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On March 20th, I was told for the first time that COVID-19 was affecting schools in Broward County and that I did not have to go to school for 2 weeks. At first I was ecstatic about getting a break and I thought it wouldn’t be that big of deal. 2 weeks quickly turned into a month and we transitioned into online learning. The first time I realized that COVID would play a big part in our lives is when I was told the rest of the year would be online and there was no standardized testing. Soon all the video games and isolation got boring and I wanted nothing more than to just leave my house and see my friends. We were on FaceTime all day everyday, but it wasn’t the same as seeing them in person and going to hang out at the park. On the bright side, I got to spend more time with my family, especially my brothers. We spent a lot of our time on the PlayStation and finding new multiplayer games. We also switched picking movies that we wanted to watch. Overall the quarantine was drawn out for many months and extremely tiresome, but I got many experiences with my family that I probably wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

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Q: How has COVID affected your job?
A: I do the majority of my work from home now
Q:What has been your favorite part about quarantine?
A: I got spend more time with my kids and play games with them
Q: If there was one thing you could change about what you did over your time in quarantine what would it be?
A: I wouldn’t change anything, but I wish I would have gone in the backyard and went fishing more
Q: What was your least favorite part of COVID?
A: Being restricted in the house. I love to go out even if it’s just grocery shopping.
Q: Do you wish quarantine was longer or shorter? Why?
A: Definitely shorter, while I loved being around my family I hated not being able to leave my house.

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The New York Times publishes the winner of the presidential race. After the longest vote counting in history, the Times finally released president Biden won the race.

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Q: How was your 2019 school year different from your 2020 school year?
A: It was a lot less schoolwork and I got to relax more
Q: What was your favorite part of quarantine?
A: I got to spend more time on my PS4 and caught up on sleep
Q: How has COVID affected your school?
A: I do all virtual now and I like it way more than in person school
Q: What was your least favorite thing about COVID?
A: I could barely see my friends and go to the places I love (ex:action parks)
Q: What is a new hobby you started since quarantine?
A: I started learn more about technology and how it is put together

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The Daily Mirror updates us that schools are officially closed. At first I loved online  learning but as I did it for a longer period of time the more I wanted to go back to in-person learning.

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The pandemic has really put a lot of things into perspective for me. For starters it made me realize just how important seeing and hugging your friends really is. I know I definitely didn’t realize how much it changed my mood when I would walk into school and see them and how much it truly affected me until I couldn’t do it anymore. I feel that I took a ton of things for granted that I didn’t realize were a big deal. Another thing the pandemic made me realize is how quickly everything can change. From going to school and seeing countless people everyday to being in quarantine for months is a dramatic change in students’ life. Nothing is ever guaranteed in life. This made me want to live  everyday to the fullest and enjoy life the best I can. I tried to look on the positive side more often, to look forward to new experiences. I found fun things to keep me entertained like board games with my family and Netflix shows I wanted to catch up on. This helped me keep a positive outlook on the pandemic and not let the negative outweigh everything else. All in all, being stuck in quarantine thought me a lot about life and made me view it differently.

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My life has changed dramatically since quarantine first started. Last March I went to a Charter school that I had gone to since Kindergarten. I knew everyone, and I had planned on graduating 8th grade there. In late April I went to Coach Cindy’s soccer practices and ended up making the team. Soon after I took the placement tests to get into American Heritage and I got in! What made this even better was that my best friend  since I was 5 got in this year as well. We worked together to get ready for the year and we even got a class together. Ever since August my life has been a whirlwind of homework, studying, and soccer. My old school also had a no home work policy so Heritage came as a big surprise with the workload.  This year I have been able to go to Alabama and Georgia and got to climb up mountains after my soccer games. I’ve gotten to travel a lot due to soccer which I wasn’t able to do last year because I was still too young. I have made amazing memories because I had the opportunity to travel outside of Florida and see new things. I also got to play with the junior varsity team for American Heritage. We couldn’t play any games due to COVID but we still had really fun practices. Honestly if someone told me this would be what my life was like last March I would’ve thought they were crazy.

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I went with my mom to Atlanta for 2 soccer games and in between games we went to climb a mountain 🏔

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Hand sanitizer became a big thing in my house 🧼

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The New York Times updates us on the death count of COVID-19. This was absolutely devastating to read. Many families didn’t even get to see their loved ones for one last time. I wonder how all those families got through it.

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All stores were completely sold out of toilet paper and nobody knew why!

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Another hobby I took up was baking. I baked many different things to see what I liked the most and this was my favorite, bananas with whipped cream and strawberries.

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My family and I went to go see my grandparents over winter break😁

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TV has become my replacement!

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Something I thought I would never do is draw, but when you have nothing else to do, you take on new hobbies. I made this at the beginning of quarantine😄

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During quarantine I caught up on a bunch of TV shows/movies but my favorite was Criminal Minds.

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Midnight snacks and Netflix is just hard to resist.