2020-2021 was both a unique and challenging experience for students. Some of our SBHS journalists documented their thoughts, feelings, and experiences during the past 15 months. Here is 2020/2021 from a teen’s perspective.

Here are four artistic representations of 2020-2021.

Living Through a Pandemic

by Dalia Cedillo, Tyro Times Staff

During the past 14 months, things have changed drastically. Many people have fallen. Everyone has a different experience. COVID-19 impacted everyone in a way no one expected it to. While living through this pandemic, I’ve done some new things, like giving out food to the homeless, learning how to skate, gaming more often, and more. While helping out the homeless, I’ve learned that they try to keep each other safe by sharing what they receive like masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer. This made me think about my family and how fortunate we are for being safe.

COVID-19 made me experience many things like losing a family member, motivation, and having poor mental health. Many of these things have happened to plenty of teens. This pandemic made me realize that nothing lasts forever. Things will come and go, but as long as they are remembered, they will stay with you. This photograph helps represents how COVID-19 affected many people – the dirty mask on the dead grass makes me picture the many who struggled at the beginning of the pandemic.

Havoc

by Alisson Duque, Tyro Times Staff

I decided to paint to document my perspective of the past 14 months. I am definitely not Pablo Picasso, but I have picked up painting as a great hobby during quarantine, so I thought it would fit. My painting is of a girl who is learning on her computer with a bunch of distractions behind her. One of the biggest distractions is her phone, which keeps ringing and beeping. Other distractions include her little sister who is constantly crying and her brother who keeps screaming. Then, I painted the window on the side to represent she is inside a house. Outside of the window, I painted clouds, thunder, and rain in order to emphasize the loudness and all of the distractions that are going on while she is learning online. This painting is supposed to symbolize my life and how hard distance learning has been, especially with my siblings distracting me constantly and having access to my phone which is right next to me.

The Past 14 Months

by Karen Monarrez-Rosales, grade 11

The two hands represent our connection during these past 14 months. Some people were reaching out and others were out of touch. We needed to support our loved ones and racial minorities during these tough times. The background illuminates and resembles a computer, which is something we’ve been glued to all throughout COVID-19. Social media and COVID – our change in lifestyle. These are things that I and other teens will always remember. For many, their improvement and hobbies and mental health were positive; for others, their experience with lockdown wasn’t the best.

Pandemic Life

by Kim Loria, Tyro Times Staff

When creating this poster, I wanted to show off how COVID-19 has changed life. I also wanted to show people how to help stop the transmission of COVID. The top left corner shows a hand holding a phone, depicting messages where a person is celebrating their birthday alone. Just like the drawing, I spent my birthday alone in quarantine. The bottom drawing is one of myself wearing a mask.