Quarantine began at the end of seventh grade and I was thrilled to stay at home, like most other kids my age. By eighth grade, most students were going back to school, but my parents decided to keep me and my sister at home as remote learners for another year. I was okay with it at first, though as the year continued it became more and more difficult. At the start, I knew many other kids who weren’t returning to school either. I kept in contact with most of my friends and still felt close to them. As the year progressed, most other remote learners went back to in-person learning. I became one of the very few students to stay at home the whole time. I fell out of contact with all but two friends because I wasn’t experiencing the same things as any of them. I didn’t leave my house or go into stores, while many of my friends would still hang out and go on vacations. I felt so alone. I didn’t know anyone experiencing the pandemic the way I was. By the end of eighth grade, I was depressed. I only talked to one friend regularly and I was becoming miserable without more social interaction. I went back to school in 2021 as a freshman, and I was so excited to be inside a building, not just on a Zoom call in my house. I made a few friends and reconnected with some old ones. Even though I had more of a social life, I was still struggling with my mental health and trying to figure out how to fit back in with other students. I tried to deal with it alone because I didn’t want to put anything else on my parents’ plate. It took me until the beginning of 2023 to tell anyone how I was feeling. I finally asked my parents to go to therapy. I had a lot of unresolved emotions from the year I spent at home and the difficulty I had re-entering a school environment. After about two months in therapy, I felt so much better. I learned how to let go of what was bothering me and developed techniques to get myself out of any periods of depression I may have in the future. I’ve become happy with myself and more confident in who I am. I’m not afraid to talk to my parents about how I’m feeling and I know it’s okay to ask them for help if I ever need it. It has sparked an interest in psychology so I can help others the way somebody helped me. I know what it is like to feel like things won’t ever change and I have come out on the other side. I want to show other people that they can do it too. Though the experience wasn’t easy for me, it truly turned my life around and is one that I needed to live through to become who I am today.

Quarantine began at the end of seventh grade and I was thrilled to stay at home, like most other kids my age. By eighth grade, most students were going back to school, but my parents decided to keep me and my sister at home as remote learners for another year. I was okay with it at first, though as the year continued it became more and more difficult. At the start, I knew many other kids who weren’t returning to school either. I kept in contact with most of my friends and still felt close to them. As the year progressed, most other remote learners went back to in-person learning. I became one of the very few students to stay at home the whole time. I fell out of contact with all but two friends because I wasn’t experiencing the same things as any of them. I didn’t leave my house or go into stores, while many of my friends would still hang out and go on vacations. I felt so alone. I didn’t know anyone experiencing the pandemic the way I was. By the end of eighth grade, I was depressed. I only talked to one friend regularly and I was becoming miserable without more social interaction. I went back to school in 2021 as a freshman, and I was so excited to be inside a building, not just on a Zoom call in my house. I made a few friends and reconnected with some old ones. Even though I had more of a social life, I was still struggling with my mental health and trying to figure out how to fit back in with other students. I tried to deal with it alone because I didn’t want to put anything else on my parents’ plate. It took me until the beginning of 2023 to tell anyone how I was feeling. I finally asked my parents to go to therapy. I had a lot of unresolved emotions from the year I spent at home and the difficulty I had re-entering a school environment. After about two months in therapy, I felt so much better. I learned how to let go of what was bothering me and developed techniques to get myself out of any periods of depression I may have in the future. I’ve become happy with myself and more confident in who I am. I’m not afraid to talk to my parents about how I’m feeling and I know it’s okay to ask them for help if I ever need it. It has sparked an interest in psychology so I can help others the way somebody helped me. I know what it is like to feel like things won’t ever change and I have come out on the other side. I want to show other people that they can do it too. Though the experience wasn’t easy for me, it truly turned my life around and is one that I needed to live through to become who I am today.

Quarantine began at the end of seventh grade and I was thrilled to stay at home, like most other kids my age. By eighth grade, most students were going back to school, but my parents decided to keep me and my sister at home as remote learners for another year. I was okay with it at first, though as the year continued it became more and more difficult. At the start, I knew many other kids who weren’t returning to school either. I kept in contact with most of my friends and still felt close to them. As the year progressed, most other remote learners went back to in-person learning. I became one of the very few students to stay at home the whole time. I fell out of contact with all but two friends because I wasn’t experiencing the same things as any of them. I didn’t leave my house or go into stores, while many of my friends would still hang out and go on vacations. I felt so alone. I didn’t know anyone experiencing the pandemic the way I was. By the end of eighth grade, I was depressed. I only talked to one friend regularly and I was becoming miserable without more social interaction. I went back to school in 2021 as a freshman, and I was so excited to be inside a building, not just on a Zoom call in my house. I made a few friends and reconnected with some old ones. Even though I had more of a social life, I was still struggling with my mental health and trying to figure out how to fit back in with other students. I tried to deal with it alone because I didn’t want to put anything else on my parents’ plate. It took me until the beginning of 2023 to tell anyone how I was feeling. I finally asked my parents to go to therapy. I had a lot of unresolved emotions from the year I spent at home and the difficulty I had re-entering a school environment. After about two months in therapy, I felt so much better. I learned how to let go of what was bothering me and developed techniques to get myself out of any periods of depression I may have in the future. I’ve become happy with myself and more confident in who I am. I’m not afraid to talk to my parents about how I’m feeling and I know it’s okay to ask them for help if I ever need it. It has sparked an interest in psychology so I can help others the way somebody helped me. I know what it is like to feel like things won’t ever change and I have come out on the other side. I want to show other people that they can do it too. Though the experience wasn’t easy for me, it truly turned my life around and is one that I needed to live through to become who I am today.