’s obvious that these circumstances are not ideal. However, I plan to make the most out of this temporary isolation from the world.

I start my “school” day by waking up around 9:25am, so that I am on time for class at 9:30am. I tried setting it for earlier, but I end up falling back asleep between the time of me waking up and the start of class. During my “free period,” or “lunch,” I go to the gym (my garage) to work out for about an hour. Since I am not able to play baseball at the moment, I am trying my best to stay healthy. I also throw with my brother outside about every other day.

Afterwards, I go to finish my school day. I usually ask to use the bathroom once in a while to reminisce on the good times. After the school day is over, I tend to wander around the kitchen for about 20 minutes, before doing some homework and half distracting myself on snapchat. I then play with the laser pointer I ordered on Amazon as an impulse buy of boredom.

I then watch YouTube for a few hours after telling myself I was going to go to bed earlier tonight. 4am rolls around and I fall asleep, to wake up the next day at 9:25am and repeat.