Schools throughout Illinois have been closing due to the Corona Virus outbreak and has forced people to self-quarantine. As disease has been spreading rapidly, Governor, JB Pritzker has been requesting people throughout the state to stay inside and avoid public areas. The Carterville community has taken initiative, closing parks, businesses, and other gathering places according to the states mandate. Places like grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies remain open for the public, however kids are left at home to decide how they are going to stay busy during the day. With the school closer, the normalized daily actives have disappeared, and students now have to learn how to structure their own day. Some are taking advantage of this time by staying productive, while others are taking this more as a so-called “stay-cation” to relax and enjoy themselves as this break continues.

Amanda Howerton (10) has had to reorganize her daily actives to fit into the quarantine procedures. “Break has been a good time to catch up on things to do, but it’s getting harder and harder to keep myself busy,” Howerton continued, “I hope we get to come back, I’m missing my soccer season but I can’t imagine how the seniors feel.” Hunter Noto (9), also in the same situation has stated, “I have tried to take advantage of all the extra time during this break. I’ve practiced softball, celebrated my birthday with my family, as well as continue the actives I am still able to do.”

Other students like Noto have also been in the position to miss birthdays and forced to celebrate without friends and family. There has been a lot of sacrifices during this epidemic including all spring sport athletes at Carteville High School who have had to miss the first parts of their season. In this difficult time of separation, athletes are doing their best to stay optimistic about positive about their delayed season.  “I’ve just been watching TV, doing homework, and playing PlayStation. It’s been hard not to do anything for the last three weeks” stated Graham Dynis (11). 

Students like Dynis have used video games and social media platforms as a way to stay busy and connected to others. Living in 2020 has given society an easy way to communicate and stay connected to people we cannot be with on a daily basis. Carterville students are also using this time to prepare for the week of April 6th when they start to move to remote learning days. It now must be a daily routine to keep up with new google classroom notifications and checking teachers web pages to complete given assignments. As the high schoolers prepare to return back, many are doing their best to keep busy. As we continue into this unique situation that has spread worry across the nation, students must continue to stay positive about this moment in history.