Ah 2020….this year is definitely one for the books. What with the pandemic, distance learning, wildfires, a temporary economic downturn, social justice issues, the election, and so much more. As a school, we have come a long way from where we were back in March, when the craziness started. Now let’s look back on this year and hope for a better 2021!
Quarter 1 (Jan-Mar):
In January, our school was thriving. We had come back from winter break to a new year of learning, although we were in for quite a ride. I was still in 5th grade at the time, and for me, life pretty much couldn’t get any better. I had gotten most of the things on my Christmas list, my friendships were blooming, and I was rocking it in the classroom. In class, we had started reading a book called Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone (Great book!) and were preparing for Colonial Day, which, in my opinion, was the best part of 5th grade. I got to be in a play and run Colonial games (two of my favorite things), and it was awesome.
The unexpected turn in March was my last day of in-person school for the next 9 ½ months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It had become a thing in late January, just when my mom had traveled to Vietnam for a business trip. I had seen on the news pictures of Wuhan, a city in China where the outbreak started. I was scared that my mom would catch the disease, but she came home absolutely fine, but that still didn't ease my fear that this thing was already here in the U.S. Originally, this distance learning period was only supposed to go for two weeks. Everyone in my class was excited, as I think most of the school was. I had never done homeschool before, as had many of my friends. But come the last day of the original distance learning period and we still weren’t going back to school, pretty much everyone knew that this was bad.
Quarter 2 (Apr-Jun):
Full-time homeschooling is hard, especially for kids who don’t have access to as many resources as others. I was okay with it, because I’m an ambivert (extrovert and introvert), so my introvert side was cool with it. There were two challenges: one, I had to spend a lot of time with my family. I know some of us start complaining about having to interact with our families 24/7, but after a while, I learned to appreciate it. The last 2 ½ months of school were especially hard because of reason number two, minimal social interaction. Because of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, we couldn’t go to school, which meant seeing less of friends and teachers. And that really takes a heavy toll on some people, including myself.
It has also affected my faith. In quarantine, church became a really infrequent thing for my family, more than usual, and probably many others as well. However, our church and Parish persevered and started pushing out virtual masses on Youtube. As our 2019-2020 school year came to a close, my teachers and classmates and I all looked back on our semi-normal year, and then, just like that, it was summer vacation. And boy, was it an eventful one. In June, across the country, people echoed one another by protesting systemic racism (normal discrimination by race in a society). I actually participated in a small protest in Piedmont, where they had many people from the diverse community speak.
Quarter 3 (Jul-Sept):
For the last two months of summer, I was deep in the same topics: protests, Covid, and the election. By that time, the U.S. had hitched a ride on its second coronavirus wave, and I thought there was no end in sight, and I think most people thought it too. I started to do a socially distanced hangout with several of my friends, and the social interaction really helped me. My mom could tell I really needed it. By mid-to-late August, we went back to school. I started 6th grade, while my brother went into 3rd. I have learned that middle school is no joke. There is more work and expectations, and it has gotten hard. I mean, I know that some people were experiencing way worse, but this was one of my low points.
Quarter 4 (Oct-Dec):
In October, every single adult in my life became super interested in the election. It was all my parents talked about. I knew how important it was because I enjoy watching the news myself. I was pretty excited to cast my vote in the Scholastic election after learning more about it and exercising my knowledge in class. 7 more years until I can do it for real. Still, in October, the question on most kids minds at school was “How do we still get to celebrate Halloween this year?” I know it was for me. I still wanted to dress up and get candy, but I knew it wasn’t gonna happen normally this year. I know a lot of people at school missed the Halloween carnival this year. I was fine without the Haunted House, but it was sad to skip the rest of it. I still got to do an Avengers themed socially distanced Halloween party, which was super fun since I’m a huge Marvel geek. I was Captain America this year, and it didn’t matter to me that everyone in school saw my costume (although I would’ve loved to see more people’s costumes), as long as my friends could too.
On November 3rd, America held its breath as people went to the polls to vote by the thousands, and I’m honestly not sure if I was one of those people who had overinvested themselves into politics, even though I’m only in 6th grade. However, that Saturday, people across the country celebrated the apparent victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (who is from the Bay Area!); it was truly a historic win. The rest of November was mainly warnings from top health officials about the dangers of traveling for the holidays. I spent Thanksgiving with my immediate family, and Christmas as well. December felt somewhat weird to me. There was no shopping to do, no parties to attend. And, as we began to reopen school in November, my brother got to go back; I was so jealous. Still, Christmas came and went as festive as it could be this year. Now, as I look back on this year, I see a lot of ups and downs. I see people looking into why so much pain has come in 12 months. But I also see people united towards a common goal, which is making it out of the tunnel that is 2020.
As for me this year, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned how carelessness can lead to millions of people gone. How things aren’t always perfect on the inside. How our country still has a long way to go equality-wise. How so many people can lose so much over the course of 12 months. I consider myself lucky to be able to adapt and afford my favorite activities, such as online theater and choir this year. I have really had a lot of time to look at myself clearly and see who I want to leave this world as. Because if 2020 has taught me anything, it’s this quote from the 1987 movie Ferris Buller’s Day Off: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” This year, so many big and bad things have happened, but this quote reminds me to not get so wrapped up in those and take time to drink in the small and good things that happen.
If I had a crystal ball to see what will happen in 2021, believe me, I would write every little detail of it. But I don’t have one, so I can’t. What I can say though, without tempting fate, is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope in sight. It could be next week. It could be in a few months. It could be in a year. As a school, Parish, and Community, I think we can still safely stay as a community by listening to our leaders about their plans. We can listen to our parents, teachers, government officials, doctors, and most of all, Jesus. Even if the plan isn’t saving the world from Covid, it’s good to just listen to people who want to help. To quote Proverbs 2:2, “Making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding.” To me, this quote means that if we listen to the wisdom our leaders share and understand what they would like us to do, we can comply to make a better world. And let me close out with a quote about hope from Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”