Zealous Students’ Stories from Quarantine: Poetry, Visual Art, & Creative Nonfiction!

Right now, we are living through a momentous global event. While we’re all experiencing this time in some shared ways — washing our hands more, adjusting to the new realities of social distancing, and so on — every individual is also having their own unique experience of this time period.

We all have our story to tell when it comes to how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting our lives, and together those stories provide us with a better understanding of our present, offer the opportunity for connection and solidarity, and give valuable insights to the historians of our future.

So earlier this month, we asked our students to share their own personal experiences as part of our Stories from Quarantine competition. Because storytelling can take many forms, we invited our students to tell their stories through a variety of media, from videos and visual art to poetry and creative nonfiction.

The competition was fierce. Zealous students shared a ton of amazing submissions for every category, and their stories reflected the gamut of human experiences and feelings: grief, humor, boredom, creativity, discomfort, resilience, and hope.

We’re sharing our contest winners here so you can be just as inspired as we are!

Poetry Winner

“Life Before and During Quarantine” by Logan

No time for baking,
Which means no stomach aching,
Or weight gaining
Just homework overtaking

Cupcakes, cookies, and baked goods
Smell so good, everyone jealous in the neighborhood
Baking is the new entertaining
Spicing up my childhood

Hanging on the climbing walls
Hanging out and throwing balls
My body hurts so bad,
I am complaining
After a million falls

Now so alone
With no one to phone
The quarantine is draining
It makes me groan

Before, my friends and I were were never bored
But now we just eat the food we have stored

Poetry Winner

“Poem from Quarantine” by Sam

I, I feel bored
This whole thing is lame It seems as though some people are using it for fame

Our governor is effective
And some not as much I personally enjoy having a longer lunch

We need to stay home which is very hard
I usually pass with my dad out in the yard

My lax season was postponed
That made me sad
But one thing for sure, I sure am glad

Glad! that I have a family at home that can take care of me Glad! that I have friends that fill me with joy

I sit in bed thinking about everything
What to do, who to text?
I fall asleep in my thoughts
Waking up with hope, what’s next?

I check the news, typing in, “Coronavirus cure”
I see nothing I see junk stating, “A florida senator says, hairdryers cure corona”

Articles from sights avoiding what’s really going on
And filling our country with certainty, even though, we have none yet

I eat my breakfast, the usual-froot loops
I stare at my bowl thinking more

I clear my bowl, and go outside
I skateboard for an hour focusing on only skating

I feel happy, but still uncertain I walk inside, pet my dog, and go upstairs
I invite my dog in, he’s the best, we usually watch Riverdale together I hug him

III

We go downstairs, I start chewing a piece of gum
I never have anxiety, but these past days, I can’t help it
I want to scream, jump, and kick all at the same time
But instead, I go on my phone I watch videos about corona, which really isn’t helping
I then get on my google meet I see my teachers, reassuring us, even though they’re feeling the same way
I put a smile on my face for an hour and a half
I say goodbye to the class
I walk downstairs and get a snack
And I take a nap

I wake up, and it’s dinner time I eat, and sleep I wake up, and I repeat the process all over again.

I hope, one morning when I wake up, there will be an answer But for now, all I can do is wait

Creative Nonfiction Winner

“My Escape from Quarantine,” Trevyn

The things that are happening in our world right now are something I never expected to happen at all. These times bring many mixed feelings for myself and others. People all over the world are experiencing more sadness, anger, confusion and fear.

What is quarantine, you might ask? Quarantine is the last resort; it has come down to us humans. We are forced to sit inside our homes every day for a certain amount of time to stop the spread of COVID-19. The virus can lead to severe diseases, hospitalization, and even death, usually in people 60 years old and above. While simple grocery trips are allowed, almost all restaurants in our country have shut down or only have food for pick up. We are allowed to do simple activities in nature away from large crowds.The deadly and little Corona Virus has struck the world, leaving everyone in a sort of shock. Some have lost loved ones or close friends, some are running low on food and basic living supplies, and some people are fighting for their lives against the virus. The outrageous things this quarantine and virus is doing to people are pretty wild.

I will tell you what has helped me to “escape” quarantine.

When all this madness and rumors of this outbreaking virus started flooding in, most American citizens were not worried. From what we heard, it was a virus just like the flu spreading very fastly among people in China. We watched this sickness slowly spread throughout the rest of the world, hitting Italy particularly hard. On January 20th, 2020 the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was in the United States. This spread quickly, town to town, then county to county, region to region, and eventually, across, states and countries. In my small hometown of Eagle, Colorado, the virus has reached us and we are on full lockdown. My family and our community has already lost one of our close friends from hockey. One of the hardest parts about being quarantined is not being allowed to be there for this family and support them. We have found other ways and tried our best to support them, but nothing is the same as being there in person. In our small community, most kids and teenagers are left with little or nothing to do. I have, however, found a few things that make all the thoughts and everything seem to go away.

The one thing that has sort of always made me happy is fly fishing. It is an outdoor activity that takes lots of skill and knowledge, including knowledge of flies, fishing spots, river flows, bug hatches, techniques and timing. In this sport there is always more to learn, and it is very exciting to catch trout from our local streams and rivers. There is always more to come with fly fishing, wondering what else is just around that bend. For me, the whole experience of it is worth it, whether I catch fish or not. The part of the experience I enjoy most is walking down to the river looking at every possible place fish could be and looking for the water clarity and levels.

Standing in the middle of the river while surrounded by beautiful trees and lush grass is pretty much the closest to nature you can get. It is the perfect thing to do during quarantine to free your boredom and get outside.

I think the thing that makes fly fishing so special to me is, whenever I am out on the river fishing, EVERYTHING — all my worries, thoughts, and struggles — go completely away for as long as I’m out there. It’s great to do during the quarantine because all of my stress, sadness, fear, and confusion is let free from inside me into nature, and I form it all into focus.

The other thing I always think of when on the river is my Grandfather. He helped me catch my first ever fish, and he was a huge fly fisherman. He passed away from cancer In 2012, and me and my dad received all his fishing and fly fishing gear. When we got all his old gear, I immediately looked through it all. At this point I had never really been fly fishing before, but fishing had always been my passion. As a few years went by, I started to see fly fishing in places (magazines, ads, on rivers/lakes). This sparked my memory and I went back into the fly fishing gear. I got a guide to teach me and from there on out have used most of his gear while fishing. Every time I’m out fishing, I can feel him there with me. Today I still use his rod, waders and tons of his flies.

The other thing that has helped me through some of the times where I can’t go out and fish or talk to friends is music. Music is something that I was never really interested in until 7th grade. Listening to music is similar to what happens with fishing. I can focus on something while listening to it (I am while writing this), or I can just sit there and relax and listen. In boring times like quarantine, I play a playlist and when I come out from the shell music gives me, hours have gone by. The beat to the songs puts me into this capsule and it sometimes can be hard to get out of it, just like getting out of bed on a Monday morning. Unless I am trying to get hyped up or set a certain mood, really any music (besides country :/) sets a vibe for me, and I just let myself get lost in it. Sometimes I will go on bike rides with music playing while looking at everything, the nature, town, sky and everything. Nothing else will distract me and I will be in my own world.

Both of these activities or hobbies are the two that really stand apart from the rest during quarantine. These weeks feel like days to me during this time, making everything seem to blow over faster. Time can speed up in a good way, or it can sometimes go faster than I would like it. Sometimes while fly fishing or on those music bike rides I will have a split second that feels like forever, where everything stops. completely stops and just lets me have a moment to spend it how I want. Then snap, it is back to how it was.

Hopefully you have found your thing or things that help with the stress, like these things l do for me. But if not, here is your inspiration. So go out there and find it.