Covid’s Impact on Schools

To the Editor,

Covid has impacted teenagers in many ways. We have missed school due to being quarantined or having Covid. Most of the schoolwork is virtual now, but some isn’t. When you miss school, it causes you to get behind and makes it harder when you have to teach yourself especially if it is a new skill that was taught. It also makes it harder to keep your grades up. I completed a project this semester on the effects of Covid on other students in my school. Here is what I found at Dresden High School. Covid has caused many emotional and behavioral changes in everyone. I gathered some research and put together a presentation and went to a few classrooms in my school, presented, gave out surveys, and looked at how the rest of my peers were affected. Many have lost motivation, many have gained anxiety and depression, many have felt lonely during this time, mood changes have been experienced and some of my peers still fear being in large groups of people. The whole world is becoming more introverted and there is noticeably less socialization. I presented to them to show that Covid has caused many changes in our lives and obstacles we will have to overcome. I gave a list of a few coping mechanisms such as make sure to keep up normal healthy things like eating meals, drinking water, stay in touch with family or close friends, keep things as normal as possible like if you had a routine that got messed up, make a new one or try to get the old one going again. I strongly pushed that it was okay to talk to someone. If it’s a parent, a teacher, guardian, any trusted adult or even going to a therapist can help a lot more than you may think. There are many changes, but we have to deal with them and push through.

I decided to get vaccinated after thinking and reading articles about the vaccine and not wanting to miss the activities during my senior year. Research has proven that those who are vaccinated are less likely to get covid and if they do get covid the vaccinated don’t have it as bad as the unvaccinated. Vaccinations have been around forever and the majority of us have gotten at least 15 vaccinations growing up. Vaccinations cut down on sickness and disease in our country. The Covid vaccine is no different than the flu or the vaccines you received growing up. I am just tired of hearing how vaccines are unsafe due to what is in them. Last time I checked, there are more than 78 million people in the US that have had Covid and more than 949,000 deaths. These numbers alone are why we should do all that we can do to prevent Covid from spreading or killing another person in society. I want to get back to more normalcy in society as I get ready to go to college this fall.

Respectfully,

LeeAnne Morefield

Dresden