Since COVID-19 restrictions have been in place and schools have closed, many have worried that Ukiah High Wildcats would be negatively affected. UHS News sought out Wildcats who were able to find a silver lining in these dark times and make the best of a bad situation.
Ukiah High Junior Aaron Castañeda offered an optimistic outlook on the current state of distance learning: “The stress about going to school and doing school in person is gone.” He said, “I love distance learning. I can work at my own time and at my own pace. I’m even improving academically.”
Castañeda did say he misses the camaraderie and group exercise of sports athletics: “When it comes to working out I relied on sports. I don’t like working out alone, so my motivation for exercise is very low because of distance learning”.”
Ukiah High Junior Roseli Nunez offered a different perspective stating, “I don’t enjoy school like I used to, but only because I’m not in the warm, welcoming environment that school provided for me.” Despite missing the school environment Nunez did say, ¨It hasn’t been too hard, so yes, at the moment I am enjoying distance learning.”
Nunez described how “[a]t the beginning of quarantine, I hadn’t figured out a plan. I had no motivation for anything”. She realized that if she wanted to stay motivated she needed to get a planner. Since then, Nunez described her motivation for school coming naturally.
Nunez did offer that since the closure of school her outlook about taking advantage of educational opportunities has changed: “Quarantine made me realize that I needed to get involved in as much as I could or I would regret it in the future.”
Nunez spoke of initial stressors from shelter-in-place and how those stressors eased over time: “In the beginning, I wasn’t doing well. Everyone was still adjusting so there was a lot of frustration in my household. Mentally, I’m doing better and I’m learning to make the most out of this.”
