Ninety-nine days. Ninety-nine days of abruptly shifting from in-person to virtual learning. Ninety-nine days that Covid-19 flipped my academic and personal life upside down. I missed ninety-nine days of in-person school due to being quarantined multiple times. 

I was quarantined for three weeks in the first quarter of my junior year as five members of my family tested positive for Covid-19. I was forced to remain in isolation and although virtual school brought many challenges, I performed extremely well academically.  

When I was able to return to in-person learning following my initial quarantine, I immediately noticed many changes in my high school.  My classmates, teachers, and academic advisors were absent.  My teachers were virtually teaching class from their home offices and kitchens. I decided at that time to continue virtual learning for the rest of the semester. I initially thought virtual learning would be a better option for me considering that I had previously done well with virtual school, but I was mistaken. My decision proved to be difficult as I started to become unmotivated while being physically away from my classmates and teachers. My course load, which consisted of two advanced placement classes and an honors class, required me to become self-motivated. When my grades initially started to drop, I realized that even though I was away from my classmates and teachers, I still needed to persevere and work hard at my academics. I did not want to let my parents, goals, and myself down.  I regained focus and continued to slowly bring my grades up by completing extra assignments and projects, spending extra time studying, and scheduling virtual meetings with my teachers to go over assignments. I returned back to in-person learning for my second semester of school.  I felt much more confident and happy to return to “normal” school because it was easier to stay motivated and I could be more involved in my classes. But, just when things were getting back to normal and on track academically, I was quarantined from school two more times. I learned from my previous virtual learning experiences not to lose focus of my grades and academic goals while transitioning again from in-person to virtual learning. Despite all of the chaos and instability that Covid-19 brought to my daily learning, I became determined to maintain and improve my grades because I did not want to give up on my goal of maintaining a good GPA.

Missing ninety-nine days of in-person school also affected my personal relationships with friends and classmates.  It was challenging to maintain friendships since I was not able to see them, talk to them, or hang out with them. However, in these dark and lonely times, I realized that Covid-19 would not put an end to my relationships. I started scheduling times throughout the day to socialize with my friends by having Facetime calls with them, texting them about their day, and checking in on their mental health and wellbeing.  My relationships were and are important to me because they bring me happiness, they help improve my mental health, and they provide me comfort and joy.  

Ultimately, my junior year of high school was the most challenging year of my life.  However, from this experience, I learned how to persevere. To me, perseverance is realizing that changes in life are inevitable and while changes can be difficult, it’s what helps me as a person grow.  I truly believe that the experiences and learnings from my junior year can be applied to my future college education. I know that college will present different challenges for me personally just like my 99 days did. However, I also know that I will be able to use my past experiences and learnings, adapt to the challenges, persevere, and accomplish my academic goals just like how I successfully did in my 99 days.