By Max Miller | Rosh PR, Chicago

Wow.

Just last week, I sat in school. I went to my classes. I ate lunch. I talked to friends and teachers.

This week things have changed. As the COVID-19 epidemic has become the foremost international issue, schools have closed and immediate arrangements had to be made. With this shutdown came a question for administrators: how can we ensure students are still learning while they remain at home?

The answer for most schools came in an online application called Zoom, which allows for teleconferencing, in addition to several other tools useful for education (like screen sharing, annotating, etc.)

This change has been a sudden one. Me and many of my classmates are not yet used to the new reality that has been thrown so hastily upon us. Our schedules have changed, and the social aspect of high school is now lacking. To make up for this, me and some friends ate lunch over Zoom a few days ago. Just catching up on how thing were made things a bit better. In terms of education, Zoom is certainly a double-edged sword: its extremely easy to become distracted, yet teachers are still able to educate in ways they had not known before.

The many hours me and my classmates now spend in our houses presents its own challenges. There are only so many board games and Netflix shows to watch, but I think students are good at adapting to challenges. In the next few days and weeks, I am sure everyone will find something they are interested in or have been pushing off a while and will finally reach some type of goal.

As the world remains in a state never known previously, I think its important that we maintain our relationships- both with our friends and our Creator. We should reach out to friends- whether its over WhatsApp, Zoom, FaceTime, or so many other mediums, now is a time to make sure everyone is doing OK. Furthermore, we are in desperate need of Tefillot and additional commitment to Chesed, Tzedakah, and Mitzvot.

I know the world seems like a bad place right now. I know that things are changing, and many of us are having trouble with these changes. But now is a time where we all must band together and try to do whatever we can to make the world better- even if that means just calling a friend.

May Hashem grant everyone affected by this new virus a quick Refuah, and may we all stay healthy, safe, and happy during these unprecedented times.