Storyteller: Connor Shoemaker
Jackson is 18 years old and first heard about the virus from his dad in early February. He was attending Swan Valley High School and worked at Jack’s Fruit Market. He was also excited to get a couple of weeks off of school at first, but eventually, he missed going out and being able to do things. Since he worked at a grocery store during the pandemic, he was one of the few that did not get laid off. His job did the opposite of getting laid off. He worked more than usual. Since so many people were trying to get groceries and supplies during the pandemic, his boss scheduled him a lot, but he was alright with it since that was the only time he was really able to get out of the house. He didn’t have anything else to do, so he was able to save up a bunch of money from his job.
He was not able to see his friends and family as much anymore. He never realized how much he liked to see his friends and family until COVID-19 hit, and he gained a lot more love for those people. One of the things he lost from the pandemic was a quality education. Since the teachers had never really done anything like this before, they had no idea what they were doing, making it hard to learn. One of the details that stands out to him about the pandemic is that he needs to speak a lot louder with a mask. One of the funny experiences he had during COVID-19 was that he saw a person walk in with a full hazmat suit while working at Jacks one day. The pandemic taught him that our country’s leaders were not as smart as he thought they were because of the way that they handled the pandemic.
MIPandemicStory 