Bonding during the pandemic

Though COVID-19 has been forcing people apart since March, from the stay-at-home orders to the new learning models, this experience has also brought people together in new ways. For many students, bonds within their families have grown stronger and more resilient as a result of being forced to stay at home together for months.

During her time at home, senior Navi Kaur was able to connect with her immediate family and cousins in ways that wouldn’t have been realistic in her pre-pandemic life.

“I would like to stay over at my cousin’s house for a month. Then, my cousin would come and stay here for a month, so it was really nice because we all just go to chill and sit at home because no one was really working at the time and no one had school,” Kaur said. 

Similarly, not being able to spend time with friends led junior Taylor Doyle to build a stronger relationship with her family.

“When you’ve lost contact with a lot of people, you kind of just become friends with your own family,” Doyle said. “You have to have some social interactions or you go crazy, so the only people you surround yourself with is your family. You just naturally get closer to them.”

Between taking walks and watching shows with her brother, Doyle found ways to pass the time with her family. 

“We went on a lot of walks which are amazing,” Doyle said. “My brother and I have been watching The Simpsons, which is 30 seasons, which is keeping us super busy. Watching movies, going on walks, occasionally going on car rides to different places … all helped out.”

Sophomore Brianna Coup’s family is often busy with work and extracurriculars, but during the stay-at-home orders, they were able to bond through sports and card games.

“My parents got to stay home a lot more, and we got to be with each other. My brothers and I would all hang out and go outside and all play soccer together,” Coup said. “We also played tennis, went on runs and we played games like Cards Against Humanity many times.”

During the stay-at-home orders, Coup’s aunt organized weekly family Zoom calls that allowed her and her family to talk about how everyone was doing.

“Once a week on Tuesdays at 6 p.m., we would all get together and we’d all Zoom – grandparents, two sides of aunts and uncles – we’d all just talk [about what] we’re doing,” Coup said. “My aunt lives in Arizona, so I never get to see her, but she was able to Zoom with me. We got a lot closer, and now we text every single week because of it.”

Not only have families gotten closer, but COVID-19 has forced StuCo to get creative and find new ways to unite the student body, according to junior Bret Weber.

“[COVID-19] brought our student council closer together,” Weber said. “When we first found out school would be canceled back in March, we knew we needed to do something, so we had virtual spirit weeks with different COVID-friendly activities for students to do from home.”