How has Quarantine Changed the Teens of Grandview

The+emptiness+of+the+classroom+reflects+the+emptiness+of+the+students+at+Grandview

Aleishia Waldron

The emptiness of the classroom reflects the emptiness of the students at Grandview

I feel worthless and am not doing anything.

It was the beginning of 2020 and many teens were buzzing around about the Coronavirus. After a relaxing Spring Break, it was announced we wouldn’t be going to school for two weeks.

Or so we thought. 

At this time Julius Dean, Tehut Christian, Sophia Vertido, and Janhavni Kulkarni were all sophomores when COVID-19 hit. Now, they are juniors ready to tell their stories and thoughts about the historical moment. 

When quarantine was first announced to the state of Colorado, adults and teens shared different reactions. Adults were stressed about the virus and how it would affect there lifestyle, while teens were thrilled about quarantine and finally getting time to themselves. 

Incidentally, the teens who were excited for quarantine got a different reality then what they were expecting.

“When quarantine first started I was definitely super stoked. I was like woah we’re living through a global pandemic, this is so exciting. Now muttering the words Covid, makes me want to gag,” said Kulkarni. 

On the topic of how the panadmeic changed their lifestyle, school was brought up. All four of them talked about the positives and negatives of how schools operated and shared ideas of how schools could have handled it better. 

“I preferred when they also gave us the work without the meetings. Like if they could just give us the work and video lectures. We could learn it on our own time. Just having to go to meetings every single day, I can’t focus,” said Vertido.

Other students also mentioned was how they wished they didn’t have to go to meetings every single day and they also wished to learn the material on their own. Sitting in front of your computer going to meetings everyday can be exhausting and frustrating at times.  

Tehut mentioned how she wished the system was different when it came to Zoom meetings and how they organized it. 

“I would much rather have a system where we go into the meeting and ask a question…so we don’t have to waste our time,” said Christian. 

Tying up the conversation about school, the next topic was started when they talked about how America handled the coronavirus. 

“How many silver linings until you [can] say things aren’t bad?” Kulkarni said, while explaining her frustration with how America was handling everything. 

Dean was also in agreement. 

“I think they could have handled it better,” said Dean. “Everyone knew it was coming.”

The group also noticed a lot of negatives in their lifestyle. The pessimistic ideals of relationships was another issue that surfaced during quarantine. 

“I noticed how people showed some of their true colors,” Christian said. “I found some really toxic people in my life because of 2020.”

Vertido also agreed.

“I think I realized over quarantine there were friends I needed to cut out,” said Vertido. 

A lot of them noticed a mental health decline in friends, family, and themselves. 

“My friend, we were hanging and he was just talking to me,” Dean said. “ He was like dude, I feel worthless and am not doing anything. I’m sitting in my room all the time and I feel so unproductive.”

Tehut, Sophia, Janhavi, and Julius will continue to hope that in the future everything goes back to the way it was. For now they, hoping that the COVID-19 pandemic will be over soon.