Local teens adjust to life during a pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has teenagers getting set for Zoom classes while facing a variety of challenges such as cancelled summer plans and uncertainty about the upcoming school year.

“I am taking really challenging classes next year so I am worried that the (in person) instruction won’t be enough to prepare me for AP tests,” said New Eastside resident Tej Shah, an incoming sophomore at Walter Payton College Prep.

“I’m also a little nervous about how the kids are going to be in the sense of whether they’ll adhere to wearing masks,” he said.

Shah has already been dealing with a summer of canceled camps.

“I’ve had a lot of free time,” he said. “I’ve had time to listen to more music, paint a mural on my wall and do so many things I didn’t have time for before. I have also gone to Black Lives Matter protests.”

Shah is concerned about the struggles essential workers are facing.

“Not only front line medical workers who have to quarantine away from their families and witness so much death without being able to do much of anything, but the brave grocery store workers, CTA staff and so many more,” he said. “I hate seeing their pain.”

In March, Ixchel Hernandez was halfway through her freshman year at Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school in Connecticut when she had to suddenly return home to Chicago.

“The abrupt environment change was really difficult,” Hernandez said. “The first few weeks at home were stressful because I had to adjust to Zoom classes and didn’t have any real space to work.”

Hernandez had planned to travel to Mexico in spring for a service opportunity to help build a school for kids in an orphanage.

“I was so excited to meet the kids and hang out with the kids,” she said. “I was so disappointed when it was cancelled.”

Hernandez is spending the summer doing an apprenticeship at Metro Achievement Center for Girls, taking Stem Lab, Coding and Watercolor classes.

“The painting is very soothing and very therapeutic,” she said, “but my favorite class is Stem Lab.”

In September, Hernandez will return to Choate and spend two weeks quarantined in her dorm room while taking virtual classes. Students will be expected to wear a mask at all times, except in their home unit, and they will not be permitted to leave school grounds, she said.

Despite all these challenges, Hernandez has focused on staying in touch with her friends.

“It’s easy to get caught up in your own world,” she said. “Make an effort to talk to friends and family. It makes the quarantine easier when you can talk and laugh with others.”