This week marks an entire year that Judson ISD decided to extend spring break due to the early rising cases of Covid-19. All campus activities, including school, were canceled from March 16-20, 2020.

At first, a lot of students were thrilled to have another week off. However as the cases kept rising at a tremendous rate, the days kept getting extended.

On March 17, 2020, Judson ISD announced campuses would be closed through April 3, 2020. Also, on the same day, the first day of virtual instruction was announced to begin on March 23, 2020.

Virtual learning was only meant to be temporary so students wouldn’t miss class instructions and lose credit for their class. However, on the same day virtual learning had begun, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg ordered the stay-at-home order for all residents. Due to those orders, Judson ISD pushed the “return to school” date back to Monday, April 27, 2020. Unfortunately, midway through April, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that schools be closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

Since then, after an entire year, we are still facing COVID-19.

Quarantine is still required if you contract the virus. We have been able to return to school, but hardly any students have returned to campus and most have only been attending virtual learning. Although this has been a rough year for most students, many have learned to grow, adjust, and even have found new interests or hobbies.

“This entire year, I have gotten into working out a lot more and preparing myself for basic training. Also, two important lessons I learned. The first is that no matter what it may be, there will always be someone who makes it political. Second is don’t feel sad when you can’t see certain people, do your best to push through it, and you will see them again,” senior Carson Barret said.

Some students may have been able to benefit well because of having to quarantine but other students found it very difficult and upsetting that after a year has gone by, we are still under a pandemic.

“What I found most difficult during the pandemic was being completely alone during quarantine,” sophomore Samantha Simpson said. ”As well as when it comes to virtual learning it was harder than in person until everyone figured out what they were doing. Now the only hard part about it is not seeing my old friends.”

Many vaccines have been developed and few have been showing good results, giving hope that not very long from now things will return back to normal. Still, it can’t be completely relied on just yet, especially now that governor Abbott has opened the state 100 percent, eliminating the mask requirement.

This is why many people must keep doing their part by still following safety guidelines, wearing their masks, and keeping their distance.

“I think for us to return back to normal would be to keep ourselves quarantined, but that would mean our economy would keep going out of control. Now that [governor] Greg [Abbott] opened up Texas, Covid rates will rise. It’s hard because during these times every answer has a sacrifice,” senior Robert Fuentes said. ”I just feel that the best answer is to stay at home and leave only if mandatory and always wear your mask.”

After a year since we first quarantined, it has been a series of obstacles. Many students had to overcome them, but as each day goes by with cases still rising they learn and continue to grow despite these hardships and only hope that someday it’ll all go away.

—-

If there are issues with this article, report it here.