The light at the end of the pandemic

With the COVID-19 vaccine rollout moving forward, students set sights on a return to in-person learning.

Anushka Singh, Staff Writer

Across the country, states and cities are moving to put teachers near the front of the line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, in an effort to make it safer to return to classrooms and provide relief to struggling students and worried parents.

In Cook County, many schools have moved online since last year and the vaccine is giving everyone a new ray of hope that they would be able to have a normal rest of the year 2021. However, given the limited number of vaccines available to states and the hurdles to distribution, vaccinating all the teachers and school staff could be a slow process and there will definitely not be a quick fix to this pandemic.

Everyone was stunned when the first lockdown began, and life has not been the same as people remember.

“Everything feels quite surreal. I never in a billion years thought that all of my senior year would be spent sitting in front of a screen and spending the whole day working at a single spot doing my work,” said Nandini Patel, senior.

It is not an exaggeration to note that the whole school system has turned upside down ever since the pandemic- from starting the day logging in to Zoom to playing the sports with no audience there to share their support and cheers.

“I can’t wait to come back to the school and meet all my teachers and friends,” said Freya Modi, junior. “I would be so glad to return back to the school after surviving this global pandemic. I won’t be hesitant because I know my teachers are safe and the school is taking up measures for the students.”

It is a remarkable achievement that the scientists and researchers found the cure for this virus to cure millions of people, demonstrating the power of science to save lives.

“It has given me the reassurance I haven’t had until now and knowing that all the teachers and the school staff is going to get vaccinated soon is amazing,” said Vania Chavez, junior. “I would really like to come back to the school for my senior year, if not the rest of my junior year. ”

This has been an incredibly tough year, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.