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Quarantine Experiences

I wanted to create a source based on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected high school and college students. The pandemic affected everyone’s life in different ways, but I really wanted to focus on education because that is how it affected me the most. The United States went into a complete lock down right before the end-of-high school excitement, and for me that was really hard. Everyday something else was cancelled that I had been looking forward to all year. First, it was prom, then the final pepfest, and even graduation. It became difficult for me not to think ‘why me?’ I understood people were dying, this was very serious, and people definitely were going through worse things, but I didn’t know how to cope with knowing I wouldn’t get a second shot at the final months of high school. Graduation hit the hardest because I was working my butt off for four years, and all of the hard work was shown on a diploma sent to me in the mail. It didn’t seem fair. Ultimately, my mental health completely plummeted. It was one thing after the other, and I really just lost hope. I have been recovering from mental health disorders as is, and the pandemic sent me into relapse. I included my own response on my photo, but I also wanted to shed light on other students' experiences. This is my version of a mini interview in order to capture different thoughts. While I used a very broad question, I wanted to capture more responses because this way I am able to get more feedback on the hardships the pandemic had on students. I definitely got some odd responses, which I did include a couple, but wanted to use more serious ones as well. I wanted to give them credit, but included an option to be left anonymous if wanted, as shown on the photo. If someone were to look back at my project, they would be able to get a brief truth of what life was like for students during this time. I really wanted to do an interview, but wanted to present it in a more appealing way. Sometimes I get overwhelmed when I see a bunch of words, but this way, the pandemic is represented in a short and appealing matter. A primary source is something coming straight from the source; I like to think of it as being an original. My photo is a primary source because it includes quotes of exact words from people in their personal experience, including my own. We looked at a lot of primary sources throughout this class this semester, and I think my source relates to the most recent video about Bolivia the most. The video was showing many interviews about one certain time period. I feel mine is similar because it includes many interview statements of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also looked through many art photos about a time period, in which we then analyzed them. I did this in a very small way; a photo of someone in a mask. I’m not sure when, if it happens, masks will go away, but I definitely think of this time as mask bearing.

April 29, 2021

Eau Claire, WI

Eiley Koivisto

Social distancing

#UWECHIST172

[private]

Yes