By Nazier McDonald
 
Where do I begin? This has been one of the longest stretches I’ve ever been in the house at a time. It has also been the worst. Don’t get me wrong, I love being around my family during times like this and it really helps with developing better relationships with siblings. The worst part about all of this is I can’t see my friends. I can’t go out. I can do NOTHING. It feels like what I would call “luxury prison.” I would much rather be in school doing work and socializing with people in person. Since this lockdown, I've only left the house two times and well, as you would imagine, it’s driving me crazy. Let's not think about the negatives for a second. My niece has a birthday coming up in a few days. I’m really hoping to do something nice for her. With no resources at hand and no way to get them, it will be tough.
 
My mother still works so she goes to work and comes back home. My older sister is living at a hotel because her employer wants her to be close. The only good thing about that is that we have Ava, her daughter, at our house. My other sister is fine with the quarantine and she has her phone to keep in contact with her friends. I play my favorite online basketball game with my friends and that’s how I keep in touch with them.
 
I hope everyone else is doing well and not going crazy. Some things I find helpful are: playing online games with friends, using FaceTime, and doing your school work. Keep in contact with your teachers. You need to stay updated on work. It is sad to be missing part of our senior year. 

By Tahaara Gazali
 
High school and college are always stressful. However, the COVID-19 quarantine has created even more stress for many students as they transfer completely to online instruction and are expected to work just like we would if everything were normal. Part of the difficulty lies in the inability of students to talk to professors or teachers face to face. Student Mansaha states, “It’s very stressful because sometimes I don’t know what I am doing.”  College sophomore Safiya states, “It's very challenging but I am thankful that my semester is almost over.”
 
On the other hand, a junior student at UB says that he is fine and is not having a problem with online classes. He states, “It’s fine for me personally because I used to feel exhausted and now I feel that a weight is off of me and there is more time when usually it would be stressful.”
 
Overall, quarantine and online classes are causing stress for many people in Monroe County and the rest of the world. The role we can play as students is to try our best and stay safe for our own safety and the safety of people around us.

By Ho Mach
 
In the time of a crisis or a pandemic, many organizations and public places like schools are shut down. Kids in the city of Rochester get free food from their school every day. Children of all grades in public schools are given free lunches and breakfasts during school days. Though due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the schools in Monroe County but also every school in NY State are shut down. If they are shut down, the children of Rochester cannot have the opportunity to get free food. Foodlink, a nonprofit organization in Rochester, has teamed up with RCSD to launch a food distribution program during the quarantine. 
 
This program is designed to give parents and children food throughout the day during the shutdown. It is designed as a “grab and go” program where people would ask distributors how many breakfasts, lunches, and dinner they need for the day. You can ask how much you need based on how many children are in your household. They also give out homework packets for kids through K-8. Based on what time it is during the day, they give breakfast in the morning, lunch around noon, and dinner in the afternoon. The sites can be found on foodlink.org or go to certain rec centers to see if they are distributing food. I work at the Carter Street Rec Center so you can always come here for break, lunch, and dinner for everyone in the times of this pandemic. 
 

By Keren Montero
 
It's day 239,943,751 of quarantine and I know many of us are bored at home, hopefully practicing social distancing. So here are 5 things I have been doing and that hopefully you can do while trapped inside.
 
Number 1, exercise. I have been doing exercises in the morning so that my body can stay in shape and not feel tired all the time now that I don't have softball to keep me in shape. Exercising helps enhance or maintain physical fitness and keeps your body moving and gaining strength. It helps me with feeling like I did something productive.
 
Number 2, YOGA! I take a few minutes to do at least 3-5 poses a day. It helps with getting your thoughts together, relieving stress, and feeling calm. It also helps me control and focus on my breathing. According to the American Psychological Association yoga has been proven to sharpen attention and concentration, and calms and centers the nervous system. Yoga makes you feel positive and the good thing is, it can be done anywhere. Your room, the living room, even the kitchen.
 
Next up, take a day to put away all of the electronic devices and have a game night. Take out the board games and spend this time making the best of it and spending quality time with your loved ones. If there’s no board games at home download Charades and other related games on your phone and have fun together!
 
 Four, reconnect with people. Text, Facetime, or Zoom a friend, a family member or someone you haven't spoken to in a while. Check up on how they're doing and have a blast talking. Lastly, take some paper and a pencil and have fun sketching or drawing. Tap your muse!  No matter what you choose, stay safe and productive!

By Adelisa Badzic
 
Today is week four of quarantine and being out of school. I have been trying to stay on top of my assignments as much as possible. I really dislike e-learning but I have to try and manage it. I am usually the type of student who likes to ask questions and get reassurance with my work.  With online learning that is very difficult because some teachers don’t see emails, or don’t get back to you in time and I know they are trying. Things have been pretty chaotic. I got a new job at Hegedorns market, I am the donut girl as some customers like to say. I also have been working at Bill Gray’s. On the bright side I have been spending more time with my family and I cherish that very much. We go for walks and do workouts at Cobbs Hill.
Other students are enjoying family time too.  East High junior Adriana Rivas has stated, “I’ve been spending more time with my family and bonding more with my niece. Also have been practicing my driving more.” In Monroe County we have had 570 cases of COVID-19 so far, but 236 of those patients have recovered! As of today, Walmart, Costco and Target are banned from selling non-essential items such as clothing, electronics and gardening stuff to prevent, or at least slow the spread of the virus. 

By David Carmichael
 
The government has put in place relief bills to help companies and taxpayers that are effected by COVID-19. The Treasury has released its proposal which will give payments to individual taxpayers, which is to be administered by the IRS and Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Treasury Proposal). The IRS and bureau will distribute two rounds of pay for families based on family size and income level.  Though the president didn’t specifically confirm the amount “due to the different numbers" being discussed, he said, but he added, "We want to go big." According to CNBC But he does support the idea and wants to get help for the American family as soon as possible. 
According to the fax foundation, the government has also expanded on unemployment insurance by giving workers $600 per week for four months. This will also be for those who usually wouldn’t be eligible like self-employed, independent contractors, and those with limited work history. The government wants states to not do a waiting week after a worker is laid off and will provide an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits through December 31, 2020, after workers have run out of state unemployment benefits according to the fax foundation.

By Anthony Rodriguez
 
Hey guys, as you know we are all stuck at home full of boredom and isolation which can cause stress but there are other good sides to staying at home with family and friends and there are ways you can keep yourselves busy at home. You can clean, do homework, color, spend time with family, play the game, be on social media. There are so many ways of entertainment for everyone.
 
I'm sure staying home for some isn't good since being outside is all about the excitement of enjoying your day outside and experiencing new things as you explore around with family and friends while also having a lot of fun. But we are required to stay home until further notice when this Coronavirus issue is situated and we can go back to our normal lives and enjoy being outside and doing things.
 
Things that I’ve been doing to keep me busy are cleaning, doing school work on the chromebook since they create work everyday and it's kinda hard to keep up with all this work while this coronavirus situation is going on. I think we can all agree that a sudden transition from going to school and actually learning to learning through computers makes a drastic change into how education is now being done.
 
This voice from quarantine strongly suggests to stay at home and avoid receiving and or spreading this highly contagious disease. Reason being is you save lives while you stay home and go about your day while being bored and isolated in the house. But on the bright side you're not bringing a virus home. There are also risks to going grocery shopping because of this virus since it's easily spreadable by contaminating surfaces or objects like shopping carts, elevators, door knobs, really anything can be contagious. Stay home and enjoy the quality time with family because you never know what can happen.

By Kentavia Brunson
 
In these times of quarantine, it’s hard finding something to occupy my time and keep up with school work. So I have been pacing myself, spending an hour a day on school work, starting with a class I need to graduate and find easier. Being in the house seeing my family way more has been driving me crazy, pushing me to the edge of moving out. Although this is a rough time there are good things we can take from this, like being able to put your needs first and finding things you didn’t know you were good at or like doing. 
 
A lesson I learned from being quarantined and out of school is to use time in school wisely. The time we are experiencing is unexpected and made me think of my grades and how I left them. Being a senior and experiencing this time is hard and sad to know we won’t experience a senior year like classes before us did. Although my senior year wasn’t really going as I wanted, I won’t be able to experience a senior trip or prom, spending those last moments with my class that I probably won’t ever see again until some years. We probably won’t even get that chance or feeling of receiving our diploma walking across the stage.   

By Hunter White
 
This COVID-19 pandemic is getting worse every day and I believe social distancing and self-quarantining is the best way to go. It's hard to keep track of everyone in the United States considering the fact there are 300+ million people in the U.S. I feel like Trump should have had the country in lockdown before the cases got worse. According to the NY Times article, “The President vs. the Experts: How Trump Played Down the Coronavirus,” he knew that more and more cases were going to rise and he still never took any precautions earlier, shown by statements that have dates from him since Jan 22nd. There are also a few videos that prove Trump has downplayed the virus. When you have 300+ million people, you have people that do care about the safety of others and people that don’t care and that are not taking it seriously.
 
Then there are people that are homeless, that have to make money by being social in order to survive and people that have to take the bus to get to where they need to go. What is really bad about this whole pandemic is that nobody knows how long it will take to come up with a vaccination. Hospitals are running out of room and other facilities are running out of room for coffins for people that passed. I’m glad I’m quarantining because I’m an introvert and at least I don't have to come back to school and deal with students so at least that is one good thing.