By Birdie Stark
Pretending to be a grandpa in my bedroom in front of hundreds of people was not where I expected my junior year of high school to take me. But in October of 2020, that was precisely where I found myself.
The transition from a physical to a virtual lifestyle has been difficult for everyone, and one of the major impacts it had on me was through theater. I’ve always been a theater kid. Not your typical flamboyant theater kid who sings show tunes in the hallway, just an introverted kid in theater. Since the first grade, acting has been a favorite creative outlet of mine. It’s given me a sense of confidence and community that has stayed with me through high school.
When we began our junior year online, my first concern was my theater class. Every other year, the Advanced Drama troupe performs this show called Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. It consists of 30 original plays performed in 60 minutes. This year, my first and only opportunity to participate in the show was over Zoom. Just like the rest of virtual school, we made the most of it. A close friend of mine wrote a play about an old man struggling to use technology: a timely topic for this year. The old man role was for me, of course.
The love and support I received for that show from peers and audience members was overwhelming, and theater was one small consistency during this demanding and unpredictable school year.
I’ve been dreading junior year since I was a freshman at UHS. With difficult AP classes and standardized tests, it was daunting. The pandemic didn’t necessarily help, as several of my teachers struggled with teaching online. Challenging courses like AP Physics and AP U.S. History meant I spent a lot of time teaching myself material outside of class.
I often felt detached from my teachers and peers, trying to form connections whenever I could. Some friends and I set up Zoom calls to eat lunch “together” during the day, but that quickly petered out as school became overwhelming and stressful.
Luckily, I was able to see many more friends during the second semester. Two other students and I met at Reid Park every Saturday to study for the SAT. We’d sit on our socially distanced blankets for hours, doing practice problems and discussing testing strategies. This was a great way for me to motivate myself to be productive after living in isolation for a year.
I was finally able to get vaccinated in mid-April, which meant acting in a physical, masked performance of Pride and Prejudice with my theater troupe and starting to go inside friends’ houses.
I’m not a social person. Quite the opposite, in fact — I’m a major introvert! However, COVID-19 took the same toll on me as everyone around me, and I’ve never been so excited to get back to social interaction.
Overcoming the trials and tribulations of the pandemic has shown me what a resilient person I am, and I’m excited to return to school and experience a nearly normal senior year.
The transition from a physical to a virtual lifestyle has been difficult for everyone, and one of the major impacts it had on me was through theater. I’ve always been a theater kid. Not your typical flamboyant theater kid who sings show tunes in the hallway, just an introverted kid in theater. Since the first grade, acting has been a favorite creative outlet of mine. It’s given me a sense of confidence and community that has stayed with me through high school.
When we began our junior year online, my first concern was my theater class. Every other year, the Advanced Drama troupe performs this show called Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. It consists of 30 original plays performed in 60 minutes. This year, my first and only opportunity to participate in the show was over Zoom. Just like the rest of virtual school, we made the most of it. A close friend of mine wrote a play about an old man struggling to use technology: a timely topic for this year. The old man role was for me, of course.
The love and support I received for that show from peers and audience members was overwhelming, and theater was one small consistency during this demanding and unpredictable school year.
I’ve been dreading junior year since I was a freshman at UHS. With difficult AP classes and standardized tests, it was daunting. The pandemic didn’t necessarily help, as several of my teachers struggled with teaching online. Challenging courses like AP Physics and AP U.S. History meant I spent a lot of time teaching myself material outside of class.
I often felt detached from my teachers and peers, trying to form connections whenever I could. Some friends and I set up Zoom calls to eat lunch “together” during the day, but that quickly petered out as school became overwhelming and stressful.
Luckily, I was able to see many more friends during the second semester. Two other students and I met at Reid Park every Saturday to study for the SAT. We’d sit on our socially distanced blankets for hours, doing practice problems and discussing testing strategies. This was a great way for me to motivate myself to be productive after living in isolation for a year.
I was finally able to get vaccinated in mid-April, which meant acting in a physical, masked performance of Pride and Prejudice with my theater troupe and starting to go inside friends’ houses.
I’m not a social person. Quite the opposite, in fact — I’m a major introvert! However, COVID-19 took the same toll on me as everyone around me, and I’ve never been so excited to get back to social interaction.
Overcoming the trials and tribulations of the pandemic has shown me what a resilient person I am, and I’m excited to return to school and experience a nearly normal senior year.