Throughout Potosi High School’s 2021-2022 school year, we have, in general, not run into an increase in Covid cases and quarantines. For the most part, students have been able to stay safe, healthy, and in school, apart from 1-2 isolated cases.
However, in the time span of the last two weeks, we have had a number of girls basketball players quarantined and mandated to wear masks along with some sophomores and a number of juniors including myself. Being quarantined, by itself, is nothing big to fret over. However, a few other people and I were required to quarantine over first semester finals. This greatly affected our ability to acquire the best scores possible and was a very stressful time for many.
“I first started feeling symptoms the Friday before finals week,” said Maggie Brown, a junior who was quarantined during finals, “After school ended, I went home and started feeling fatigue and muscle aches and I got a cough and a headache. I got tested the following Monday.”
Having to wake up earlier than normal and take a test that required as much concentration as possible was certainly difficult for people. “I felt like I was dying. I didn’t feel like doing anything and that definitely impacted my final grades.”
Brown, being someone who has most likely been quarantined over 5 times throughout her high school career, wasn’t necessarily upset at the fact she was quarantined, but more over the situation and circumstance it led to. “I didn’t really mind being quarantined, it was just the timing that sucked. I really didn’t feel like doing finals at home,” Brown said, "If I was at school, I definitely would have been able to do better on some of them.”
Coming from someone who went through the same thing as Brown, I can definitely agree. The quarantine itself was nothing new, but the fact that it happened at arguably one of the worst times possible in the school year was upsetting. It also led to worry and doubt as many of us were left with an overarching feeling of: “That sucked, I could have done better.” Overall, I hope in the future we can keep quarantines and outbreaks more contained to prevent something like this happening to students again.