Students feel stress of school closure

On Saturday Mar. 21 New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued a stay-at-home order to prevent the fast pace spread of the coronavirus. With this order comes the closure of schools, certain business and almost everything to do outside of the house is off-limits. Gatherings for any reason including weddings and funerals are off-limits as well. 

While in quarantine and isolated from family and friends, it seems the only thing to do is sit, wait, work and repeat. This constant cycle of being stuck in the house can be difficult for many people. 

This time comes with a lot of anxiety and stress for people of all ages, especially high school students. It is easy to lose yourself during this process, so it is important to find something to keep you sane. 

“I like to walk my dog or go for short drives,” senior Mia Lonergan said. “It is something to get me out of my house and clear my mind for a short amount of time.”

“I like to stay active,” sophomore Joe Mihalik said. “I usually will do something every once in my while with my family.” 

While some people are handling these unprecedented times well, others, especially juniors, are finding it a little more difficult to complete their physical school work. 

“I never thought I would actually want to go to school more in my life,” junior Catherine Traynor said. “We are getting more work than we would in school, and it is easier to procrastinate because you are at home with many distractions. I also miss my friends.”

“I am genuinely disappointed that we were not able to finish out the marking period in school” junior Isabella Jezco said. “I am very stressed because junior year is so important and I feel like this change with no summative grades has affected me negatively.”

The idea of juniors and seniors missing out on such fun and staple activities that every high schooler wants to experience is causing even more stress. 

“Most of us were looking forward to prom this entire year, we were so close, and now it is just taken away from us,” junior Abby Lonergan said. “I think I speak for most, if not all, of the juniors when I say we are extremely disappointed.”

For seniors, school closure is lost time to make memories with their friends before they all separate in the fall. Additionally, they are missing out on their awaited senior activities. 

“Not only do I need some sort of structure to be able to get my work done, but there are so many activities we might miss out on that I have been looking forward to like senior ball and even our graduation,” senior Nuala Hanley said. “It is upsetting that so many of these activities are once in a lifetime, and we will not be able to experience something so memorable.”

The stress, anxiety and disappointment of this change is throwing student’s lives off track. It is necessary to everyone finds a way to cope to deal with the situation in the best way possible.