Friday, March 13, 2020 was the last day students were in session for the 2020 school year. Everyone thought that they would be back in two weeks, little did everyone know they would not return until August.
As the one-year anniversary of school closings passed, students are still dealing with the restrictions this virus has imposed.
The school kept pushing back the date to come back to school three times until the governor declared all schools to shut down in Missouri. By being closed, everything else was cancelled too, such as sports, prom, and graduation. Graduation was finally held in July and an “unofficial” prom was organized by parents.
COVID has been around for over a year in the U.S. and so much has changed since the outbreak. From riots, elections, to the spread of COVID the world has changed so much. Schools and businesses had to be shut down and many businesses have had to shut down permanently.
While the school was shut down, the staff was still involved with the students and the community with virtual lessons or by handing out food.
“I heard about the virus before it got here, but I didn’t think it would come here or even have a rapid shutdown and we wouldn’t see students until the next school year,” assistant principal Cody Wright said.
Wright helped organize handing out food and schedules for the upcoming school year.
There were many reactions to the dramatic shut down of not only the school, but the whole nation.
“I didn’t get to say goodbye to my first year students, so that was tough, actually I really did cry for the first two days. I couldn’t be talked to because I was so upset about it, but then I decided that if I kept busy that I would be fine and that we would be back to school and it’s better that everyone’s safe than not,” science teacher Jamie Allen said.
“I was happy because I didn’t have to go to school anymore,” senior Kolton Krueger said.
“I was very confused and didn’t believe it at first,” sophomore Angie Duzan said.
Everyone had something they did during the quarantine to keep busy, from working out, to binge watching shows, or doing house projects.
Business teacher Kimberly Pate kept busy by “hanging out in my neighbor’s pool everyday by myself, and walking with other teachers at a six feet distance.”
“I played video games and I have dyed my hair a few times and had a lot of family time,” Duzan said.
Since everyone has been back, students got a choice to do online school or be in the classroom with a mask on at all time unless six feet apart. Since the start of the school year, many things have been cancelled and are now being able to come back, such as dances, assemblies, and many more. There has also been an increase in making sure everything is clean and sanitized.
With the COVID spread, everyone’s life has changed.
“I feel like I have no freedoms at all,’’ Duzan said, “I’m also not a big fan of school anymore because I miss all the great opportunities we had before.”