Storyteller: Anna Norfleet
Aaron was 17 going on 18 when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. He lived at his childhood home in Kawkawlin, Michigan at the time with his sister, mother, and father. Aaron was one of the many senior across the world who has their senior year ripped away from them. At the time he attended Bay City Western High School while playing 3 sports as well as being president of NHS. COVID-19 was first made notice to him in January or February, but he was unaware then of how much it would impact his life. His daily life changed greatly, Aaron went from constant school and sports to practically no classwork and a lot more free time. He lost many experiences that he thought were a given, like a normal graduation, but he also gained some experiences that will last a lifetime.
Overall, the things that he gained from COVID-19 was the ability to be self-sufficient when it comes to learning. The transition from everyday online learning to remote was difficult and a test of one’s ability to truly teach themself academically and how to deal with adversity. Many things were lost from COVID-19 for Aaron. The major things were losing his senior year and time to spend with friends before they went their own way in life. He also had some funny experiences as well as some sensory details that he noticed due to the virus. One of his favorites experiences was watching his roommate try and complete an online gym class in their tiny dorm room. Some sensory details that Aaron noticed was the heat that came from wearing a mask in the summer and the increased breakouts along the mask line. In the end Aaron stated that the pandemic has taught him to value the time that you have now as you never know when it could get worse.
MIPandemicStory 