As March 14, 2022 rounds the corner, the United States and the rest of the world reflect on two years ago, when the lock downs of COVID-19 originally began.

It all started on the last day of school for Chesterfield County students on Thursday, March 12, 2020, when news of Coronavirus made way in the classroom.  Students walked into school Thursday morning to find freshly wiped desks and deeply sanitized classrooms.  As the day furthered, so did talk of the new “Coronavirus” and the announcement of no school on Friday.  Then, when the bell rang, students broke away for the extended weekend.  

“When I realized that COVID was a big deal, I was in history class.  They also announced that we weren’t going to have school the next day because of COVID, but everyone thought that it was because the teachers were going on strike,” junior Ava Brown said, referring to the 2020 rumored walkout where teachers were demanding higher pay.

At the time, many tuned into their news providers and kept close tabs on the new virus. After a few weeks, it became clear that Cornavirus was going to be the only news for a while.  “On the last day of school, I told all of my friends how long it would be before we would return to school and how long it would take to get a vaccine, but none of them believed me,” senior Sara King said.  

“I was cleaning all of the calculators off because I was a germ-freak even before COVID happened,” Dean of Students, Ms. Danielle Brown said. “I was walking around with a bottle of rubbing alcohol spraying desks and calculators, and all my students were like ‘there’s nothing wrong Ms. Brown, everything’s fine,’ and I told them ‘you can never really be sure’ and then we never came back,” Brown said.

That weekend, news of “no school for the next two weeks” broke out, and many students were ecstatic. Following the Governor’s order, Chesterfield County Public Schools followed under the new slogan, Two weeks to stop the spread.  Little did we know that an extended spring break would turn into two months, and students wouldn’t return to the classroom until November 2020, and then for only two weeks.  

“Once I heard from the Governor that we weren’t gonna be back for two weeks, I was so upset,” freshman Lekah Thorn said. “I was counting down the days until we returned, but we never did.”

At first, many students found the two-week break exhilarating.  But as time went on, and the virus spread more, students quickly realized that there would be no more school.  Several students were actually shocked that for once, they missed being in school.

Science teacher Paul Parker explains “Well, we had that Friday off, and then the next thing you know, I heard that school was closed.  All of my students were telling me that school was closed and we weren’t coming back for the rest of the year. I was just in shock.  Because who has ever heard of school closing?” Parker said.

“When it first started we used Google Meet. I began recording my lessons and shipping them off to my students.  Then a few days later they would send them back to me.” said Parker.  “I had to get other teachers to help me learn how to use the new tools.”

Within the next few weeks, shortages of toilet paper, soaps, tissues, paper towels and other household necessities began to fly off the shelves.  Many people began to work from home over Google Meet and Zoom.  Some even began practicing social distancing and began wearing masks as they adjusted to new guidelines and mandates.  Schools went virtual and students lost touch with one another.

However, two years later, students are now back in school, making virtual school a thing of the past.  Vaccines by Pzifer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson have been made easily accessible, and masks are becoming less prominent.  After a brutal two years of lockdown craziness, the world is finally reverting to life before the pandemic, and we are finally reaching the light at end of the tunnel.