When I was in the 5th grade Covid started to become more relevant in our lives and people started to get sick. However, people had been saying that it wasn't a big deal and that the flu was worse than Covid. They said that everything would be fine. But then it happened. Covid cases started getting worse and things started to go downhill. We had to go into quarantine and moved to online school.

At the time, my mom had been working in a school district but it wasn't for my school. The school I attended was downtown and the district my mom worked with was where I lived. Since I did not live near my school, I obviously had to move schools. I wasn't happy about the move. Not one bit. But the bright side was that I did not have to go into a new school since covid made everything go online. I ended up moving to a school in my area and started online classes with Zoom. It wasn't actually that bad, besides the fact that I didn't pay attention very well.

Time went by and halfway through the school year it was time to go back. They were starting to have in-person school but offered it both in-person and online. There were students inside the class and students on Zoom. It was an alright year but it had come to an end. The school I had been going to was a K-6 school and I was finally done with 6th grade so I had to move again. My mom had asked me what my favorite subject was and I said it was history. So, my mom put me in a school that had its main focus on history, or whatever.

I went to my next school. However, during the summer I had changed. I changed my style and my hair and a lot of stuff including my personality. I had been going through stuff with my mental health. It actually had gone down hill pretty bad. I didn't have any sisters or any cousins to hang out with. So, I didn't know what was popular or anything like that. At that time, I was being influenced by social media like TikTok and what I saw people do, I did too. I wore crazy things like chains and mismatched outfits. I dyed my hair and cut it crazy short and uneven. And that's how I went to school. People started talking about me and saying mean things and I had a certain friend group - you know, like people who dressed funny and did different things from everyone else. School wasn't going so great for me at the time.

Eventually, I changed and saw what everyone else did. I realized I didn't want to be how I was and I needed a change. I started hanging out with different people and changed my style and did my hair and makeup. It took a while but I had finally changed completely. I think it was a good change. The only thing that hasn't changed much was my mental health. It did get a bit better but not by much. I think being in school in-person fully again really gave me a different perspective on myself and others. It’s like a reminder of what the real world feels like. I'm looking forward to a restart in high school. I'm kind of excited to be honest. I'll make new friends and meet a bunch of new people. I am nervous but I’ll make the best of it. I'll see where life takes me.

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