Above: Wordcloud by Mandy Rosenberg
By Emily Rosenberg ’20
On Friday, March 13, it was announced that Beverly Public Schools would be closed for two weeks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Then as administrators and government officials began to reevaluate the situation, two weeks turned into all Massachusetts schools being closed until May 4th. This news devastated students and teachers, as they could have never imagined spending the majority of a semester inside their houses, managing teachers platforms Google Hangouts, Moodle, and Zoom, as an essential resource.
Furthermore, events and competitions that students and coaches had been working towards and planning for all year were canceled in what seemed like a heartbeat, though the decisions were not light ones.
This time away from school may have at first seemed like a good time to catch up with school work, or finally read that book you’ve been dying to read all year, but unlike a snow day or a school vacation, students are mandated to stay inside their homes and keep their distance from their friends. Therefore, they are quickly becoming bored and missing school where they get to interact with their peers, and (gasp) learn interesting facts from their teachers.
Shortly after school “ended,” Principal Taylor began the Instagram profile bhstaylor. Every day she reads an inspiring, thought-provoking, or uplifting poem. Or, a teacher or administrator will pop up with a video talking about their day and giving students encouraging advice. This is a smart way to keep in touch with the student body. “Let’s have an assembly,” she said as she welcomed us to her page.
Ms. Taylor also started the hashtag #bhsrises, originally asking us to share our new morning routine, but the hashtag became a new way to spread positivity and creativity. For example, @createbhs posts pictures of new art projects they’ve started while away, and @bhsaegis posts videos of their members reading stories. Some teachers have also been using the hashtag to post quotes and updates.
Beverly High School students are also staying connected through fun games and tags. Recently, people were using the tag #spreadpositivity, posting a picture of themselves on their Instagram story and tagging ten people they knew were beautiful on the inside and out, though many tagged far more than ten. More activities that I’ve observed are: the “support an artist” tag, where you tag five artists, and the “stage face” challenge, where you post a picture of yourself performing, as well as a game where one person draws a carrot and asks four other people to draw a carrot.
Then recently, there was an odd trend going around where people posted candid photos of themselves with the caption “until tomorrow.” While all of these tags and trends are not unique to BHS, it is still encouraging to see students engaging in communication that will spread light and fun in a time where it’s difficult to do so, even if it is just silly.
There are so many other ways that people are staying connected during our time apart. Recently, a Beverly Middle School teacher made a video lip syncing the song “All by Myself,” and visiting all of the Beverly Schools. On March 27th, the cast, pit, and crew of the BHS musical Cinderella spent what would’ve been their opening night on a Zoom meeting, watching and singing along to old clips of their rehearsals.
While being quarantined for a month is not how we imagined our senior, junior, sophomore, or freshman years, our time apart is making us understand how precious and special our time together is. Perhaps it is giving us a chance to come together in a way we may never have thought to before.
