Written by Kayla Hoffman (Features Writer)
Here in The Valley, we are headed into winter which usually means very cold and stormy weather. Stormy weather which directly leads to power outages amongst the families of students at San Lorenzo Valley High School. When the wifi goes out, so do a lot of things we do to keep ourselves constantly entertained like social media, streaming Netflix, and many other things that are important like online school. However, these things we hold so dear to us have only recently been around and people have been having fun without the internet long before we’ve been alive. So, what can we do to keep us from suffering from boredom during future times of more power outages?
I asked various students about what they do during the power outages to keep themselves and their loved ones around them entertained and whether or not the power outages were a new factor of stress when it came to online school. Tiki Mattingly states that, “The power outages give me a good chance to go outside and skate for a while. I can also catch up with homework while everything’s on pause. I think it’s a good chance to move around because we’re all sitting for online school. With that, I’m not exactly stressed about classes, unless they’d still keep them going during outages.”
Other students have had a slight concern with online learning regarding the power outages, but being around their family definitely helps boost morale. Board games and card games have been a common theme amongst families. Madison Brackett says, “During power outages, my family and I have a tradition of making tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on our wood stove and then playing Uno together. The power outages do stress my family out sometimes with online school because we, mainly being my sister and me, get worried that we are going to fall behind in our classes.” Another student, Vy Nguyen, also plays some form of a game with her family mentioning, “My family has been playing a lot of board games lately, especially Clue, thanks to the drama production of it. I was definitely worried about online school when the lights were out, but, it gave me a much-needed break.”
While it is a common worry amongst students that we may or may not fall behind, we must remember that in times such as Covid-19, the holidays, and the storms that come with them, we are surrounded by our loved ones. It’s very good to be conscious of our own mental limits when it comes to online school. We have to realize, as students and teachers, that a lot of these things are out of our control. To be flexible during all of this is what we can do best, and while we’re at it, we can make memories with our families.
The Claw 