Items

• 
  2021-09-16

  Hotel California & Casa Bonita

  My spouse and I love road trips and concerts. Covid definitely slowed us down! In the summer of 2021, we decided to take a road trip culminating in a concert in Denver, Colorado. Which concert? The Eagles - Hotel California! We drove and camped through Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. In Denver, we toured the famous restaurant Casa Bonita and went to the concert. For the concert, everyone needed a vaccination card and masks were required (although not widely worn). It was fun and felt a little like back-to-normal. We had a great time!
• 
  2022-05-26

  Relocation in Isolation, Reconnection in Solitude

  When Covid first kicked off, I was in the final months of my undergraduate degree, weeks away from obtaining my B.A. in history from CSU Stanislaus in December 2020. I had made plans to travel and work in Japan, teaching English, doing cultural work, and generally immersing myself into the culture I found so fascinating in my studies. However, the world's shutdown would put an end (or a pause) to this plan. Now working remotely from home, I stayed in my room working on my senior thesis, looking out the window to the often empty street. My family had decided to move, as we had decided years before but loose ends such as my degree were the final threads to be cut. Remote work had given us an unexpected leap in our time-frame, and so in the midst of the Paradise fires, to which I vividly remember the dark orange skies blotting out the sun and the ever present ashy, smoky stench on the air, carried by the warm breeze from the north, we began the process of transitioning our lives to be on the road, and to be resettled in northern Idaho. For the next year and a half or so we settled in to our new home, however the world was still largely in lock-down, and so I spent most of my time inside or in the basement where I had set up a study space to finish my senior thesis and to earn my degree through my last online semester. It was a self reflective and solitary time, in which I would often take many breaks to venture out my backdoor, which quite literally lead into the forest. Not fifty feet from my home, we have a circle of trees where we would eventually put a fire pit and often sit around together around the warmth on cold nights, talking and sharing fun with one another. When alone however, it serves as an incredible spot to simply sit back and become immersed into our natural world, an amenity I often take advantage of to this day while working on my M.A. through ASU's online program. This audio recording is a sample of that, and in it, you can hear the spring time birds chirping away, the low rumble of the highway just over the mountain, feel the breeze through the trees and the valleys from the lake, and imagine the smell of pine and flowers on the forest floor.
• 
  2022-04-26

  Time Machine

  As many have most likely stated, living through the COVID-19 pandemic is like living in a time machine, or fast forward. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was an eighteen year old who had no idea where she was going after high school. I had about five outstanding college decisions at this point. I know - I applied to a lot of schools. Since then, it has been two years that flashed before my eyes. I am in a completely different state and a completely different person. However, it does not feel like two years have passed since I graduated from high school. I remember the last time I stepped foot in my high school. It was March 13, 2020. I was so stressed out about exams and was just ready to get out of there. I know now that if I knew it was my last real day of school, I would have lived it very differently. My graduating class (the class of 2020) was referred to as the pandemic class, or the champions of senior skip day. Believe it or not, my graduation was a drive through that took place in my high school’s parking lot. My senior prom was canceled twice. The second time, I was getting ready and Idaho (my home state) went back a COVID recovery stage. So, they canceled the dance two hours prior to its scheduled start time. Beginning college during a pandemic was a weird experience. We were not permitted to have guests in our dorms and had to eat our meals outside or in our own dorms. Making friends was so hard. My only friends were my suitemates until second semester. All of our classes were on Zoom. This made my parents question why they paid for my dorm. I still think it was worth coming to school last year because I made my life long friends here.
• 
  2021-10-08

  Idaho and the Overrun Hospitals

  Idaho hospitals are so overrun with Covid patients and so understaffed that they are drowning. Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation and many people are getting sick. Many hospitals on the border Idaho shares with Washington are choosing to send their sick patients to Washington. This in turn is adding to the burden carried in Eastern Washington. Many healthcare workers in Idaho are burnt out and they are helpless because of the divisiveness caused by politics and Covid.
• 
  2021-10-08

  Covid-19 win assignment

  My name is Gage Phelps, and I am a 7th grader at lone star middle school. I like to play baseball, sketch/ draw my family loves to take our 4 by 4 talon with my trailer then go camping. I was born on December 8, 2008 in Boise ID. I now live in Nampa ID and I`m on the Nampa Babe Ruth baseball team. My mother works at Micron and my dad is a truck driver for Central Oregon Trucking Company. I like to listen to NF, Twenty one pilots, and rock with my Dad. This school year is much different from last years school start. One of the largest differences this year is that we are not online. When we where online it was hard because you had meeting that most teachers made you turn on cameras (most kids didn`t). This year we are actually in school where you can make more friends and socialize. When we where in school at the beginning of last year we had to where mask and we had to have A day and B day. The only similar thing I can think about is the 1 or 2 halls. We have lockers now and we can’t carry around our back packs anymore like we had to last year. We also have several different classes called periods.
• 
  2021-10-08

  Lone Star WIN Journal Assignment

  What is similar, different, and changed since 4th grade.
• 
  0021-10-08

  Lone Star Win Journal Assignment - Shetler

  This is a story about how my life was changed during the pandemic
• 
  2021-10-08

  Then and Now

  My name is Karleigh Wissel. I am 12 years old, and I attend Lone Star middle school (Nampa, ID). I would say that my last normal school year was 4th grade. I was nine years old and went to a private school. When I was in fifth grade, about halfway through the year, everything changed. The whole school quickly transitioned too online. The following year I was going to be in sixth grade, and we were going to continue with the same private school, but it just was not safe. So, my parents decided to homeschool me and my little brother. Wearing a mask is not mandatory but I wear it anyway. I must wear a mask all the time and the only time I get take it off is when I am outside and when I eat lunch. Also, I must be very aware of my surroundings and if someone coughs, I try my best to stay away from them. I would say that starting 7th grade this year has been a little hard. Since I was homeschooled, I did not get that middle school experience. I felt like everyone knew how to open their lockers and transition from class to class. It took me about a week to get the hang of it.
• 
  2021-10-08

  Lone Star WIN Journal Assignment

  The story says what has been the same, different and has changed since 4th grade.
• 
  2021-10-08

  Covid-19 WIN Journal Archive

  My name is Lainey Thatcher and I am 12 years old. I go to Lone Star Middle School and was asked to do this archive. For fun, I like to hang out with my friends, play volleyball and basketball, and go on adventures. I have been to almost to half of the U.S.A. and I am growing up in Idaho. My 7th grade year is definitely less stressful than the last 3 years. This year is hardly anything like last year, other than having laptops and using Teams, it has been easier and comforting than those other years. My 7th grade year is in person, where I can walk to my classes instead of going into another meeting. I remember back in 5th grade; we were in the 4th quarter of school. It was a Monday, and everyone was already going crazy about covid. That next day we were supposed to watch a disturbing video about puberty and other things. I went home that Monday, and my mom told my siblings and I that school was officially shut down. We were so happy, screaming around the house, basically having a party. Thinking it would be easier than going to school. But what we did not know was that we had to start doing things on our own. We had to take quizzes, do a ton of work, and go into meetings. I started to stress, so did my family. There was a lot of yelling. Anyway, I am happy I am back in school. Yes, I’m tired of getting up early in the morning and sitting at school all day. But I can talk when I need help instead of being muted. I don’t have as many technical problems as much. I can finally relax, hang with friends, do sports, etc. I have always believed that when everything goes wrong, if you just wait patiently through it, work hard, and just keep going, everything gets better. And it works, at least for me it does. When I split my head open when I was eight, I thought my life was over (I was very dramatic). But I waited patiently, worked through it, and just kept going and I was fine. I plan to also do it through this pandemic. That was most of my 3 years. Yes, there isn’t a lot. But I had more family problems than school problems. That’s my 3 years for you.
• 
  2020-03

  Baking: Impossible

  Back in December of 2019, my wife and I were visiting my parents and grandparents in Mesa, Arizona. It was Christmas time, so we were enjoying a bit of leisure time that we typically didn't have. I had just graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a degree in History Education, and my wife just finished a rigorous semester in her study of English at the same school. We were ready for a break. Before meeting up with the family, my grandmother brought up the idea to teach my wife and I how to make homemade bread. It was her grandmothers recipe, and I loved it, as she would occasionally make the dough to make scones or kraut biscuits. This particular recipe made a lot of dough and needed to rise three times. Because of this, making bread was an all day event. Just a few short months after learning to make bread in my grandmother's kitchen, COVID-19 shut down the world. We were living in Rexburg, Idaho at the time-a small town of around 28,000 people located in south-east Idaho. Given that we were in a rural location, we didn't feel the immediate effects of the virus like Seattle, New York City, and Los Angeles. However, around early March, schools shut down and we were told to stay indoors whenever possible. Given that I was a teacher, I was suddenly learning how to run applications like Google Classroom to teach from home. The school district wasn't sure how long I would be working from home for. Initially, they only wanted to close for two weeks to deep clean the school. However, this ended up lasting through the end of the school year. My wife was now also at home. Her studies switched from in-person courses to online courses. Professors who had spent their life in the classroom were suddenly figuring out how to teach via a new medium. It was challenging for all, but everyone seemed to be more patient with each other. Given that my wife and I were home, and given that we had more time, we decided that we would make the bread recipe that my grandmother had taught us over Christmas break. Everyone was encouraged to only shop when absolutely necessary, so we added the flour and yeast to our shopping list. However, when we went shopping only a few days later, the baking isle had been decimated. The only types of flour that were left were expensive bags of specialty flour that came in much smaller portions. Yeast was nowhere to be found. Even things like baking soda were gone. When I think back to the early days of the pandemic, I think of panic. While my wife and I were able to remain calm, many people worried they would not be able to find basic necessities. Grocery stores ran short on many items-toilet paper, canned food, flour, sugar, paper towels, cleaning supplies, amongst other things. Many things that were taken for granted were now an uncertainty. So while we did have more time on our hands, baking bread wasn't an option.
• 
  2021-01-14

  I got the vaccine!

  On Thursday, January 14, I got the first round of the Moderna vaccine. I am a high school teacher in American Falls Idaho. I think I might be one of the first teachers in the country to get the vaccine. I am very excited and honored to be among the first. I’m very grateful to my school district for working hard to get vaccines.
• 
  2021-01-15

  Keena Covid Vaccine

  My name is Morgan Keena, I live in Nampa, Idaho, I am a 7th-grade social studies teacher, and I got my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine today! Teachers weren't scheduled to start receiving the vaccine in Idaho until late February or early March. However, on January 11, 2021, our state superintendent of education delivered a speech to the Idaho legislature urging them to pass a law that would require all school districts to stay open unless mandated by the governor. Additionally, she urged that all students return to in-person learning full time as quickly as possible. On Tuesday, January 12, 2021, the governor of Idaho, Brad Little, announced via a press conference that K-12 teachers and staff were moved to the top tier and could start receiving the vaccine on January 13, 2021. This came as a huge shock to educators everywhere, but we know it is tied to the demand to have schools 100% in person. My school district, Nampa School District, then took on the momentous task of figuring out how to obtain vaccines for their nearly 1,000 staff members. Less than 36 hours later, they had secured vaccines for us at three major health systems and two smaller urgent care locations. The district also had one health system offering the vaccine on Saturdays and Sundays to better work with the teacher schedules. We managed to crash the portals of two health systems by overwhelming them with many vaccine sign-ups. I (by a miracle) was able to secure an appointment for January 15, 2021. Let me tell you; I have never been so excited to get a shot in my life. I received my vaccine from St. Luke's Health System in Nampa, Idaho. The check-in process was a breeze and done entirely on my own. I was very relaxed while waiting for my appointment but also exceptionally eager to get back to my room and get this first dose done. Once my name was called, I met with the pharmacist who would be administering my vaccine. She was a lovely woman, and I consider myself fortunate to have met her. She was such a calming presence as she explained the emergency use authorization for the vaccine, potential side effects, and what I could expect in the days after receiving this dose. She continued to use the line, "when I got my first dose...." which made me feel at ease. We talked about my job, her children, and how this school year has been wild. Suddenly, it was over! I had my vaccine and was ready to take on the world! Almost. After a couple of cases of allergic reactions to the vaccine around the country, they now require you to wait in the waiting room for 15 minutes after receiving each dose. I received the Pfizer vaccine and have scheduled my second dose for three weeks from today. As I was doing my time in the waiting room after my injection, I signed up for a program called V-Safe. V-Safe is run by the CDC and is used to track vaccines' side effects. Since this vaccine has emergency authorization, they are still collecting side effect data. since I signed up, they will message me once a day for the next week to do a quick wellness check. After the initial week, they will message me once per week to continue keeping up with any side effects I may encounter. I figure it's the least I can do to help science. I am super excited about receiving the first dose of this vaccine. My husband also received it today, and we are overjoyed by that. He is a third-year medical student rotating through various hospitals, so getting him a vaccine was a priority of ours, but it proved to be more difficult to obtain than we had thought. He received the Moderna vaccine, so we get to see how both vaccines work. I received the vaccine because I expect our school board to bring back middle school students 100% in-person and full time soon. Social distancing will not exist in the classroom, and I will be exposed to 150 students in my classroom and the other 150 students in my wing of the school. This is a good day for science. I feel excited and hopeful. I feel like I have hit the 'covid wall' lately, and I am just ready to be done with this.
• 
  2021-01-01

  Summer Reflection

  In March of 2020 the state of Idaho enacted a stay at home order. As a teacher I began teaching from home and my husband (a second year medical student) began attending all of his lectures from his office. In my mind I thought, "wow, we're going to get to slow down for a moment." I was so wrong. As a teacher I felt well prepared to move my students online. We already had the tools and platforms in place to make the transition go well. However, I wasn't ready for the overwhelming anxiety that came with the idea of walking away from my computer at the end of the day. Needless to say we continued on with our busy life from the confines of our 3rd story apartment. I continued my grad school class and teaching online while my husband continued studying and preparing for his first board exam. Over the summer I interned with JOTPY. The 12 hour / week commitment to the internship seemed doable and I was ready to be working on something. I'm not entirely sure what happened over the summer but I seem to have been so busy that it quickly turned into a whirlwind. The pandemic was supposed to have this major impact on what I was doing but I found ways to stay exceptionally busy. All of this to say I didn't have time to really reflect on my summer and internship experience. Looking back all I can say is wow. I was cleaning out my desk area last week in preparation for the return to work and grad school and as I was flipping through my notebook I found this page. This page represents a night from this summer that is hard to forget. I was busy working through my curation assignments in preparation to take the weekend off. However, about halfway through my assignment my curation group (shoutout to group 4!) starting chatting via Slack. We we just 4 students who were assigned to a group and we hadn't really chatted before. Suddenly we were talking about everything under the sun while all working through our curation assignments. I don't know that I have more to say on it except that it was fun and joyful. As 2020 turned to 2021 I started to reflect on the year that turned life upside down and I realized that it brought so much joy. While my husband and I have been blessed with our continued health throughout the year we acknowledge those who have not.
• 
  2020-09-17

  Hermit HERALD VOL 1 ISSUE 64

  cell tips
• 
  2020-09-11

  A Twist on Desk Shields

  This is the school my 6yo would have been at, if we had stayed in Idaho. One of the teachers got creative with the desk shields and decorated the students' desks to look like cars. The photo shows the students spaced a part wearing marsks and sitting behind their shields. It's so weird to see some schools already embracing in-person learning, when it feels like such a remote reality here in Tempe.
• 
  2020-08-23

  Underwear, Socks, Mask.......check!

  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine submitting a picture of my sock and underwear collection - but here I am. In the name of history! I am a teacher. I teach 7th grade social studies for the 3rd largest school district in Idaho. Our school board voted to start our year online as our COVID cases were spiking. Additionally, they decided to push our start date back a week. Our superintendent made the argument that we normally give teachers about 5 days to prepare for a normal school year and this was not a normal school year, so we got some extra time. Our district has been amazing. They are allowing the teachers to decide if they work from home or school. During the first week I chose to work from school. So, on August 23rd I was preparing to return to school. As I laid out my 'first day of school' outfit I realized it would include a mask. Well, here it is pals. Masks, socks, underwear....check! I am ready for my first day!
• 
  2020-07-25

  Anti-Mask Protests

  After living in Massachusetts throughout the emergence of COVID-19, and watching the state promptly implement and obey lockdown restrictions and mask mandates, traveling to north Idaho in mid-July was a complete culture shock. Less than a week after I arrived back to my hometown of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to visit my family, Kootenai County finally passed a mask mandate. As a result, a huge portion of the city’s population protested the simple act of wearing a face mask, claiming it was a complete violation of their freedom. The protesters threatened those who did obey the mandate. The difference in reactions by the people in Idaho vs. Massachusetts as a result of something so simple as a mask mandate was shocking to me. It is a completely different world than what I had gotten used to in Massachusetts, and I’ll never forget the hostile feeling that filled the small town of Coeur d’Alene, for the first time that I can ever remember.
• 
  07/11/2020

  Morgan Keena Oral History, 2020/07/11

  Morgan Keena, a seventh-grade social studies teacher from Meridian, Idaho, reflects on her personal experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing several topics, ranging from politics to parking lots, Morgan discusses distance learning, life in quarantine, and the response of the local officials. Suddenly bound to the confines of her apartment, Morgan vividly describes the difficulties associated with teaching students virtually and provides insight into at-home entertainment, including running, puzzles, and video conferencing with friends and family. Morgan examines the response of government officials in both Idaho and her home state of North Dakota, including Mayor Robert E. Simison, Mayor Lauren McLean, Governor Brad Little, and Governor Doug Burgum. Morgan also reflects on the experience of finding out her sister tested negative for COVID-19 after possible exposure at a bar in Scottsdale, Arizona. Looking ahead, Morgan expresses concern about members of the public not wearing masks and the prolonged process of developing a vaccine.
• 
  2020-07-06

  Summer School Classroom

  I went back to teaching in person today. I have about 7-14 kids per class, their exits into the hallway were staggered by classroom, they were all spaced safely apart, and meals weren’t offered in the school but were bagged up and sent home. We can do this with 50 kids but trying to imagine what this would mean in the fall when we hope to welcome back nearly 850 students into our building is frightening. I hated teaching with a mask on because the kids couldn’t read my face and it changed the tone of the room. I truly teared up as I pulled into the parking lot this morning and saw kids walking to school - I’ve missed them SO MUCH!!! I don’t know what the answers are in terms of reopening schools. What I do know is that teachers don’t want to be teaching from their living rooms but if it means keeping the students we love so much and the colleagues we adore safe....then we’ll do it. We’ll move mountains to keep up with our kiddos. We didn’t get into this profession for the fame and fortune, we got into this because we truly love what we do. I wasn't placed in my normal classroom today. Instead I was put in the art room which had chairs for 15 students but no desks. There were many hand sanitizer stations around the schools and are halls are all 'one way only.' The students wear masks while riding the bus but immediately take them off upon arrival and they are washed and given back at the end of the school day. I've used more hand sanitizer in the last 24 hours than I have in a long time. It also has me rethinking class copies of work.
• 
  2020-06-29

  Summer School is a Go

  As of June 22, 2020, the Boise, Idaho metro was rolled back to stage 3 of reopening. After new cases of COVID-19 soared, the governor decided to close bars, night clubs, and various restaurants. While some school districts have already decided to go online for the summer, my school district decided to return to in-person classes for summer school in June. While we have been rolled back to stage 3, our summer school session is still a go. Today, June 29, 2020, teachers received an email from our principal outlining the procedures for returning to school. As of now, students will not be served meals while at school and will instead take lunch and breakfast for the next morning home with them at the end of each school day. Additionally, teachers are required to wear facemasks while interacting with students. I think this session of summer school is acting as a trial run for the district to understand better what the upcoming school year may bring.
• 
  2020-06-12

  Summer School in Idaho

  On Friday, June 12th, the summer school team at my school met to discuss our plans for summer school in July. A few weeks ago, we received word from the district that summer school would be happening *in person* in July. As a team, we met via Microsoft Teams (to respect stage 3 of Idaho's reopening) and set up a curriculum for the summer. Our meeting was so focused on student numbers, curriculum, and overall joy that we get to see our students in person again. At the end of the meeting, one of the teachers asked, "do we have to take any extra precautions? Are we teaching with masks on?" There was a moment of silence as we all realized that he hadn't added Clorox wipes or hand sanitizer to our shopping lists, as many teachers donated our classroom supplies to our local homeless shelters when schools close.
• 
  2020-05-29

  Smart Thermometers to Track Potential Coronavirus Outbreaks in Schools

  This article is interesting to me because the thermometer will allow parents to be able to check their child's temperature but also releases that data to a 3rd party company. Idaho encountered many protests advocating for businesses to reopen quickly. These protests also argued that being asked to wear masks into stores infringed on their freedoms. It begs the question, will people even use these? Especially considering they're being used to track health data of minors, what are the legalities?
• 
  2020-05-29

  Idaho Schools Facing Budget Cuts

  Idaho schools faced a 1% holdback when COVID-19 struck. We are facing additional budget cuts going into 2020-2021 school year.
• 
  2020-05-16

  Staying Hopeful

  I have learned in this quarantine that is you want to do something and not be lazy, then you must attack it head on and just go for it. The hardest part of accomplishing something is definitely starting. If you can start the thing you want, then you are more motivated to finish it because you have already spent time and effort trying to accomplish the thing you want. Even when I get out of this quarantine, I am going to try to apply this to my daily life. I really wonder when things are going to get back to normal, or if things will go back to normal. This might be the new normal which is a scary thought. I hope this is not the new normal because I had a plan for my future. Well kind of, but this is definitely not what I had planned. I am trying to remember that it is not about what I want for my future or what I think is supposed to happen in my life. It is about God’s plan and what he wants to happen in my life.
• 
  2020-05-15

  Life during Covid-19

  #LSMS #NSD
• 
  2020-05-15

  Living through Covid-19

  Personal Experience Text
• 
  2020-05-08

  Life during Covid-19

  Personal Experience Text
• 
  2020-04-16

  A Classroom Frozen in Time

  This is a picture of my classroom on April 16th, 2020. Our school in Nampa, Idaho officially closed at the end of the day on March 16th and I didn't return to my classroom until one month later. It was like I was stepping into a time capsule. My 'On This Day in History' board had been filled out for the next day by a student before we had learned that we would not be returning. The student also took it upon themselves to list "March 17, 2020 the first St. Patrick's Day with the virus."