While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many tragedies to the world, it is important to look on the bright side during these uncertain times.

For instance, sophomore Marcela Rodriguez is focusing on how quarantine is helping the environment.

“Something positive that has affected everyone is how the environment is changing. Since people are inside all the time, cars have not been used, factories have not been producing as much pollution, and littering has gone down,” Rodriguez said. “This reduces our carbon footprint by so much and it’s amazing that by just us pulling away for like 3 weeks. The environment is changing so much in such positive ways.”

Rodriguez is passionate about the environment and thinks this will bring a lot of positive outcomes to the Earth.

“Take Venice, for example, their canals that are usually filled with super dirty and muddy-looking water are finally clear. You can see that fishes came back into the now clean water,” Rodriguez said. “There are wild animals roaming the streets or Italy because they are clean and people-free. Pictures from space have shown that the pollution in major cities here in the U.S like New York and Los Angeles have gone down drastically. The sky in China is clear… the environment is truly thriving. I think that extremely positive, since at the end of the day this is where we live… and there is not Planet B.”

Another positive impact of quarantine is that many students are now spending more time with their families, developing a closer bond than ever before.

“I have been able to spend more time with my family since we all have been at home. We’ve been watching movies and playing games together as well since we are all home,” sophomore Sofia Swalve said. “It’s benefited us by not only keeping us safe but it’s also strengthened our bond together.”

Sophomore Alexander Saber has also enjoyed spending more time with his family.

“A positive outcome of getting quarantined is being able to spend extra time with my family because we are usually not together at the same time,” Saber said. “I’ve been playing videogames and board games with my brothers.”

Some feel this mandatory break from school will benefit students since now they are not as stressed as before.

“For some reason I didn’t feel any sorrow because school causes me a bunch of stress and just working at the facility is already so inefficient for me so working from home seemed like a worthy prospect. So far it’s been much better for my health physically and mentally in general for working from home,” freshman Yussef Ali said. “Though I don’t wish that the virus or this lockdown causes damage to the school, this system is way friendlier to me than the commute and routine from before.”

However, schoolwork is not the only activity that is done at home. Many students have pursued new hobbies to pass the time at home.

“I’ve painted, made jewelry, started an Instagram with a friend for our singing, and loads of other things,” Swalve said.

Junior Sofia Attaway has been able to spend some time with her pet as due to quarantine.

“Since the quarantine I’ve been really grateful for the short amount of time I’m still able to go outside. I take my dog, Jasper, out on walks almost every day and some days I drive over to the arboretum near my house. The arboretum is pretty big with several trails so I’m able to spend a longer amount of time outside and don’t have to worry about coming in close contact with people,” Attaway said.