Four years ago, schools for over 168 million children, including Hudson High, closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For over a year, students had to learn online or in masks and with socially distanced desks. Many aspects of online learning still occur today in class, such as the increased computer usage during the school day.
“It’s crazy to think about how the time from when COVID started is the same amount of time until we graduate,” said freshman Jane Yates.
COVID-19 was first detected in December 2019 in China but wasn’t declared a global pandemic until March 11, 2020. Three years later, in May 2023 it was pronounced over. Even though people are still testing positive, the seriousness of COVID-19 has been mitigated with the use of vaccines and health protocols, but still infecting people around us.
“It was weird to be online for my first year of middle school, there wasn’t much work but I missed seeing everyone in person,” said eighth grader Sydney Roush.
Eighth graders this year started the pandemic while in their last year of elementary school.
“The pandemic affected the Class of 2028 because it was supposed to be our first year of middle school and people were hoping for a smooth transition but everything went sideways,” said Roush.
During that time, due to many stern restrictions, people came up with solutions to everyday celebrations. Many drive-by birthday “parties” occurred to see loved ones, shopping in person switched to online shopping, and masks needed to be required whenever we left our homes.
Students tried to find fun any way they could.
“During the pandemic, I loved to play video games because I had so much free time, and not being able to leave the house,” said senior Lauren Shurling.
Shurling was supposed to play her first softball season in 8th grade but was moved to “fall 2”.
Staff around the Hudson community have also had difficulty getting used to the sudden change from seeing students in person to seeing students from their homes.
“I was teaching from my dining room on a screen. I was trying to figure out how to teach the way I do in a classroom,” said English Language Arts teacher, Jacqueline Paton.
HHS accomplished much during this time and came up with more ways for the community to come together after the pandemic. We have hosted many school events and sports events. Although ARC was piloted 2018-2019 school year and to begin as the permanent part of the schedule in 2020, it was delayed due to the pandemic.
Now four years later, we’re all back in school and working together as a community.
“We had to build a plane while we were flying it,” said Paton.
