Academy Chatter: What have you learned about yourself because of the pandemic?

Alondra del Rio, senior: “My house became more than just my home. It also became a workspace and a workout place.”

Mrs. Andrea Gilson, staff: “I have discovered new ways to be creative both in my lessons and in planning family activities.”

Mrs. Sadie LaJoe, staff: I like to plan ahead, but I have learned to try to live in the moment. Carpe Diem!  It has been a blessing to spend more time with my family, and I have really enjoyed teaching and getting to know my students 1st quarter.”

Frederique Vermeij, senior: “I have learned that I really need social contact and being in the outdoors from time to time.”

Julia Vogel, freshman: “I realized how important my friends are.”

Aidan Guiou, senior: “I’ve learned that I need to work on my time management skills.”

Alaina Heesacker, freshman: “I have learned that it’s hard to stay home for such a long time!”

Emma Sullivan, senior: “I’ve learned a lot of things about myself, but I think one of them would be that I don’t need to give 100% of my effort to 100% of what I do 100% of the time. I’ve realized how important it is for me to step back and take time for myself, especially with everything from IB exams and college applications being so unpredictable right now.”

Pablo Cuene, freshman: “I have learned that I have become very lazy.”

Maddy Waldrop, senior: “I have learned that it can take a while to adapt to new situations. I have also gotten a lot of opportunities to work on my time management skills.”

Claire Noble, senior: “I have learned I am thankful to be a part of a big family. There are five kids in my family, so there is built in entertainment. While some kids struggle feeling isolated, I feel quite the opposite. I am so fortunate to have gotten closer to my family members during my time in quarantine. I learned to be more appreciative of the time with my family.”

Briana Fitzgerald, senior: “I have learned how quickly life can change and that you need to be able to adapt.”

Macy Augustine, senior: During this pandemic I have learned that I need to make a schedule for myself. With online school I have found that I have a lot of free time. I found out right away that if I didn’t set aside time to do my school work, workout, and take breaks, that I wouldn’t do it. Overall I learned that I need to be on a schedule.” 

Charley Apple, senior: “That I can be resilient and have to be self-motivated.”

Katie Polasky, freshman: “I learned how to find myself.  I learned to love myself and how to take time to learn about myself.”

Karenna Kuske, freshman: “I have learned from the pandemic that being organized and prepared for every class is very important and necessary to be successful.”

Olivia Berndt, senior: “I learned how to make homemade pasta and tortillas from scratch!”

Louie Kippley, freshman: “I would say that I learned to keep your friends on your mind and check on them because you never know how a new situation can affect them mentally.”

Audrey Burnell, freshman: “That I like to hang out with my friends and I am very bored without them.” 

Barbara Inciarte, sophomore: “During this pandemic, I have learned that I am very structured because I always have a schedule for everything. This pandemic has taught me to be more flexible and to live in the moment. I also learned to appreciate the time I spend with my friends and family.”

Madeline Tricario, sophomore: “During the pandemic, I have learned the importance of social interaction and taking care of my mental health. I never truly stopped and appreciated the blessing of being around others before we were forced into quarantine. I will never again take social interaction for granted.”

Marie Noelle, sophomore: “I have learned that having some sort of structure to my day is very important for me to be productive, especially with school.”

Marialys Garza, sophomore: “Something I have learned from this pandemic is that being alone is sometimes the best place to be because I realized that I really am not alone. I’ve been depending on people, depending on things instead of depending on Jesus. Even when things are bad, life goes on. Right now we have to make the best of life. And get used to the new normal. I guess this is what I learned, to get closer to God.”

Emily Hoeppner, sophomore: “I have learned that I shouldn’t take things for granted and to appreciate the little things.”

Samantha Treml, senior: “That I’m not motivated to do anything.”

Arnold Gonzalez, senior: “ That I’m a baddie.” 

Izzy Spaulding, senior: “`I’ve learned that I’m not good with change and can get very disconnected from life when I’m not able to see other people.” 

Grace Mongin, senior: “ I’ve learned that I work better with structure, but that I have learned a lot about my learning style and how to overcome challenges like virtual learning and college apps.” 

Meredith James, senior: “ I have learned that I am a lot stronger than I thought, and I shouldn’t take what I have in my life for granted.”

Anna Kyles, senior: “I have learned that the pandemic made me miss my teammates and my friends. I just want a normal senior year.”

Alan Harrison James, junior: “The pandemic has taught me that I really liked having structure in my life. Junior year has proven to be harder than I thought.”

Emma Sullivan senior: “I have learned from this pandemic to not take anything for granted and enjoy what I have now.”

Alex Brabant, senior: “I learned from the pandemic that I really miss the classroom setting. Sitting at home by yourself is much more disappointing.”

Kaelynn James, senior: “ I learned through the pandemic that I have to value life.  Before the pandemic put a stop to our world, I took it for granted.”

Anthony Farone, senior: I realized how important family and friends are during rough times.”

 Margaret Pack, junior:  I learned that I really enjoy taking school online.” 

Sophie Rotherham, senior: I learned that I could take up cooking easily. and I am actually quite good at it.” 

Helena Palmer, freshman (college):I learned that I enjoy reading so much more than I thought I did while I was in high school.”  

Keegan King, junior: “Online school isn’t my thing.”

Braedon Curtin, junior: “ I learned that I actually miss being in class.”

Evan Duncan, junior: “ I like online schooling.”

Nik White, junior: “It’s easy doing online now.”

Camden Nordeen, junior:  “I work even harder when things around me get chaotic.” 

James Shade, sophomore: I’ve learned that scheduling, raising motivation, and minimizing distractions are all crucial to online learning and ensuring I don’t fall behind and fall into procrastination, especially when I’m very prone to improper time management, being unmotivated, and  procrastination.”

Jayden Smits, sophomore: “That other people are our most valuable resource. Without being eye to eye with other people it has become more difficult.”

Barbara Inciarte, sophomore: “During this pandemic, I need to loosen up and live in the moment because you never know when things are going to change. I learned to appreciate the time I spent with friends and family because during this time we don’t get to see friends and family as much as we all want to. We all need to trust in the Lord because He will never lead us astray.”

Joseph Stumpf, sophomore: “It can be hard to pay attention during online classes and that I have to work on staying focused.”

Beckett Chambers, sophomore: “I think the biggest thing that I learned about myself was that I can produce much better results when I commit to something I want to do. With all of the newfound free time I had this summer, it gave me a chance to go back to some hobbies I haven’t done in awhile with how busy life got, one of these being piano. Before the pandemic, I was doing just okay in my piano lessons, but nothing overly impressive. Most songs that I have to play are given to me by my teacher without much wiggle room. However, once I started to get pretty bored at home, I decided to pick a song for myself for once, one that I truly wanted to learn, and started playing it. I was amazed at the outcome! I had learned a song of harder difficulty than I normally play, in about a week, whereas other songs usually take a month to two months to master. Once I learned that song, I picked out another, and having the same result, I chose a third. That was when I came to the realization, that when you are personally invested in the task that you are trying to complete, your success rate will be astronomically different. This theory can be applied to many things in life. I realized that I had been doing this my whole life already when it comes to skiing, and also to a certain degree with school. My biggest takeaway for people from my experiences, is to be connected to what you are doing, specifically school. If you can figure out how to do this, I can almost guarantee you that your enjoyment, grades, and understanding in school will go through the roof!”

Reese Van Pay, freshman:  I have learned that I like being independent.”

Henry Mckenna, freshman: “Make the most out of what you’ve got.”

Bryce Hawley, freshman: “ It’s worse than it sounds and it affects teenagers.”

Kristin Nelson, parent: “That communication is key in healthy relationships.”

Danika Apple, freshman: “I have learned that I appreciate seeing my friends everyday more than I realize.”

Louie Kippley, freshman: “I would say that you need to check up on your friends in these times because you never know how new problems can affect somebody.”

Connor Nelson, freshman: “It is important to keep in touch with family and friends.”

Alexandra Schweiner, freshman: “I learned to enjoy the little things and to make time for myself.”

Ella Capomaccio, freshman: “I learned that I would rather be full time in school than doing online school.”

Sophia Schauder, junior: “I get bored so fast.”

Celia Brummel, junior: “I want to keep myself safe as well as my family.”

Lilly Steber, junior: “I work at Festival and lots of people get it there.”

Eli Frigo, junior: “I like being home.”

Chelsey Martinez-Martinez, junior: Something that I have learned about myself is that personally I’ve learned how to be more grateful/appreciative for the things I have, such as my family and their health and safety. But also the fact that I am still fortunate enough to maintain an education during this time. I guess overall I’ve become thankful for the little things in my life.”

Jacob Massart, junior: During this pandemic I’ve learned a lot about what family life is like and balancing it with different aspects of life whether it be school, work, and even friends. To balance it all it requires a healthy mindset and the workforce to get it all done and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

Megan Kurowski, junior: I’ve learned that I am a very busy person in general, and I needed time for everything to shut down so I could take a step back. I think that it was important to check on your friends and family to make sure they are doing okay.”

Skylar Schultz, junior: During the pandemic, I learned that I need to drink more water and that decorating cakes is fun.”

Alex Boye, sophomore: “You can put down that I’m way better at FPS than I was in the past. I used to be really anti social but I started to become really social during quarantine.”

Brady Benedetti, sophomore: “That I love to play vr.”

Eli Frigo, junior: “That I really hate doing homework.”

Jude Frigo, junior: “I’ve learned how fun social deception games are.”

Jeremy Jarocki, sophomore: “I have learned that I am a pretty large procrastinator. Basically at school I just put everything back until the day before it is due.”