Change by Alanna

Change by Alanna - January 2022 Scholarship Essay

I never imagined that I would have to go through a global pandemic during my lifetime. I viewed pandemics as a thing of the past and I didn't even consider the possibility or how it would impact my life.
I heard people in my classes talking about a virus that was going through China but thought nothing of it, stuff like that happens all the time. Then, in March 2020, I got an email from my school saying that we were going to have a two week break because of a contagious virus that was killing large numbers of people. At the time, I didn't know what the virus was or how its severity would impact my life as well as my education.
The two weeks slowly turned into a month, the month turned into two, and I was finally hit with the realization that I wouldn't be able to return to school that year. Trying to learn through zoom meetings was impossible and I simply couldn't focus. My teachers tried their best to adapt to the challenging situation but I still made very little progress within those few months.
The summer passed and my school announced that we would be returning to in person learning on the condition that we followed the strict mask policy and social distancing rules. It was my first year taking AP classes and it was a struggle for me to adapt to the pace and challenging workload. On top of this, I had the added stress of our school being shut down every other week due to rising cases. My AP Language and Composition class was entirely online which is a learning style that I really struggled with. I tried so hard to focus but the distraction of having a computer in front of me at all times was overwhelming. My school also administered a shorter schedule which cut off hours of my learning time and made it much harder to fully prepare for the AP test.
My worldview was greatly influenced by the pandemic in the sense that the unexpected can happen at any moment in time. It also showed me how the world and everyone in it are susceptible to change because people are controlled by their fear of the unknown. This fear had an extremely negative effect on not only my life but the lives of everyone around me. This experience truly changed my perspective and taught me to never take my life for granted because it can change instantly without warning.
I now understand myself better because I discovered the extent to which I value my education when it was taken away from me. It helped me realize that I actually enjoy learning and wish to pursue a college education after graduating high school. And, even though it was hard, I pushed through the difficult times and used this experience to expand my values and become a stronger person.