By China Cassidy On March 13, the Holbrook schools released their students for a 10-day hiatus that was supposed to be their spring break. Instead of returning on March 23 to finish out the 2019-2020 year, families were told to keep their students home for the remainder of the school year due to the many uncertainties surrounding COVID-19. With limited options, the schools offered their junior high and high school students the opportunity to improve their grades without having to follow through with the regular curriculum with subjects including English, social studies, math and science. For the Sullivan family of Holbrook, it was all hands on deck as Jennifer and Randy Sullivan have five daughters, two of which attend junior high, two in high school and one who was due to walk for her graduation from Northern Arizona University this May. According to Jennifer, although some aspects of the stay-at-home order have proved to be challenging, her girls have been dealing with the situation very well. The mom of five said that when it comes to staying on track with school, she is ensuring they stay motivated both academically and physically. Jennifer explained, “They did start out doing assignments from their class, then it came out that they had to do the packets. So, they’re still having to read every day so that they’re not falling behind on that. (We’re) just trying to find different activities that are school-based. I try to get them to go outside for about 30 minutes at a time.” The four younger girls had similar assignments that required them to evaluate the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and how social distancing is expected to help prevent the spread of the virus. Jennifer explained, “What it is, is they’re trying to decipher the numbers of who is getting the virus and why we are staying home. How to flatten the curve and learning about social distancing.” The two youngest daughters who attend junior high seemed to agree that there are both advantages and disadvantages to having the school year cut short. Merhetta, who is in the sixth grade was excited about the school closure but said that feeling eventually fizzled when she realized that also meant she wouldn’t get to see her peers and finish her sixth grade year the way she’d hoped. “I was kind of upset because I didn’t get to see all my teachers and finish out my year and I didn’t get to see my friends.” Meriah, who also attends the junior high had mixed emotions about finishing her seventh grade year at home saying, “I was upset because I didn’t get to finish my seventh grade year but I was also excited because I didn’t have to wake up early in the morning.” Although she is enjoying the extra rest, Meriah said that it doesn’t make up for the boredom. “I like not waking up in the morning but it gets really boring not going to school and having stuff to do. I’m going to enjoy the summer, but I’m also going to be really excited to go back to school because I’m going to get to see all my teachers, my friends and have something to do.” Because most non-essential businesses have not been operating and residents were encouraged to avoid large gatherings, many people were left to their own devices for entertainment, and both Meriah and Meretta agreed that finding things to do has been challenging. For Merencia and Meraina, who both attend high school, their emotions seemed to be just as mixed as those of their younger sisters. Merencia, who is in the 10th grade said she isn’t as enthusiastic as the younger two about being out of school, preferring being in school to the down-time. The 10th grader shared her thoughts when she was told she would not be completing the school year with her peers saying, “I was really upset because I felt like I was really going to miss my friends, and I do. I was also upset because I just really like school. School is fun for me.” Meraina is a senior this year and a 2020 graduate. For her, the abrupt change was a challenge because of her dual enrollment status. According to her mom, when the other schools began adjusting the curriculum to accommodate the students, college was a different story. “We thought that (the workload) would go down a bit with the intensity, but it’s not,” stated Jennifer. Meraina explained that instead of decreasing the workload or keeping it the same, it suddenly became more rushed with less down-time. She shared, “It’s harder. They think that now that we have time we can just do (that work) but it’s actually still hard. They have been giving work back-to-back. We don’t get a day between like how we used to.” She added that it was additionally challenging because the main route of communication with her professors is email, which was not proving to be efficient for the amount of time they were given to complete their assignments. “It’s really hard because I can’t talk to my professors or anything. It’s going okay, just not the best.” In light of graduation ceremonies being postponed, Meraina offered, “I really wish I could spend it celebrating with people I love but I think it will be okay because I know that we’ll see each other later. It’s just that I wanted to celebrate with them. I have been talking to my friends a lot and we’re all really upset but we’re okay and we’re trying to work together to be happy about it because we know it’s not the end of the world and we know we’re going to get it eventually, we just need to calm down.” As for the oldest, Merissa, she expected to walk at her college graduation in May but the school will be allowing her to do so in December instead. Unfortunately, her family will not be allowed to attend. Jennifer explained, “They are going to give them the option to walk in December but the people that were graduating this time, they’re not going to allow the families to go in December because it’s going to be too much of an overload of people. So, they’re doing like a virtual graduation.” Although the pandemic has upended the Sullivan’s lives as it has with most everyone’s, they are also grateful that technology has provided a lifeline not only to friends and family, but also education. Hopefully, that will soon be an option and not a requirement.
