Grade: 12

Fav treat while at home: Keebler Club Crackers (Original and Multi-grain) 

Fav method of keeping in touch: Through texting and video calling on multiple social media apps

What you’ve binge watched: A WW2 in colour documentary

What’s driving you a bit crazy: Not being able to talk to people in person (outside of my family)

Average hours you’re sleeping: 7-8 (longer on weekends)

How you feel about Distance (online) Learning: I don’t mind it all that much, I find it’s easier to get in contact with teachers since they are online more often, and one on one chats are much easier to arrange

Where you’ll go first (when you can leave your home): Probably go out to eat at Bombay Grill or Boston Pizza or to my aunt’s house to visit them, since we haven’t seen each other in person for months now

How you feel about wearing masks when outside the home: I don’t really mind since it is for our safety

Food / restaurant you miss the most: Shawarma (it tastes so good!)

New quarantine skill / hobby: I have been working out and eating better a lot more due to being in quarantine and have also been doing some home maintenance with my brother, including cleaning up our rooms and closets, fixing our side drawers and fixing his bed. I have also been doing a lot of cooking and baking, including making chinese food, pizza, chocolate chip cookies and blueberry muffins from scratch. 

Biggest time waster in isolation: Staying on social media (does not include texting or communicating with our friends/family)

Something you’re (now) more grateful for in your life: My family, because now I am able to see them and talk to them more, which was difficult to do before because of my parents’ jobs and my brother’s university studies (watch a ton of movies and play card games like Speed or board games like Guess Who?)

How COVID-19 has affected your attitude towards going to school: I think it has made me appreciate teachers a lot more, since I can now see how passionate many of my teachers are (especially Mr. Grant as well as M. Keunne and Ms. Gleeson) and how being there in person to learn is much different then online. I am also happy that  I can have one on one chats with my teachers and that they are constantly asking if we are okay and not to stress, and the fact that I can have both work related and personal emails and hangouts calls with them. 

An “Aha!” moment / something you think of differently than before isolation: My “aha!” moment is realising how much of an impact going to school and being present in class has on me. I now understand that waking up during the early hours of the morning and getting to school brings me joy, because I get to see my friends and teachers, and I am in the proper environment to both have fun and do my work. 

What (besides your friends) you miss the most about MDHS: Honestly, being able to go and talk to teachers, for both work related and personal reasons. Specific shoutout to M.Arseneau and Mr.Grant, because I find it very easy to talk to the both of them to get realistic advice about my problems. 

The thing that is keeping you going / giving you strength: Honestly, the only thing that is motivating me to keep working is wanting to increase my marks if I can (not that I need to) and wanted to stay occupied, because I don’t know what I would do with all of this freetime since I’m still in school mode. The other thing that gives me strength is wanting to stay happy and active during quarantine, because it keeps me motivated to keep going even if I am tired and want to give up. The encouragement and love from my friends and family really keeps me going.