Photo illustration by Mackenzie Hyde
The Eagle Eye asked students at TAHS to reflect on the past year. These are some of their most interesting answers.
Same as it Never Was: A Reflection on Our Pandemic Year
By MacKenzie Hyde, Editor-in-Chief
On March 13, 2020, our lives eternally changed.
On that day, Tyrone Area High School students attended their last day of in-person school for the 2019-2020 academic year. More than a year later, we are still facing the repercussions of COVID-19. Over 580,000 Americans have died and over 32.7 million others are dealing with the aftermath of contracting the disease.
For Tyrone High School, COVID-19 has caused much change and uncertainty. Beginning the 2020-2021 school year with part-time in-person classes, switching to full in-person classes in October, back to fully online learning in November, then part-time again in January, and back to full in-person learning in March shows that not a dull moment has passed for the students, teachers, and staff of Tyrone.
In March 2021, The Eagle Eye asked students to share how COVID-19 has affected them and their families and their personal thoughts about this historic year.
The Eagle Eye received more than 300 responses. Twenty-four of the best and most interesting responses are published below. Click on the portrait to read each student’s responses. Share your own reflections and memories in the comments.
Katelyn Adams
Name: Katelyn Adams Grade: 9 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic affected my life in a positive way. I was able to spend a lot more time with my family and friends. I learned more about myself and I really connected with nature. I was able to read and paint more and found that I had way more time to do the things that I love. What have you learned as a result of the pand...
Lucia Isenberg
Name: Lucia Isenberg Grade: 12 How has the pandemic affected your life? Prior to the pandemic, I always thought that I was grateful for the things that I had. While I did appreciate my materialistic things like clothes and shoes, I really took experiences for granted. Going to sporting events and spending time with my grandparents were just things that I did, not something that I was fortunate ...
Aliza Yazzie
Name: Aliza Yazzie Grade: 9 How has the pandemic affected your life? My mom started working from home, which means that whenever I come home I no longer get alone time that I might need after a stressful day. What have you learned as a result of the pandemic? I've learned how to adapt to certain situations. Before the pandemic, everything was pretty much the same. But once all the...
Colton Veres
Name: Colton Veres Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic affected my life in many different ways, some in very unexpected ways and not necessarily bad ways either. I'd say when quarantine first began it introduced me to new adventures to get outside more. I figured if the virus was a big deal at the time why not get outside away from people. These new experiences led...
Dean Grassi
Name: Dean Grassi Grade: 12 How has the pandemic affected your life? While most people hated quarantine, I took the time to learn about things I usually wouldn't have learned if I was in school. I picked up new hobbies such as metal detecting and blacksmithing. Very uncommon hobbies for a kid my age. I spent more time outside enjoying the nice spring and summer days by going on walks with...
Dylan Brower
Name: Dylan Brower Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? Being at home throughout the year destroyed my grades and I couldn't find the motivation to bring them back up. There are so many things at home that could distract me. Whether it was other family members who wanted to talk or that I would rather play video games, anything and everything had a chance of getting in my way...
Vivian Sciarrillo
Name: Vivian Sciarrillo Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic has affected my outside-of-school activities and has affected my school year. It also affected my mental health greatly and caused me to live in a state of mind that I never thought I'd go to. What have you learned as a result of the pandemic? I have learned more about myself in this past year than I tho...
John Isenberg
Name: John Isenberg Grade: 9 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic has touched all of our lives in different ways, whether positive or negative. We all have been impacted by COVID and our lives have changed dramatically. I personally despise the virus. I feel like I have been cheated out of so many good experiences that I could have had last year (the High School Musical a...
Baylee Mertiff
Name: Baylee Mertiff Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic affected my life because my grades had a sudden decrease due to in-person learning being closed. Last year, I was in two DE classes and had all A's. My GPA was the best it had ever been. By the second marking period of this year, I was struggling to keep my grades above a C in almost all of my classes. It was h...
Emma Dibert
Name: Emma Dibert Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic affected my life in many different ways. At first, I didn't get to have my varsity softball season as a freshman and which meant I couldn't play with my close friends that were seniors. Then, my mom lost her job, and my family and I were struggling financially for a little while. And lastly, my sister works at...
Paige Grager
Name: Paige Grager Grade: 12 How has the pandemic affected your life? Junior/Senior years (most memorable and exciting years of high school) were pretty much stripped away. We were in school for maybe half the time we're supposed to be and got no warm welcome when brought back for the first time. No fun pep rallies, no class activities, no grouping with friends, and all smiles hid away. We di...
Kairigan Sible
Name: Kairigan Sible Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic has affected my life in many ways. In past years, my personal expectations for myself were to never get anything below a B. This year, I am happy to even be receiving grades like those. While being at home, I often got easily sidetracked and was not always focused as much as I needed to be in order to do my s...
Nathaniel Patterson
Name: Nathaniel Patterson Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic was the worst thing that has happened to our country and the world in a long time. The way Covid-19 affected me, for starters, is that I was actually pretty scared that I would get very sick or I was going to possibly lose a family member to it. Covid-19 affected my sports and sports is everything to m...
Ashlynn McKinney
Name: Ashlynn McKinney Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? In the grand scheme of things, COVID did not particularly affect me that much. I was very fortunate that both of my parents were able to keep their jobs and we did not lose money. In fact, because my dad was an essential worker he had to work many hours in overtime some weeks so we received some extra things from this....
Maci Brodzina
Name: Maci Brodzina Grade: 11 How has the pandemic affected your life? With not being able to play sports, I didn't have anything to do. It's kind of sad to think about, but I actually had time to spend time with my family. My relationship with them has grown, especially with my sister. I saw this pandemic as a blessing in disguise because being close to my family is important to me. ...
Lydia Seltzer
Name: Lydia Seltzer Grade: 10 How has the pandemic affected your life? With the extra time given to work at home, I had a lot to get used to. Throughout the time at home, I would say my mental health was impacted. Not in an extreme sense, but enough that the isolation from my peers was making me seriously doubt my social skills. I got anxious about being back in school full time because of the ...
Elijah Knarr
Name: Elijah Knarr Grade: 9 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic has affected my life in many ways. For instance, my father got COVID and he had to isolate in his room. This affected my entire family because we weren't allowed to interact with him which made us very sad. As a family, we spend a lot of time together and we couldn't do that with him being isolated. The pande...
Stephanie Ramsey
Name: Stephanie Ramsey Grade: 11 How has the pandemic affected your life? The hardest thing for me to overcome was losing the end of my basketball season. We were in the Elite 8 when everything got shut down. It was hard just having the sport you work so hard towards come to an end unexpectedly. Also, I wasn't able to see my teammates or friends during the first few months. I was trying to overcom...
Ryan Patterson
Name: Ryan Patterson Grade: 11 How has the pandemic affected your life? Although the pandemic is an atrocity in America, the pandemic gave unexpected benefits. Since we were home most of the time, I realized how important family is and live in the moment for anything that can happen the next minute. What have you learned as a result of the pandemic? Family is everything, enjoy the ...
Kendall Markley
Name: Kendall Markley Grade: 12 How has the pandemic affected your life? It was honestly something none of us had expected, and it really took a toll on our senior year. It messed with a lot of kids' mental health because their sports seasons got canceled or their grades were falling lower than normal because of the unsteady school environment. All of the extracurriculars have been up in the...
Isabella Rhoades
Name: Isabella Rhoades Grade: 11 How has the pandemic affected your life? I am a part of the Drama Club and we were not able to perform our musical "Newsies" last year. Drama Club didn't even get the opportunity to do a musical this year because of Covid. It was devastating. Pops Extension was not able to have a Christmas concert this year, which is my favorite part of the year. What hav...
Sara Herr
Name: Sara Herr Grade: 12 How has the pandemic affected your life? The pandemic has made me worry about the safety of my family members, especially my father who is high risk. I have to be extra careful about where I travel to and who I am around, I really do not want to put him in danger. I also wasn't able to get to experience my entire senior marching band year experience to the fullest, ...
Hannah Johnston
Name: Hannah Johnston Grade: 9 How has the pandemic affected your life? During the pandemic, my family and I have struggled with money and my grades have decreased slightly. Luckily, I was able to bring my grades back up and my family has gained more money now that they are back at work. What have you learned as a result of the pandemic? Other people's safety is very important to think about in a g...
Mario Grugan
Name: Mario Grugan Grade: 11 How has the pandemic affected your life? Motivation is a force that is heavily affected by the external environment. When you're home doing school work it is hard to muster the energy and motivation to finish work. Often times teachers and parents believe that if you have things to do you should just do them, but it's not that simple when you have been home and ...
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