We’ve spent months wearing all types of masks to prevent catching Covid-19. But, with time, we found better ways of keeping ourselves safe. As more people get vaccinated and fewer Covid cases arise, California, along with other states, eased on the mask mandate. Recently the California Governor, Gavin Newsom, stated that starting March 1, the state may allow the public to enter the indoors without a mask. After March 11, places such as schools and daycare centers may also drop the mask mandate. This announcement was met with different reactions. Students all over Poly shared their views on the announcement.
In response to how he thinks the mask mandate lift may work out, 10th grader Omar Estrada said, “I personally see no difference since everyone already basically has no masks outside of class but overall I think everything will be the same.” 11th grader, Jessica Diaz believes that we will see a split all around the school between students with masks and without.
In addition, 11th grader Danisha Bo said, “People should keep wearing their masks, not everybody is vaccinated, and people will get more sick, it will spread exponentially to the point we might go back to zoom.” Bo also added that people should get vaccinated and be mindful of other students, as they might have people at home like elderly people or people who can’t afford to get covid at home.
11th grader Jannah Mohammed believes that if people want to wear their masks is up to them, as she understands it gets hot, and hard to breathe, especially in some classrooms that don’t have an AC. 11th grader Vanessa Cruz said that she doesn’t care if students want to wear their masks, it’s up to them. They all agreed that they would continue to wear their masks to stay safe and believe people should not judge others for wearing or not wearing their masks.
When asked if they think the lift will create an impact such as a surge, Diaz said, “I don’t think so because there’s a vaccine for it. I think it’s going to be normal.” Estrada said, “Yeah, Covid cases at our school may increase a bit more. But nothing big enough to shut down schools for two years again.”
Overall some students like Diaz, Estrada, Bo, Mohammed, Cruz all mentioned that they would continue wearing their masks in their classrooms.
Wearing masks became the new norm. Only being able to see eyes and the top of heads is something expected when going outside. Most were fine with wearing them, knowing it would ensure their safety, while others had difficulty with the mandate. When the vaccine was created, many received the shot, which made a better fighting immune system against Covid. Having the vaccine, vaccine booster, and wearing a mask were all great combinations for avoiding Covid-19. Now, with the choice of wearing masks, there is no knowing how things will work out. All you can do is decide on whether you want to continue wearing masks or not, the choice is yours.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, I have learned a lot about myself and my ambitions. Moreover, one thing that I have learned that to achieve my goals I have to both believe in my dreams and believe that my dreams will come true. I have learned this after a year of losses and failures followed by lessons and successes. All of my challenges during track practice, online schooling and just life in general has forced me to grow up, manage time and even take time off for myself when I need to. Especially track practice, with us seniors having so much pressure to perform and put our names out there, I’ve been forced to believe in myself and all of my hard work. Because of these challenges, I have become even more ambitious, hard working and confident. In fact, I don’t think I truly knew and felt the definitions of ambition, hard work and confidence until this year.
Xandria Hines
This past year, going through school during the pandemic has been one of the weirdest times of my life. It’s sucked in so many ways, but nothing good goes to anyone without hardship. When the pandemic started, I thought that Covid infection rate would cool off enough for schools to be open by fall. It didn’t. But I was surprised to find that the online classes, the work, and my attention, seemed much easier than usual. It was common for me to get a large barrage of A’s with a B or two mixed in, but now on the honor roll, I’ve been able to find my preferred, and more productive way, of taking classes, and will most likely test this out more in-depth in the future, though hopefully not in the same circumstance.
Sierra Brott-Hunter
The Covid-19 pandemic taught me not to take anything for granted, it showed who are my real friends. You should spend more time with loved ones and you should enjoy life. That time and life is very valuable and precious . It taught me that I can focus on my mental and physical health more, and also made me more mature. It has changed me in a positive way. Online school can be easy but hard and I have learned to find myself and become who I want to be. I have learned something new. I’ve learned to play the keyboard, though I’m not that great at it yet. I can go in my backyard and do school work instead of staying inside, I can take my dogs for a run. It taught me a lot of interior design and I also got better at painting.
Kelly Rodriguez
The past year we have been in the pandemic I learned things about myself; self-love was the first important thing. I also went away for a month to Georgia. I started to appreciate nature. I went to Georgia with my two sisters and my cousin. We went to visit my mom’s sister and her kids. It was great. I got really close to my cousins. I also went hiking a lot. I learned that nature is so pretty – like, I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. It was a way to keep me calm. It helps a lot just seeing nature. You get a lot of things out of your mind. I feel like I have grown. I want to be independent now without my mom doing it for me.
Zinia Francis
The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed me to become closer with myself. With not being able to see many of my loved ones and with many outdoor activities being cancelled, I was forced to be my own entertainment. To occupy myself, I explored my interest in many different areas, such as cooking, trying new foods, doing hair, working out, reading books, and writing. Doing these activities have brought me to feel comfort in my own company. During the pandemic I also realized that, like many people, I never used the time I had alone productively. I was constantly trying to avoid being alone and in the process I didn’t take advantage of being by myself. I have grown strong mentally in this past year. I thank the pandemic for my growth.
Alex Phouma
I think the pandemic helped people find out what they want out of life. Since we had to go into a lockdown in the beginning of the pandemic, it gave people time to think. For example I know people have had to rethink where they wanna work or what they want to do, and some students are thinking about college. For me, as a senior in high school, turning 18, it made me think about college and what I want to do as a career. I just think that helped people think about life.
Scenes from the Rapid Assessment Clinic in LBCC (Friday April 10)
City workers clean up graffiti after protests in June
A store owner stands in her storefront fixing broken windows and picking up glass
Drive-thru graduation 2020
Teachers cheer on students at the drive-thru graduation
Liquor Store sits closed and streets remain empty on September 3rd
A Poly High School student, Zion Wilkins, attends a 7:50 am Zoom meeting.
Businesses put up signs informing customers to stay six feet apart from each other and to wear masks at all times.
Murals are painted on boards that establishments in Downtown Long Beach put up due to recent protest resulting from the murder of a black man, George Floyd, by police officers. In this painting 3 black people who have died due to police brutality are painted surrounded many victims last words.
Drive-thru graduation 2020
March 13, 2020, a date which will live in infamy. There are other dates that marked the beginning of the Covid-19 era for other groups of people – for NBA players, coaches, and fans it might be Rudy Gobert’s positive test on March 11, the same day the WHO also officially characterized the spread of coronavirus as a pandemic. But for teachers and students, that Freaky Friday the 13th was the last day in the classroom – and for many students, the last day with their friends – for over a year.
This is a collection of thoughts from the High Life staff and adviser about what we have missed over the past 13 months – or what we feel we have missed out on.
Xandria Hines, Staff Writer
I feel like I missed out on an entire year of my life. My family and I were supposed to do some travelling and visiting family. Getting together and celebrating smaller achievements and happy moments. My friends and I, too, most of whom are other seniors, won’t be able to have a normal prom or graduation. We would be standing so far apart from one another, unable to dance like weirdos or mingle with other groups, that there would be no point in going. Most of the smaller things in life you look forward to aren’t possible, because they’re done outside, or with others. It kind of sucks all the emotions out of you, and I miss that as well.
Sierra Brott-Hunter, Staff Writer
I feel what I missed out is going to family gatherings. I missed out on seeing my best friend that lives an hour away and missed going to her birthday. I missed going to Disneyland, Knotts, going to the park. Missed going to concerts. I miss seeing my friends and going to movies with and just having fun. Just going outside. I miss going to the mall and just being able to chill. I miss going bowling. Going on trips with friends and family.
Kelly Rodriguez, Staff Writer
I feel like I missed out on being a teenager. I am going to be 18 already and we’ve been in quarantine for a year. I didn’t get to be in school doing fun things, going to games, or hanging out with friends since it wasn’t safe. Also, my friend’s parents were scared to let their kids out because it wasn’t safe. Another thing is that I spend my time on the TV and on my phone. I think that my whole family can’t stand each other because we weren’t able to go out and it was all of us in a house, fighting most of the time because we didn’t have space. Till this day my friend can’t go out because her parents are still scared. I only have one friend now. I lost touch with everyone I use to hang out with a lot.
Alex Phouma, Staff Writer
Something that I feel like I missed out on is my last year of high school. For seniors it’s our last year of high school, and after high school you have to become more independent and responsible. You gotta worry about college, for those who decided to go, while balancing working, and the little milestones like being leading and able to drive to get to those places.
Caleb Dunomes, Staff Writer
Throughout the beginning of the pandemic everyone had lost access to so many experiences and activities. Things like access to loved ones and significant others, big sporting events and even once in a lifetime school experiences. Personally, I have missed out on the true teenager experience. With both my junior and senior year being taken away I’ve lost the opportunity to go to dances, go to big track meet invitationals (like Arcadia, Redondo, Arizona and more), and even events outside of school. It felt like I was on the top of the world, going to Disneyland during February (before Covid was seen as a threat) directly after three months filled with events like club events, track meets, Black college expos and fun memories with my friends. Now it feels like I won’t be able to experience that anymore. My life now has just been working, track practice and homework assignments. Covid has made me feel like I’m being forced into growing up without experiencing things that teenagers experience. Now all us seniors can do is grow and face the unpredictable future.
Zinia Francis, Staff Writer
The past year has felt like someone pressed fast forward. I feel like I have missed a significant part of my teenage years. Since I was younger I’ve always wanted to have a true high school/teenage experience like going out after school with friends, sleep overs, hanging out on the weekends, going to amusement parks and having parties. So far as a seventeen year old I haven’t experienced the fun I have been yearning for. The Covid pandemic started when I was sixteen and I will be eighteen in three months. Up until I was sixteen I hadn’t had many outings with friends or was very social in general . I had begun to come out of my shell shortly before the quarantine. I’ve missed out on being social and simply taking advantage of having no responsibility.
Daryl Holmlund, Adviser
Immediately after the home quarantine began, I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to visit my 99 year-old grandma over Spring Break in April – not just because flying to Chicago by plane seemed incredibly risky at the time, but also because she was in a retirement home that was locked down to keep the virus out. Grandma turned 100 in March, and while some family members visited her for her birthday, most of us didn’t feel safe or right flying in and potentially bringing the virus with us to infect other family members. We had a nice Zoom call with family, but it wasn’t the same, and I can’t help but think that if circumstances were different, we would have had a bit of a family reunion. I’m hopeful that I’ll get to see grandma and others this summer, but it won’t be the same as it would have been celebrating on her actual birthday.
The Long Beach Post has reported that Long Beach Unified School District is set to receive $99.4 million in federal funds from the December 2020 relief package. The money is based on LBUSD’s low-income and otherwise disadvantaged Title 1 student population. LBUSD spokesperson Chris Eftychiou told the Long Beach Post in an email that the district has been using federal funds from the earlier relief package for “technology, professional development, nutrition of students, distance learning and personal protective equipment.”
But what do Poly students think the district should use the money on? Our panel of writers made some suggestions.
Xandria Hines
With the grant of 99.4 million dollars given to the Long Beach Unified School District through the government’s relief funding, a lot of betterment can be done to the schools that LBUSD resides over, as well as those who work and learn there.
With everyone stuck within their own homes for the time being, possibly until the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022, using that amount of money to tear down and rebuild some of the worst areas of the older schools would be a possible endeavor that could be done with the money. Allowing the schools to remain closed until the autumn/winter semester of 2022 would give the school board enough time to plan, budget, and rebuild some of the worst buildings that could become hazardous.
If the reconstruction of hazardous areas is not a priority, however, the money could still be used for the reconstruction of schools, changing some of the unused, and more unused bathrooms into “sanitary stations”. With Covid-19 back on the rise in early 2021, schools may need to push back in-class schooling until the vaccine is distributed regularly and avoid of more severe effects, but for those who simply will not wait for such a time, having stations within the school where children and teens can pick up gloves to replace their ripped ones, pick up or refill their hand sanitizer, or replace masks they might accidentally throw away or break would help everyone stay safe at school.
Using that money to redo anything about the standing school (repainting, cleaning, new desks, new supplies, etc.) would be a positive change for any high schooler that would be going back to school when it’s finally safe to do so.
Chansochata Thon
As an LBUSD student, I believe the most important area in which the budget can go is investing in better laptops for the students who cannot afford their own. First of all, the chromebooks that the school provides are not guaranteed to work well. Many of my friends and myself have a chromebook from school, and we have faced many issues. My chromebook, in particular, cannot handle having more than three tabs open when I am using zoom. This is a problem, because teachers usually require us to have multiple tabs open, whether it be a google doc, website, or peardeck. When I do have my zoom and more than 3 tabs open, the zoom becomes laggy and I cannot access the websites quickly, and at times I get disconnected. This causes stress, especially if the teacher gives a timed assignment. In addition, when I do get disconnected, I struggle in refocusing when I rejoin.
In addition, the school can direct some of the money in helping students transition to a life with COVID-19. By this, I mean helping students cope and learn what to do when a family member is hospitalized. For me, when my dad was diagnosed with COVID-19, my family and I struggled in knowing what to do when he was sick, especially when his condition worsened. There seemed to be a lack of clarity of what to do, especially when we called an ambulance they would not take him to the hospital. So we had to take him to a hospital ourselves but did not know whether to go to urgent care or the emergency room. Furthermore, when he was admitted to the hospital, we had difficulty in learning how to pay bills. This caused immense stress, interrupting my motivation to learn. I believe some resources that may help include available/well known hot-lines or places that can aid families with bills, grocery, and information. In addition, these resources should also provide access for those whose first language is not English.
Lastly, a resource that can directly help students during distanced learning is one-on-one tutors or a mentor who can track their grade and provide them support; this can be a tutor who students check up with or just someone who can be relied on for advice. These tutors should go towards the students who are evidently struggling the most with online school and want help (because if they need help but do not want it there will be lots of resistance on their part). This program could assure that the students who do not have the support at home can have access to what they need through Poly.
Sierra Brott-Hunter
I think that LBUSD SHOULD use the money on giving the students cord baggies filled with mask, hand sanitizer, thermometer. They also should provide better food. This is a good idea because if the students do not have a clean mask at home they have a mask in the bag. Another reason this a good idea to spend the money on the baggies is so students have hand sanitizer with them at all times and it would be easy to get out their backpacks they can also use it if they are in a rush between classes. A third reason this a good idea that should use the money on is the students have a thermometer to see if they have a fever before they go to school to let them know if they should stay home or not. I also think that LBUSD should use the money on better food. This is a good idea because the school food now is okay, but it is not the best food.
Mental health, though often stigmatized, has been an issue since before Covid 19 shifted our everyday lives. Now, as stay at home orders displace us from our work and school environments and our everyday routine, mental health continues to be a top issue, especially among young people.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10–20% of adolescents globally experience mental health conditions, yet these remain undiagnosed and untreated.
At least one in five youth aged 9–17 years currently has a diagnosable mental health disorder that causes some degree of impairment; one in 10 has a disorder that causes significant impairment.
Regardless of whether youth have a diagnosed or undiagnosed disorder, factors such as isolation, fear, and a lack of engagement with friends and peers can negatively affect a young person’s mental health and lead to stress and anxiety.
As social distancing, isolation, and online learning become the norm, how has this taken a toll on students’ mental well-being? Four Poly students were asked how the Covid 19 pandemic has affected their mental health personally. Here’s what they said:
Lizette Karina Ramon, Pace Senior
“It’s been so hard because I’ve had a lack of motivation for doing things. This whole situation is depressing, and the way our country is handling this pandemic is frustrating. My mental health has not been the best because I try my best to be optimistic but the way things are going, I don’t think they are going to get better soon. I’m just very tired mentally.”
Luis Cuahtli Sanchez, Justice Junior
“You lose a lot of motivation for doing school work just for passing, it’s like they’re simply giving us things to do and not giving things for us to learn.
But I’ve forced myself to get used to this because this pandemic will last a long while so it’s better to make it easier for me rather than harder.
But still….just knowing this virus is out there and there’s no vaccine just scares me, it can infect anyone, my friends, my family and even me. But there’s no point in being scared all day, there are still things that have to be done and we can only hope for the best outcome for everyone in the future and hope this ends soon. This has affected me quite a lot and it takes time to get used to it.”
Maya Morales, CIC Freshman
“The first few weeks were easy mentally. I was being lazy but I was happy. After about a month or so, I started to feel depressed. It went on for a few days and the whole time I didn’t leave my house at all. I didn’t want to go anywhere and for some reason, I would just listen to sad music and make myself even more sad and cry. So dramatic!
I think just being inside all the time and feeling a little lonely because my sister, my mom and my dad would work for so long, it messed with me a little. But I learned you just need to be a little more active and not simply do homework and stay in the house all day. Working-out or any physical exercise like a walk helps boost your mental health and makes you a little more productive.”
Lance Manago, Meds Senior
“I’m doing pretty good honestly. Online school is okay, but I just miss everything about waking up early and driving to school and seeing all my friends and teachers.
I would say it didn’t affect my mental health but rather affected my physical health. I’m an outside person, I love being outside and try to be active every day.
I was also looking forward to graduation and prom and grad night, it truly sucks what class of 2020 has to go through”
