RACMonitor published my daughter’s essay on living through the Coronavirus. Madison would like to share it here, on my blog, as well. She is a fifteen-year-old in North Carolina and attends high school at Thales Academy.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for just about everyone nationwide, but uniquely so for America’s young students, some of whom have been robbed of the opportunity to play their favorite spring sports, attend the junior or senior prom, or even enjoy a proper graduation ceremony. As such, we at RACMonitor have asked the children of several of our key contributors to pen essays describing their personal experiences amid these life-changing times.

My name is Madison Allen. I am a 15-year-old girl who loves spending her time outdoors or hanging out with her friends. If neither of those options are available, then I don’t really know what else to do to cure boredom.

I love technology, don’t get me wrong, but I would much rather be active and enjoy nature. I have been raised in a household that doesn’t tolerate being lazy, so sitting in my room and binge-watching Netflix all day is not an option. Despite the fact that I can’t have fun in the normal ways that I am used to, I have come up with three good ways that have kept me busy during this time. Before we get into that, I feel that it is necessary to talk about when COVID appeared in my life and my first impressions of the disease.

It was a very normal Saturday afternoon. I was out hanging with my friends Nicole and Ariana when their phones go off, saying that school has been cancelled for the next two weeks. I was so happy, because from there my dad told me that all schools are doing the same due to the growing concerns for coronavirus. I only had one week of the third quarter left anyway, so no schoolwork was going to be issued to do at home or virtually. About an hour after Governor Cooper announced that school was cancelled for two weeks, my school, Thales Academy, finally sent an email out to us that read, “due to the order from Governor Cooper as of 4:30 p.m. today, all Thales Academy locations will be closing on Monday, March 16th. On Tuesday, March 17^th, school will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for students to drop in and gather any items they need to from their lockers. Report cards will be issued to students on Tuesday, March 17th at noon. Students will return to campus for fourth quarter on April 13th.”

Me, being the child I am, thought that this was awesome, because I didn’t have to take my history test anymore. Yes, that is great but I didn’t realize the harm it is doing on the world. I wasn’t thinking about others’ lives, because I never thought that something bad would happen to me. I was really selfish when I thought about not taking the history test because I only thought of how I was benefitting, while other people were and still are suffering.

Anyway, I went through spring break, and it all got worse. I wasn’t allowed to see any of my friends, and trips, special events, and even celebrations got cancelled. When spring break was over, we were told to do online school on a website called Canvas and were given certain times to log onto Zoom to talk with our teachers. I am fortunate enough to live in a house with ample space and Internet to do schoolwork. I am also fortunate that I go to such a great school that will do their best to provide great education, no matter the circumstance.

While I have been in quarantine, I have thought of three ways to cure boredom without help from a phone. The first way is that I have been taking up a new hobby called “cleaning my room.” I haven’t made very much progress with that, though. Another way I have cured boredom is by decorating a secret room in my house and making it the ideal hangout spot. Lastly, I have been going outside and taking up hobbies that I once loved, such as bow and arrow, knitting, hiking, horseback riding, and basketball.

I am now in the third week of online school, and won’t be stopping until the end of the year. Summer break is just five weeks away, and it doesn’t look like quarantine will be ending soon. I will do my best to see the good out of this troubling time, but for now I am taking life day by day.