Quarantine has brought a lot of stress, anxiety, and the feeling of being overwhelmed. This is something that we have all experienced starting Friday, March 13th 2020 to present day. 

Luckily, Lakeland High School has made the exception to continue the five days a week schedule but shortened the school day by an hour, while other schools are currently attending online school for two days a week and pretty much are already in quarantine. 

Lakeland is taking precautions and whenever someone is tested positive they, along with the people they’ve been closest to, will be quarantined for 14 days or until they get their test back proving they do not have COVID. 

Berg Zednik, a Sophomore, has said his grades have been drastically impacted due to his 14 day quarantine. “You don’t receive the in person, hands-on learning experience. That really affects how you learn because it’s like trying to teach yourself information on a subject that is new to you.” 

Though quarantine can negatively impact people, many students who get quarantined enjoy the 14 days out of school. Few don’t do their homework/assignments while the rest do the best they can. 

“It has arguably been the most stressful two weeks of my life.” Berg stated. 

Some students have been lucky and haven’t had to be quarantined but a Sophomore named Kaylee Alexander has been quarantined twice. That means she is going to miss a total of four weeks of school if she doesn’t get tested. 

Kaylee states, “My grades have been dropping because I have to take most tests in person at school but some teachers put in F’s as placeholders until I take them.” 

The reason she has to take tests at school is because the teachers are worried students will cheat. “Keeping up is a struggle because you have to learn every new concept/topic mostly on your own.” 

She’s thankful that the second week of her quarantine is spent over Thanksgiving break, Saturday November 20th to Sunday November 29th, meaning she doesn’t have to worry about missing more school and her assignments pilling up on her. 

Who knows when the COVID spread will slow down or who knows when people won’t care anymore. 

So many people are “getting COVID” yet our school doesn’t have a mask mandate and many students struggle with online school. It is arguable that in order to stay in school we need to wear masks because with how many people are getting called out of school it will get to the point where the whole school will shut down and some won’t have the opportunity to do their electives because they are hands on. For example, welding, cooking classes, and pottery.