Lost Opportunities and New Skills: Reflecting Back on the COVID-19 Pandemic Five Years Ago

Have you ever had the daydream of your school closing?

I know I did for many years, but then it actually happened. I can remember sitting in my living room seeing the notice on the TV saying that all Kansas public schools would be closed for the remainder of the 2020 school year and being super excited but also very confused. I did not understand why this was happening, no one I knew of or was near had been diagnosed with COVID, or knew anyone that had had it. It was all this big mystery and no one knew for sure what was going on or what would happen. All I knew at that moment is that I would not be finishing my freshman year of high school.

Not being able to finish my freshman year of high school meant no spring sports. Buhler High School had just started a swimming and diving team that year, and although I was not a Buhler student I was given the opportunity to train with the team and try to convince the activities director at Haven to allow me to co-op with them. Without a freshman season, the opportunity was lost and the activities director told me it was not possible. To say the whole situation was disappointing is an understatement. I had a chance to do the sport I loved and actually be recognized for it and it was taken away by the pandemic.

Along with that, I lost so many other experiences like my first variety show, music festivals, homecoming dances, a trip to the USA Swimming Olympic trials, two school music trips, and time with my friends. I did not realize how much I had lost until the end of my sophomore year after our school had moved from in-person to hybrid to remote back to hybrid and ended in-person, that’s when I knew how much I missed school and my peers and the teachers.

Although this all sounds negative, I actually learned a lot during the lockdown and was the healthiest I had ever been. I read over 20 books my sophomore year, I had a Duolingo streak in Spanish of over 560 days, I learned to embroider, played tennis weekly, began to cook a lot, ran four days a week, went on hour long walks everyday, played the piano a ton, and listened to a lot of Broadway music. I know most people my age just slept a lot, but I took the situation given and decided to make the most of it.

If I was going to have a ton of free time and not be able to talk to people I would make my own routine and learn as much as I could to pass the time and that’s exactly what I did. With all of the uncertainty I took what I could control and did as much as I could with it. I also tried to live with the fact that it could all go back to normal any day and eventually it did and I was ready.

Looking back, I would not want to relive the pandemic, but I do not regret my time in lockdown.

Cassidy Peterson is a Haven sophomore studying pre-pharmacy. She can be emailed at thehutchinsoncollegian@gmail.com.

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