Masconomet students share their stories on the pandemic and mental health

Mar. 13—Three Masconomet students who serve on the Tri-Town Council Youth Action Advisory Board shared their stories about how the pandemic, and the resulting switch to online classes, has affected their mental health. Ada Yu, Maria Belhous, and Anna Strom talk about the challenges they face, how Masco has responded, and their worries about loved ones getting COVID.

Yu was doing hybrid but as case counts increased, she decided to go all remote. It's been harder to have conversations with her friends and to keep up with everyone. Texting and Facetime just can't replace sitting together at lunch or seeing friends after school, and online learning is also presenting challenges.

"I feel like my learning experience was definitely better in person because I could be face-to-face with my teachers and form those teacher-student relationships," she said.

Yu, who is a junior, said the quality of online teaching is the same as in-person, but she doesn't feel the same connection with her teachers.

"I like being close to my teachers and seeing them," she said.

Online learning takes more effort, Yu said, and sometimes the internet cuts out, and whether that's on her end or the teacher's, it's a disruption in the class. That makes her anxious, she said.

"I feel like I'm missing important information that I might be tested on later, or I missed deadlines because I couldn't hear them," Yu said.

She also feels that she's missing vital hands-on experience and isn't learning as much as she should be, especially in the labs that are part of her science classes.

"I'm more of an experiential learner," Yu said. "I like to hold things and do things in person and see how they work. I feel as though I don't understand the material as much so I'm not as confident when I go to take my tests."

Yu said the sheer amount of online work, class work and a lot of homework combined, is taking its toll.

"A lot of my peers and I, we're starting to get really bad headaches or just some eye strain after looking at the computer for so long," she said.

Overlaying all of that is the worry about the coronavirus.

"Having to focus on schoolwork with that in the background and just worrying about my friends and family, wondering if they'll get it, it's definitely a source of anxiety for me," Yu said.

Like Yu, Maria Belhous is a junior at Masco. She said that having to adjust to so many different things because of the pandemic has been stressful and that looking at a screen for seven hours a day, with only short breaks between classes, isn't healthy.

However, she feels that Masco has responded to students' concerns.

"I actually think the school has been really helpful because we've had several schedule changes... to try different things," Belhous said. "They put in a WIN period, which is like a break period that rotates, and I think that especially has been really helpful."

WIN stands for "what I need," and students can use the period as a break or to get help with a class.

Belhous doesn't see life going back to the way it was when the pandemic is over.

"I feel like there's definitely going to be some changes, especially with snow days," she said. "I don't think they'll be existing in the near future."

Sanitizing stations won't be going away, she said, and even after everyone is vaccinated, school probably won't be fully in-person.

"I don't think we're ever going to go back to the way we were before this," she said.

Belhous said that despite the challenges, some good things are also happening.

"It's been nice to stay at home," she said. "I get to spend more time with my family at least. And I feel like I've developed a closer relationship with my sister."

She's making more time to read, something she's always loved to do, and she's trying new things.

"The pandemic has really opened up more opportunities for me in a way," Belhous said. "Now I'm looking into different activities, different things that I can spend my time with that I've never thought of doing before."

Belhous takes comfort in knowing she isn't alone in the pandemic.

"We're kind of all in this boat together," she said.

"I think it's definitely affected everyone's mental health," said Anna Strom. "I actually talk about it with my friends a lot. And, it's definitely affected my mental health, and in a negative way I would say, just because I'm at the computer every day for multiple hours. It's a lot of screen time, and that affects your sleep schedule, which can affect your mood, and it just escalates."

Strom said that while she's able to connect with friends via technology, which is a good thing, it's more difficult to get outside.

"You really have to tell yourself, OK I'm going to go do this, and you stick with that plan," she said.

Like Belhous, Strom feels Masco has tried to help students.

At the beginning of the school year, she said, students had more free time. Students liked it, but parents thought it was too much free time, she said.

"So, the school changed that schedule, and we ended up having classes one after the other, back-to-back, all of them, except for a break during lunch," Strom said.

Students talked to the Principal Peter Delani, she said, and then brought the issues to the School Committee. Masco then added the WIN block.

"That's helped," Strom said. "They were good to listen to the students."

Strom said that while she doesn't mind spending time by herself, the pandemic has brought aloneness to a new level.

"I'm fine being alone," she said. "I can be with myself. I can find activities, but it did really challenge me to just totally be with myself and to not really be able to see my friends"

She's a part of clubs after school, but they're held virtually, and it isn't the same as in-person.

"I get so tired," Strom said. "It's also that motivational piece about schoolwork. Finding that motivation to apply yourself in whatever you're doing, whether it's school or relationships.

The chance that a loved one could get COVID also weighs on Strom. She has family members with medical issues, which is why she decided to go full remote.

"If I were sick and gave it to them, I would feel really bad, so I'm very conscious about that."

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