5 Years Later: An Oral History
“While some found moments of growth or reflecting during lockdown, others faced overwhelming challenges. As time goes on, it is important to reflect back and see how far we’ve come.”
Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, a major disease hit the world. COVID-19. It was officially declared a global pandemic, and countries around the globe began issuing lockdown orders in an attempt to control the rapid disease spread. Neighborhoods emptied, schools and workplaces shut down, and millions of people were forced to a new way of life indoors. This global pandemic not only took lives, but it also deeply impacted mental health, education, and social interaction. While some found moments of growth or reflecting during lockdown, others faced overwhelming challenges. As time goes on, it is important to reflect back and see how far we’ve come.
On this five year anniversary, we want to share people’s experience during the lockdown due to COVID.
For me, Monica, when COVID hit, I remember a lot of it. Before we were transferred to remote school, I had to head to my middle school to pick up a laptop in order to do my work and attend classes during this time. On my way to the school, I saw people all over the place. They looked scared and unsure of what was happening at the time, which had also made me worried of what was happening in the world. When online school was in session, I hated it. I felt that I couldn’t learn through a screen because I would easily get distracted. I felt trapped. I didn’t leave my apartment for 3 months straight, not even to throw out the trash.
For me, John, during my time in lockdown due to COVID, I had a somewhat good and somewhat bad experience. This was due to not being used to staying at home, at first I was excited not to go to school and just attending school online, but I slowly realized that having virtual classes actually put me in a horrible spot. Not being able to interact in-person with friends and teachers caused problems. For example, asking questions became harder, I got more distracted, and had a lack of motivation. This made me come to understand that working in-person is much better than virtual.
We have interviewed some seniors about their experiences during the pandemic. And here are their responses to our questions:
Jason Zhu told us his first reaction to the news of lockdown was that he “was lowkey happy because I didn't have to wake up one hour earlier to go to school.” Alfredo Alba said he was also a bit “excited.” He said: “I wasn't going to school before that. I had a bit of a different experience, but it was generally positive.” Francisco Reyes added: “Personally, I never liked school growing up, so I was excited. I didn’t fully understand the circumstances at first. When we went into lockdown, I initially thought it was just a break, but then I started seeing things on Instagram about the coronavirus, and I realized it was actually something serious and dangerous.”
A lot of students, at first, felt excited. Rakeem Grace said “It was wonderful. I mean, I was excited. I think any kid would be excited for 2 weeks off.”
But then things changed, and word got out that schools would go fully remote. How did that change people’s reactions? Jason Zhu’s thoughts remained the same. Same with Francisco, who said: “I was still excited. I actually enjoyed remote learning. I thought it would make school easier in some ways. But honestly, back then I wasn’t the type to do much schoolwork, I just played video games a lot. I didn’t mind remote learning. A lot of people missed going out, but I liked being at home.”
Students, however, as Rakeem said, “were not listening very much.”
We wanted to know how students adapted to all of this. Alfredo told a story of change and difficulty: “For me, there was a lot of isolating and not experiencing stuff. Adapting was rough. I’m the type that will stay home and not really care, but that is not good for your mental health.”
Francisco Reyes said that it “was definitely different.” All the different precautions and little things. “You had to sanitize constantly,” he said, “watch your surroundings, and be aware of the risk of bacteria and infection.”
This shows how the challenges started to build. It started small, like how Jason mentioned the “poor Wifi.” But then it got bigger. Francisco brought up “procrastination” and how he “became way less active and just stayed in all day.” Rakeem said that he “didn’t learn much.”
These problems started to build. Rakeem said: “I was like 12/13 years-old and it was easy to just get caught up and play games or listen to music all day, but then, when I got to high school you kind of see how much you missed out on academically. So for English I was writing like a sixth grader despite being older.”
It got worse. Francisco brought up the “loneliness” he felt, and Alfredo said that “by the end, I definitely felt more awkward in public spaces.”
These were difficult times, and they deserve to be remembered.