Covid hit the world and we all had to do a double take; offices vacated and malls and airports became ghost towns. One must wonder how something like this affects the youth. 

This year’s seniors were all freshman when this global event surfaced and over the last three and a half years they have had to go through all sorts of Covid related obstacles. 

Their freshman year was cut short in March when everything shut down, which left teachers scrambling to learn how to use zoom and students being lost in a lack of productivity as sports and other such things were put on hold

Their Sophomore year was marked by hybrid learning with split classes, half online and half in person.

Their Junior year was bookmarked by everyone hiding behind my masks. 

And finally, in their senior year, they now get the freedom to have a normal high school life.

Norwood High School senior Tony Schaul reflected on his experience.

“ I feel like it affected me the most when it came to school work,” Schaul said. “I had a lot of trouble with online school and that kind of lowered my confidence with my school work and made me feel dumb. Now that it’s more normal I’ve been doing really well and I’m happy about it.”

The academic pressure that many students experienced really seemed to be detrimental to many and it is a big deal for seniors attempting to get into college because now they have to work really hard this year to get their GPA up. 

The lack of social engagement that accompanied online school also was damaging to many students as they didn’t get a chance to socialize and grow socially like prior generations.

Norwood High School Senior Jake Deshiro felt like he missed a lot from a special time in life due to Covid.

“It [Covid] didn’t give me the opportunity to be a teenager,” Deshiro said. “I didn’t get to hang out with my friends, go places, spend money, because everything was shut down and quarantined.”

Although every story has a silver lining, Deshiro reflected on that silver lining, which ironically, was Covid. 

“It was definitely a net positive because I was able to work on and improve myself,” Deshiro said.

Seeing Covid as a growth period was a way that many teenagers waded through the tough times. 

Covid provided an interesting societal pause that allowed many students to take a deep breath and reel everything back in.