Mid-Hudson News has launched a “Student Journalist” section to allow elementary, middle, and high-school students to write essays or “news as they see it” for submission. The following is an essay from one of our “Student Journalists”, Roxanne “Roxy” Hermann-McNamara.
POUGHKEEPSIE – I am relatively new to high school, at Poughkeepsie Day School (PDS) and even though we are far past the middle of the school year, I finally felt like I was getting into a rhythm and pattern in my schedule. This was a time where I could experience more things than middle school and hang out with my friends more. Now that COVID-19 has had its outbreak, I feel that this opportunity was kind of taken away from many students, including myself.
COVID-19 has been quite a struggle for a lot of us in the world. I feel like a lot of us didn’t realize how extreme the situation was until we were aware that someone we knew had the virus and had suffered from it. A little while ago I realized that this virus, this time period, will all soon be history. Now, we don’t know when this time period will end or when the virus will stop spreading, but we do know that at the rate we are moving at, in the future, we can call this history. It’s like how we know about the Bubonic Plague how that killed around 200 million people, or how we know about the Flu Pandemic that happened in 1918-1920 that killed around 50 million people. This time right now can hopefully last less than the span of 2 years if we stay safe and inside our houses and we get the help that we need.
My family and I have personally been affected by the virus, some of our family relatives and friends have passed away or suffered from the virus and it’s affecting more people every day.
This virus has affected our lives greatly. For example, how we live, our routines, how we work, how we learn, how we buy the necessary things we need to live, like food and medical needs. There are people who are unemployed or soon going to be unemployed at the moment and their planning revolved around the uncertainty of our world today. This must be very scary and nerve-racking to many families.
Currently, my school is participating in distance learning and it was pretty easy to adjust to, but I feel like a lot of the students would rather be in school, believe it or not. My school is a very technology-based school so I feel that the PDS students had an easier time adjusting to an online school than others might have. We have gotten more work than usual and it is weird learning in the same environment that I sleep and rest and it takes my motivation away from my learning a tiny bit. I think that it is important that the students who are participating in distance learning, start to have a routine and wake up at a consistent time. I feel like having a routine will make distance learning easier for most students because they will get used to having all of their classes online and having certain times to “go” to each class.
In conclusion, this time is definitely very hard for all of us and I think the only way to overcome it is to follow the directions and rules that are given to us, provide for your families, and try and stay positive.
About the author:
My name is Roxanne Hermann-McNamara, but I go by Roxy, and I am 15 yrs old and currently a student at Poughkeepsie Day School. I live with my father who is a city councilman for the 8th ward in the City of Poughkeepsie. He works really hard on keeping our neighborhoods clean, maintained, and healthy. Currently, I am in 9th grade at PDS and I am really interested in theater, music, and the arts. This school provides experienced teachers for those teaching positions and I feel like I learn a lot about theater, music, and the arts at this school. I am on a couple of the PDS sports teams like volleyball and ultimate frisbee. In previous years, I have been on their soccer and basketball teams. Outside of school, my world revolves around my family and friends and music and photography. All four of those things allow me to be who I want and support me in whatever I do.
If you have a student that is interested in writing a submission, please send an email to Todd Bender at bender@midhudsonnews.com and include a brief bio and picture of the student along with a note from the parent giving us permission to edit and post the story and photograph.
