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COVID-19: B.C. students describe life during pandemic

Most teens wonder what the future will be like after COVID-19
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These are personal reflections from an English 12 class at Revelstoke Secondary School about current high school life during a pandemic.

READ MORE: COVID-19: How Revelstoke schools are tackling the virtual classroom

A time to reconnect

By Kobe Brunetti

The first week of the quarantine my friends and myself didn’t take it seriously. We were still hanging out in larger groups and drinking from the same cups, almost like it wasn’t real. Some of our places of work shutdown, we weren’t doing any schooling, and all of our extracurricular activities were canceled so the first week felt like a vacation.

At first it was fun to relax and catch up on chores, but now it has become stressful and a little scary. It’s difficult to spend this much time in my house alone with my family and some nights tensions get high but overall, not the worst experience in my life.

Revelstoke music teachers Tessa Davis and Lori Snider deliver band students their instruments for home practice. The two teachers have been physical distancing together for the last month. (Submitted)

I’m concerned our grad year has been disrupted and we might not get to celebrate our top highlights such as prom or walking across the stage, but it’s understandable. I am also worried about our new online schooling because sometimes learning is hard enough on its own and having to do it almost on your own over a computer seems like it will be even more challenging.

This coronavirus has ruined many peoples plans and hopes and has caused large amounts of grief throughout the world, but a small part of me believes the virus is going to help the world. It has already caused pollution levels to decrease and animals to return to many areas. It has caused people to be less outgoing and reconnect with their families.

READ MORE: Despite COVID-19, there will be an Easter egg hunt in Revelstoke

It’s not all bad

By Zoe Zinselmeyer

For me, personally, these last few weeks have been probably some of the better, not necessarily best, but better weeks or even months I’ve had. On the grand scale, I share universal emotions alike with everyone else in the world of anxiety, loneliness, spaciness, but that’s just a result of what occurring around me.

I’m a little overstimulated, I won’t lie. However, coming from a somewhat philosophical and spiritual family roots I believe this will pass, maybe the world needed some sort of “reset” (albeit a pretty brutal one), and that it’s not of matter of how or why but when?

Revelstoke band students got their instruments delivered to their homes, like the big bass. (Submitted)

As much as I know that the thought of staying in this surreal quarantine scares me, I’m somewhat at peace as making it out onto the other side will make me a stronger person mentally and emotionally and I won’t take any of life’s small things for granted; maybe the world can heal a bit due to less consumption.

As crazy as it sounds, I had this sickening sense of fear and anxiety over… dying? Or something bad happening to me, for like a month or so before any of this happened, when it was only the beginning of this virus in China. Maybe my intuition or subconscious knew or had sense of it? A strange coincidence, for sure…

READ MORE: Not alone: Revelstoke volunteers play tic-tac-toe on seniors’ windows

I worry for the future

By Kolibri Dobrish

Since spring break started, I have been at my farm outside of New Denver. We have plenty of food that we grow , so at this point we are only going shopping when we need perishables.

Soon we will have milk from our goats who are due to have kids any day now. This isolation really hasn’t affected me that much, other than I cannot see my friends in person.

What I am most worried about is what the future will look like. Is this going to continue for months like the epidemiologists are predicting? Will that lead to food shortages and cause people to die for other reasons than the actual virus? How will the government pay for all the promised money they are saying will be given out to people? Will countries who have slowed or stop the rate of the infected take advantage of receiving money from countries in need in turn for limited medical supplies and resources? So many questions.

Emergency services formed a mini parade in front of the Revelstoke hospital April 1 to support healthcare personal and frontline workers during the COVID-19 crisis. (Liam Harrap/Revelstoke Review)

However, the lockdowns and decreased travel around the world are showing outstanding benefits in ecosystems and natural habitats. This is very much a human problem right now; the animals could care less (except pets who rely on us for a food source).

There are some rivers in Italy where the water had never run so clear and cities where the smog has lifted showing uncommon blue sky. Although this decrease in carbon emissions is only turning off the facet to nearing-full tub labelled “climate crisis”, it is providing us with an alternate view of what it would look like if world travel was lessened.

The virus is so easily spread that I hope people can continue practicing physical distancing. I feel sad for those who have no place to go or unstable home lives.

READ MORE: How Revelstoke handled the Spanish flu

A time to reflect

By Alexi Mostert

The last few weeks at home have been a little stressful. I have worried about school and the safety of everyone. It’s sad to see the death toll going up, more in other places than others, and it has been hard to stay isolated.

Queen Victoria Hospital in Revelstoke. (Liam Harrap/Revelstoke Review)

Though it’s a difficult time for everyone, I’m trying to make the best of everything. I have been spending more time with my parents such as having more family dinners and going for walks together. As well, I have been trying to do things I enjoy. I have started drawing again, reading, watching movies I missed in theatres, exercising more, and teaching my dog new tricks.

I do miss going to school and seeing my friends, but I do think this time, while short so far, has given me time to reflect and work on myself. Also, I have started to appreciate things more because now we know how easily it can be taken away.

READ MORE: Revelstoke makes noise for those impacted by COVID-19

This will be one for the history books

By Cohen Lussier

I’m writing this paper on what feels like the 290th day of quarantine.

The days of the week have little contrast between them, and I can only tell it’s the weekend as my parents come out from their makeshift offices to do housework.

I find myself drifting meaninglessly from one day to the next. I try and create one distinct element to my day so as to not go insane.

One day it’s a bike ride, another it’s a FaceTime with some of my friends. However I still find myself wanting to go back to the way things once where, the normalcy we have grown accustomed to. I am not worried about post-secondary as I understand everyone across the globe is in a similar situation but I am still left with a multitude of questions.

When will we get to see our friends again? When can we celebrate prom and grad? When will I be able to watch my beloved Oilers play in front of 18 000+ raucous fans? Unfortunately, I doubt anyone on the planet can definitively give me an answer. Moreover, why did this have to happen in my grad year?

Volunteers play games on windows at Mt. Cartier Court to keep the residents company during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Liam Harrap/Revelstoke Review)

Imagine being an oblivious baby during this. Then again, we are experiencing something that will appear in Grade 9 social studies textbooks for the rest of time.

I never thought that one day I would be a part of a major part of history. I will be able to tell my kids how I survived the global pandemic in my grad year, in a time when the world essentially shut down.

The one thing I would like people to take out of this is how we all came together for the greater good.

I would like to see a similar movement in the fight against climate change. If all of us came together for one global issue, we can surely tackle another. Nevertheless, I will end by saying I am actually looking forward to online school, something to add a little razzle dazzle to my self-isolation lifestyle.

See you on the other side of quarantine Ms. Crucil.

COVID-19

By Alexis Larsen

I hate Corona

The virus of course

Adios Los Cabos

Goodbye soccer season

Toodle-loo toilet tissue


 

@pointypeak701
liam.harrap@revelstokereview.com

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