What Have We Learned From The 2020-2021 School Year?

What+Have+We+Learned+From+The+2020-2021+School+Year%3F

Through this past year, we have been in a tunnel filled with darkness and no hope, however, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel and it has allowed us to become optimistic of all the good that will come. This year has been filled with twists and turns that have taught us lessons about ourselves in every way. We learned minor things about ourselves and also major things that can be life-changing. These lessons will stick with us our whole life and will allow us to continue to grow in the most fulfilling way.

It has been filled with many challenges starting with coronavirus disease itself. We had to adapt to online school like never before and we had to keep going even though so much was happening around us. Many students witnessed family members getting sick around them and have lost family members and friends due to the pandemic and have felt a sense of absence in their life that could not be replaced. Many parents have lost their jobs and as result, many students struggled financially and had to get jobs themselves to fill the empty spot in their family while still doing school. In addition, many students have struggled mentally and have lost motivation to maintain good grades. This year has been one of the most difficult years for every student however it also taught us so much about ourselves and the people around us in the best way possible.

This year has been filled with many learning experiences and students including myself have learned various things about one another that we have never been able to understand. As a student at Westside, this year was very challenging for me and I lost motivation to keep going with school several times. I spent this year staying at home, not hanging out with my friends, and lost things that used to give me a lot of happiness. This experience has taught me how truly important it is to keep going even when things get hard. It taught me that although life can be hard it is important to keep going and strive to do the best you can. Before this year, I never used to understand this concept and used to slack until this year I truly witnessed this first hand. This taught me that even when life is in flames there is only one thing to do and that is to keep going. This year also taught me to make the most out of situations and to appreciate the good things around me instead of focusing on all of the bad.

I asked my peers about this year and what they learned from this prolonged experience. Many students stated that they learned how to conform and adapt. As a student, I unquestionably agree with this statement and this has been something students including myself have learned. With the pandemic, we experienced things that many before us have never before gone through which put us in a difficult position. In order to be safe, students had to adapt to online school or go to school with masks and social distancing procedures. Personally, doing online school was especially difficult because it was hard to adapt to it and learn in this new way. However, after almost a year we finally mastered it and were able to adapt in this new way. It has taught us how to adapt for the better and overcome new challenges.

With these new learning experiences, it also created lifelong lessons that will stick with us throughout the rest of our high school education and through college. These learning experiences will allow us to grow into the people we aspire to be. It will help us continue with school and will help us with any future obstacles that we may come across.

Although it has been a long and in many times dreadful, we as students have learned so much about ourselves and life lessons that will create many new opportunities for ourselves. In 10 years, we will think about this experience and still reference the things we learned this past year. Good job to all students who have overcome their struggles and made something great from this long and new experience! Thank you for a year of following procedures and guidelines, it has finally paid off!