Over the past few weeks I’ve talked to a lot of people about how their lives have changed since March 13th of 2020.

In case you don’t remember, March 13th, 2020 was the first day school was cancelled due to Covid-19. It has now been a full year. For nearly a month I asked many people questions about what’s different in their day to day routine, and just based off of the answers I received from students and teachers it’s safe to say that this last calendar year has taken a toll on everyone.

I asked people if they remembered where they were when they found out school was closed, how they felt when they first found out and how it affects them now. The following are responses that I got from students to some of the questions I asked.

Junior Madison Summers: “I remember that I was excited to get an extra week of spring break. I wish I knew that one week of relief from school work would turn into a year of looking at a computer screen with more stress than I started with.”

Junior Ashleigh Farrell: “I remember when I found out I was getting ready for a little family/friends performance for our winter guard show because, coincidentally, our season had just gotten shut down as well.”

Senior Tyler Vinelli: “Being in school two days a week now hasn’t negatively affected my grades at all. It’s actually given me more time to focus on myself and extra time for classes I need help in.”

Senior Kha’Lea Wainwright: “Since school shut down last year I’ve actually become better mentally. I feel like I’ve finally found myself and I care a lot less what people think. But unfortunately, I do fall short of motivation to put my all into school work, due to the hybrid schedule.”

Junior Briant Lewis: “For me personally I’ve learned that I take the simple things for granted. I used to think everyday was the same until one day last year it wasn’t. I value the time I have outside because I’ve had it taken away from me for so long, and everyone else should (value it) too.”

Sophomore Lauren Vescovi: “I remember being kinda scared at first because I didn’t know how serious the virus was or what was going to happen in the future. Crazy that it’s been a year.”

It’s clear that everyone still thinks about a year ago, and still feels it. There will never be a way to forget how life was before Covid, or how it is now during it. The last year has brought unprecedented experiences into everyone’s life. This is the new normal, but we still think of how things were.