March of 2020 was a significant time for many, as schools and businesses shut down and the streets were quiet with a lack of rush-hour traffic and reminiscent memories of what used to be. Society was crippled with guidelines, quarantines, and fear for what the future held. Yet, in the almost two years since then, the persevering optimism is what has stuck the most.

A New Environment

Students were hit with adjustments they never dreamed of having to make, as online schooling from home seemed to be reserved for those who were homeschooled, rather than the norm across the world. Seniors missed their prom, graduation, and rites of passage that they spent the last 12 years of their lives vying towards. Kindergarten teachers were forced to figure out a way to teach young children their ABCs through a computer screen when keeping them engaged in person was difficult enough as it was. This time was truly a demonstration of hard work, as somehow our teachers and students pulled through to make it as smooth a transition as possible if it even was possible.

However, as two years have made this reality stop being our “new normal” and simply become our “normal,” how has COVID impacted our students?

Looking Towards the Future

For the most part, teachers are currently working to help students get back into the habit of brick-and-mortar learning, given that many had grown accustomed to typing up digital assignments rather than writing them by hand. They’re trying to boost morale, as disengagement was rather common from those who were confined to their four walls for a year and a half. The loss of school spirit is not the only one students are facing, as the loss of motivation is affecting grades, GPAs, and aspirations alike. These issues can be counteracted with time but there is no denying that the seclusion of the past two years is at fault for it.

There is no telling when society will return to what we used to know, as a world without masks seems almost foreign to us given that we’ve come to see them as a commodity. Yet, not all hope is lost. Just as our students are beginning to get back to their old routines and get used to the world as we know it, society is more than likely to soon follow suit.