One year ago, on Thursday, March 12, 2020, Marlborough students attended one last ASM and left school. The next day, students began online school, but little did they know that one year later, they would still be logging on to Zoom through their computers. Despite the tragedy that COVID-19 has brought the world, there have been some highlights of quarantine and upsides to the situation for students. There have also been major events and trends that have shaped the quarantine experience.
Many have been able to spend more time with their families and pets, find new hobbies and have more free time. Even though it can be hard not to go out sometimes, students have found the pros of staying at home and made the best of the situation.
Family has been really important to a lot of students, and they have found that quarantine has allowed them more time to spend with their families. Ella ’24 said that a positive of quarantine was “being able to just hang out with them [her family] more especially because [her] parents now mainly work from home.”
Some also found that having more time allowed them to participate in activities and hobbies that they enjoyed. “A pro is spending time with family and having more time for yourself… I have this voice coach that I didn’t get to meet with…a lot because I was in school and I had games and after-school stuff but now I get to meet with her every week,” Maniya ‘26 said.
In addition to new hobbies, major trends have arisen since quarantine began. From bread-baking to whipping up coffee, some students have hopped on these trends, while others prefer their usual routines.
“I’m trying to have that normalcy of what we were doing before quarantine so I haven’t really tried different trends or new hobbies, but I did do a little baking,” Julia ‘25 said.
Cooking and baking have been major trends since the beginning of quarantine. People began making breads, candies, pastries, pastas and many other sweet and savory items.
“I like the TikTok trends that are about cooking because it can be fun to experiment with different recipes. Some of the recipes that I’ve seen are the tomato and feta pasta, whipped coffee and matcha baked goods,” Katie ‘24 said.
Many students, including Maniya ‘26 reflected on the whipped coffee trend of last Spring 2020.
Over the course of the past year, there have been many memorable major events that have shaped quarantine in addition to the new trends. Many students reflected on how quarantine has affected their view of time and how major events played a role in that.
“It feels like it’s been three years,” Julia ‘25 said. “The first day, when Tom Hanks got Covid and the NBA shut down – it feels like it was just yesterday.”
“Being in quarantine for almost one year is really shocking because a year ago, I don’t think anyone would have predicted it would get this serious or last this long,” Katie ‘24 said.
Students also reflected on their last day of school and how expectations for the future back in March.
“We didn’t know then, but when we were hugging each other, that was goodbye for the longest time,” Julia ‘25 said.
Despite the fact that we are living in unprecedented and frightening times, students are staying positive and look towards the future with an optimistic view.
“There’s an end in sight and I’m hopeful,” Julia ‘25 said.
