November: Going virtual again

Wednesday, November 13, was only the third day I went on campus and had classes in person. I was looking forward to this new form of studying, in this strange and burdensome junior year. All of that excitement and joy disappeared the moment I got the email from Mr. Micciche. Sitting in my car, watching the heavy rain bucketing down, it felt like someone was empathizing with me.   – Rain Ruan, 11th grade

I had just gotten into my car, put it in drive, and started to leave campus. My phone dinged, and I glanced and saw that Mr. Micciche had sent an email. I immediately knew it was going to break my heart. I skimmed through the email and saw “School will move to an entirely remote program beginning on Monday, November 16.” I felt my chest get tight, and I immediately FaceTimed my mom. She answered, looked at my face, and said: “I am so sorry, K. This sucks.” I teared up, but knew I wasn’t ready to really cry about it. We ended the call, and I got home, threw my backpack down, fell into my mom’s arms, and cried.   – Kayla Kurtz, 12th grade

The last day on campus for a while was really sad. It’s been super difficult being new on campus and making connections. In a way, I won’t miss it. I felt like I didn’t belong there, and couldn’t shake my paranoia that people were looking at me with nasty stares. At the same time, I didn’t get the chance to say bye to anyone I really wanted to. Covid hasn’t been difficult for me, but now it feels like I’m alone, trapped. Getting to go to campus was a way for me to watch all the people living out their lives. Now I’ll only get to see their digital counterparts as they text or pretend to be awake. I wasn’t quite there. But I felt like a part of something for a moment.   – Alice Miller, 11th grade