by Pratham Dalal
I haven’t had physical contact with anyone in at least a month and a half. I feel like Tom Hanks in Castaway… but with hours of The Office on Netflix. Before the COVID-19 quarantine, I never realized how impactful human contact was, and never realized how much it motivated me.
I’m a junior in high school and my school year is about to end. Just weeks ago, I was enjoying my academics, learning, and making new friends. I was really enjoying my life and I felt like I had found my place. I was starting to enjoy school because of all the people. I worked hard so that I would have more time to celebrate with them.
Now with school closed, it’s hard to continue making memories. There are people I never got to say goodbye to and they are now graduating and are off to college. I expected to be reminiscing about Spring Break, thinking about future summer plans with my friends, and ending this school year on a bang. Instead, my friends and I are at home, isolated from each other and the place that brings us together — school is no longer the place that we can meet.
This school closure has made me realize that nothing is permanent. As a 17-year-old, I’m in the final stage of a transition between childhood and adulthood. I have started thinking about my future. I only have one year of high school left, and the time I have left with my friends is limited. Quarantine is temporary, but we’re facing more permanent changes in the future. I have to make sure I enjoy this moment because this next year is going to be the last time our school is in this united community. As Ed Helms once said in The Office, “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you’ve left them”.
YR Raw 