March 13, 2020: a date many recognize as the end of the pre-pandemic world. The beginning of a change in structure and the end of normalcy. Well, maybe not to all, but certainly to student Emily Sirtak and her siblings who began staying home on that very day. 

Emily is 15 and a sophomore at FHC. She’s been socially distancing since spring break of last school year and has found plenty of ways to pass the time since then. She’s done a lot of art projects, hiking and bike riding. Once the new school year started, she was tasked with having to readjust to Canvas, a new bell schedule, and staying focused on her schoolwork despite the distractions. 

“There’s definitely distractions and it doesn’t help that I’m a huge procrastinator,” Emily said. “I’ll get distracted by things in two seconds. Phones are also a huge distraction, but at the end of the day, assignments are due when they’re due and I have to get the grades in, so that motivates me.” 

Alongside Emily is her older sister, Lauren Sirtak, who is 16 and a junior at FHC. Lauren hasn’t been able to play sports or go out as often as she did before the virus, because of the health risks and exposure that there is when playing a sport. Still, she’s found other ways to keep busy. She’s started a new job, started reading more, and stayed in touch with her boyfriend and her friends. She was given the choice to either stay home or attend school in person. 

“I chose [to do school virtually] because my boyfriend’s mom watches little kids and I didn’t want to put them at risk,” Lauren said. “I didn’t want to put my siblings and family at risk.”

The youngest child of the Sirtak family is fifth-grader Zach, a 10-year old student at Warren Elementary. Zach enjoys talking to his friends, coin collecting and playing with legos. He doesn’t like Zoom calls when his internet is slow, but he typically finds school to be easy to navigate. 

“My teacher makes us an agenda so we know everything we have to do,” Zach said. “We just click on the stuff and she [his teacher] puts links in there. It makes it super easy.”

The Sirtaks all agree that staying home has made them feel closer as a family due to how much more often they get to see each other now than before the virus struck. This summer, the three of them spent time together doing things like “camping” in their backyard where they set up tents and had a fire. 

“When we went to Arkansas, we went fishing and we had dinner with our grandparents,” Zach said. “We went on a boat and we went kayaking at this one river. It was just really fun.”

Emily and her siblings have been fortunate enough to come together as a family as uncertainty and newness meet them at every turn. By finding ways to cope, like staying in their bedrooms, finding new hobbies and spending quality time together, it shows that even in the most challenging of times, the ones they love were able to keep them grounded. 

“You should keep communicating with each other, respect each other’s space, stay connected and have a lot of fun,” Emily said.