In early spring of 2020, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, issued a “Stay at Home order” to keep Californian residents healthy and to establish a consistent quarantine statewide. This move by Newsom was met with extreme backlash because he was the first governor to put an entire state into quarantine.
Nevertheless, to keep in line with the nationwide pandemic status from COVID-19, Los Osos High School closed its doors and started establishing distance learning. For the rest of 2020 and 2021, the school would remain closed as long as the nationwide quarantine was in effect.
The COVID-19 lockdown majorly impacted students, with the lockdown looking slightly different depending on a student’s age and grade. For students who are now seniors (class of 2026), the lockdown began at the end of sixth grade, with what was supposed to be two weeks off from school, but turned into a lockdown that lasted for almost all of seventh grade.
For students who were seniors in high school when the lockdown hit, their entire senior year experience was completely derailed. Students didn’t get a grad night, senior sunset, or even prom, and had to have a “drive-through” graduation.
“The lockdown hit around the start of spring break, so it was right when we were getting excited for your typical ‘senior things’ and we got none of it,” said Los Osos alumnus Madison Swilling.
Now, half a decade later, all that seems to have remained of this event are fragmented memories; some loosely resembling staying at home for the whole day, glitchy Zoom meetings, and tabbing out of class to play video games, watch online videos, or whatever else your browsing history consisted of.
Yet, it is unmistakable that, like many things in American society, Los Osos has significantly changed after the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak. Even back in February of 2020, if you were to go up to a teacher or student about Zoom, the answer you’d most likely receive is, “What the heck is that?”
Teachers clearly struggled to establish and maintain new methods of managing unorganized children.
However, one huge change that was brought with the pandemic was the usage of Canvas.
“We didn’t just go to Zoom,” English teacher Carlos Moreno said. “The biggest thing was we transferred to Canvas at the same time, and we were learning all about it on Zoom. It was a little bit of a nightmare; some of us [teachers] were almost in tears trying to figure out Canvas.”
In a chaotic series of events, both teachers and students were learning these new online programs during Zoom meetings. This was a very stressful and unfamiliar time for many of the students and teachers, yet the changes that have occurred during this time have greatly affected the school today. Canvas, once an unfamiliar “beast,” is now something we students have become very adept at using for keeping track of our schoolwork and grades.
As crazy and drastic as the road to recovery and adapting was–and to an extent, still is–during the pandemic, it has allowed Los Osos staff and faculty to become more flexible in dealing with future events. Students, teachers, and parents alike have become more proficient in utilizing technology and becoming familiar with online tools for managing classes and activities that students use as they get involved in various activities on campus or for life after high school.
However, even though much good has been brought by recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, some significant details show that students have not fully recovered from quarantine, even five or four years later. A statistic from Harmony Healthcare IT shows that the average American spends 5 hours and 16 minutes daily on their phones.
This rise of addiction to cellphones has resulted in many negative impacts for academics, such as falling test scores, general distraction from class, and declining sleep quality. Overall, post-quarantine student behavior has been subpar in comparison to before the lockdown.
Moreno comments, “…students came back [after the pandemic] with lots of discipline issues. We used to have only one dean of discipline; now we have two.”
Not only did the pandemic affect behavioral issues, but the lockdown also had a catastrophic toll on students’ and teachers’ mental health.
“I felt bad for kids whose only place they could zoom in from was in their bedroom, and they were being forced to have their camera on in their most private space,” said Randall Shorts, the drama teacher at Los Osos.
At the start of the lockdown, a study from the National Institute of Mental Health showed that the lockdown caused a 25 percent increase in the prevalence of depression and anxiety nationwide.
Shorts continued, “There’s very little positive that came out of that time for sure, COVID kinda ruined everything. But I will say that it really kind of forced us to focus more on the mental health of our kids and our staff. We came out of it kind of saying that as a school, mental health has to be a focus of ours.”
As far in the past as the Coronavirus lockdown may seem for us, it’s been shown that we have not yet fully recovered. Its far-reaching effects still impact the school environment today in often subtle ways. Yet, the student body and staff of Los Osos grew and overcame the challenges that COVID brought into our lives.
Los Osos has proven to be a supportive and attentive community, catering to students’ needs. Though our struggles may persist in certain ways, such as electronic addiction or struggling with classes, we will find support and encouragement from fellow students and teachers.