March 14, 2025
By Debra Ogunbowale
Webmaster
When sophomore Christina Mizeski stepped into a public school for the first time in November 2020, it was not just a new school district she had to adjust to—it was learning in the midst of a global pandemic.
“I do remember it being a little harder to make friends,” said Mizeski, who had previously attended Sacred Heart Catholic School in Lyndhurst. “I remember feeling like certain people were off-limits to talk to or that I wasn’t relevant enough to talk to them.”
While her circumstances were unique since she was entering a new school system, Mizeski said all students faced the consequences of remote learning.
“A lot of learning became independent [in the early days of COVID-19]. When Zoom meetings or Google Classrooms crashed, we were set back,” Mizeski said.
She said students are still impacted by learning loss.
“People in high school now miss many important years of academic development… especially in science and math classes,” Mizeski said.
She said the sense of community among students has dwindled since the pandemic.
“Overall, cliques have become more prominent. I also think people value popularity way more now and treat others poorly if they are not as relevant,” Mizeski said. “It’s a strange phenomenon that has always been around but worsened after quarantine.”
“I thought life would never go back to normal.”
Senior Marez Melad, who was in seventh grade in March 2020, said the pandemic caused an increase in her social anxiety.
“Since no one was able to go out of their houses, it felt like someone was putting me in prison. Not being able to have the freedom I would have [had] would cause my stress to increase and cause me to feel pressure,” Melad said.
Melad’s experiences reflect data collected by the National Institutes of Health. Its research identified a 151% increase in the rate of anxiety problems and social risks among children, adolescents and young adults globally following the pandemic.
Melad said her high school experiences in the wake of the pandemic were surreal.
“I thought life would never go back to normal,” Melad said. “My freshman year, we went back [to school] with masks, and the [plastic shields] over the desks made me feel like this would be my high school life forever.”
Melad said, fortunately, life as it was before the pandemic returned sooner than she expected.
“Going back to normal my sophomore year, [there were] no masks [required], no isolation or desk covers,” Melad said.
She said the pandemic marked a detrimental shift in how students approach their education.
“[During the pandemic,] teachers would extend their deadlines for long periods even when it was easy work,” Melad said. “Students, in general, started to cheat more and use Google more than using their brains to… solve a problem or answer a simple question given in class.”
Sophomore Eymen Mutcali, who was in fifth grade at the start of the pandemic, said he faced an additional challenge because he had just moved from Türkiye to the United States in November 2019.
“I didn’t really know any English back then, and I think COVID delayed my learning,” Mutcali said.
He said during the pandemic, he had to find different ways to have fun, which included playing computer games, streaming movies and watching shows on YouTube.
“Not being able to play sports with my friends made me feel less connected,” Mutcali said.
He said texting and FaceTiming are not substitutes for in-person communication.
“I would prefer socializing in person. Sometimes it is hard to [understand] others when you are just texting them,” Mutcali said.
He said he did not find it hard to adjust to social dynamics once schools reopened.
“It was nice to see my friends. It was also very nice to go outside for recess and hang out with [them],” said Mutcali.
