Hunched over, junior Joshua Golden neatly writes solutions to a set of math problems. Using a lined piece of paper, he meticulously prints out each addition sign and variable, taking special care to make it legible. 

In front of Golden, a laptop plays the motions of his pencil in real-time. Without delay, as Golden brandishes his work across his page, every line and curve clearly appears on the screen. The source: Golden’s phone, fixed on a self-designed wooden stand called a Camera Cradle. Its camera dangles over a small centerpiece, transmitting a clear video of Golden’s work to his laptop.

Senior Shruthi Rajesh may have been one of the last people to set foot in Jefferson’s halls before schools were closed for nearly a year. As a part of Jefferson’s production of Newsies, she stood on stage to take a bow as the curtains were drawn on both the musical and the rest of the school year. 

She watched as months of work spent building sets and rehearsing lines went down the drain, resulting in a single performance of the show as its opening night soon became its closing night as well. 

Rajesh looks back at the moment she found out the news of FCPS ceasing all after school activities, recalling the sadness she and the rest of the cast felt.

“We got word halfway through that we weren’t going to be able to do the weekend shows so we were all expecting Friday to be closing night and then 10 p.m. Thursday we found out that got cancelled too. A year later I’m not mad about that anymore but I am a little sad that a lot of our work went to waste,” Rajesh said. 

However, instead of mourning over lost time and effort, Rajesh looked at the coming months of quarantine as an opportunity to make up for that time. With the large amount of time she had gained with schools closing, Rajesh began to go back into old, forgotten hobbies she had pushed away, as well as the long to do list of things she had never gotten around to. 

“I’ve had more time for creative writing. As one of my biggest hobbies, I’ve kind of let it fall to the wayside through high school so being able to properly write things again has been a lot of fun that I’ve missed,” Rajesh said. “ I also tried out painting, oil pastel, sewing and cooking. Nothing has become a permanent long term hobby but it’s been fun to try out a bunch of things.”

That time also allowed her to try to understand herself and how she works best. One of the most difficult aspects of in-person schools closing for many students is the loss of structure and separation between school and home, so Rajesh began to change her lifestyle to recreate that. 

“I think what I’ve learned is how I learn and the importance of separating your space and giving myself a break. With less structure at home, I’ve had to learn how to make one myself. I’ve tried to be stricter with myself, “ Rajesh said. 

She refuses to let calls of procrastination and fatigue force her out of this structure she has created for herself. 

“I got my desktop mounted to the wall over my desk so now it’s literally impossible for me to do my work on my bed,” Rajesh said.

These efforts make Rajesh a better worker, and allow her to find what methods of organization and scheduling suit her best. 

“I’ve found more value in creating systems for my life. By having things that are repetitive and habits, even on days where I really don’t want to do anything, I can push myself to do what I need to do,” Rajesh said. 

Gymnastics. Latin Club. Softball. Future Problem Solving Club. Not to mention, being a full-time student at Jefferson. 

For Jefferson sophomore Lauren Fisher, her days before quarantine started were filled with numerous academic and extracurricular activities. But the closing of schools in mid-March interrupted Fisher’s busy schedule, allowing her to reflect on her priorities as a student.  

When lockdown first started, Fisher found herself FaceTiming her friends for hours into the night. These daily sessions helped disrupt the daily boredom of quarantine.

As with most days at this point in quarantine, junior Zach Shah begins by grabbing his phone from beside his bed. Still groggy from sleep, he clicks onto the first social media app he sees, then scrolls through amusing memes and pictures from friends. 

A monotony sets in, and soon, minutes turn into hours, and hours turn into days. Suddenly, with the school year approaching, Shah looks back in confusion. Engulfed in dread and regret, he wonders how months of empty hours—so ready to be used to improve himself—slipped away and went to waste.

“[I had a] huge amount of regret and self-hate of not doing all the things I wanted to do. I was just disappointed in myself,” Shah said.

When quarantine first began, Shah went in with high expectations for how he would improve himself academically and physically. 

“We had a lot of extra time, so I basically started planning to do a bunch of stuff. I was going to start practicing [lacrosse] a lot more because sports had gotten cut off. I was also thinking about working out, studying a little bit more, and getting ready for the next academic year,” Shah said.

Initially, Shah was disciplined in working towards his goals. He practiced and worked out every day, while also learning new material on a regular basis. However, Shah says that by August, his schedule and motivations seemed to have disintegrated.

“When you’re having this long time period where there’s no definite end and the goal is very vague like ‘I just want to be better,’ then it’s easy to get lost,” Shah said. “You just fall off it and say, ‘Whatever, I still have a lot of time.’ But then, you never get back into it and it’s too late.” 

Although he had a rigorous routine just a few months earlier, Shah began to spend entire days on electronics and social media. Meanwhile, his goals of self-improvement fell by the wayside.