By Ananya Mahesh, Malvika Sawant,  Meghana Malempati, Rishima Sharma, Rishi Bappanad, Roumika Patil, and Sonika Tatipalli, the GTF Group

The COVID-19 pandemic has made everyone in the world experience countless struggles. From facing the deadly illness to learning how to stay safe and quarantined, the entire world had to rapidly adapt and change their living style due to this unprecedented situation. The deadly ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected day to day life and is slowing down the global economy. It has affected thousands of people, who are either sick or are being killed due to the spread of this disease, creating one of the largest worldwide disruptions of educational systems in history affecting approximately 1.6 billion students. This crisis will continue to have long-lasting effects on children and the youth revealing a ripple in how one manages school and extracurricular activities they engage in. COVID-19 has limited our ability to gather in the wakes of daily life affecting our participation levels in multiple aspects.

As motivated students and dedicated members of Global Thrombosis Forum (GTF), this ongoing pandemic has allowed us to reevaluate the methods in which we manage our school and GTF activities. It has given us the opportunity to learn development skills to juggle the academic and social responsibilities embedded in our school and GTF life.

Thankfully, our families are, compared to the struggles faced by others during this crisis, safe and have suffered minimal issues. However, we still had to learn to function primarily online for school and GTF activities.

As high school students, there are many different activities that we participate in that must be managed well on a timely basis. This school year and the activities in it are significant for our future. Normally, this would bring up a great amount of stress. The COVID-19 pandemic occurring has forced us to participate solely online, which amplifies this stress. However, with strong dedication and positive thinking, we were able to adapt and establish a safe and productive way of completing our day-to-day activities.

It is important to give your body time to relax and recharge. This period allows you to avoid getting burned out and increases your energy potential in successfully accomplishing school and GTF activities. A strategy we have used effectively is that of completing more assigned work during the week leaving more free time on the weekends. These breaks allow the mind and body to get recharged. When we are working on an activity, we tend to take midday breaks to keep our productivity levels from plummeting. A great way to stay motivated in balancing various activities such as prominently school and GTF is by unwinding at the end of each day by doing something you enjoy. It may be that sometimes the entire week is completely packed with activities to fulfill, so it is important to take advantage of the free time.

One important and sudden change to our daily lives was doing all schoolwork online. In school, getting information is much easier and more efficient; it is simpler to seek help from the teacher automatically. Online, however, it is more difficult to ask a question, and it takes time to get a reply. One adaptation we have made is relying more on resource materials and connections. This is true for GTF activities as well. As opposed to the normal in-person practices, all these activities had to be done through an online platform. This experience made it more difficult, but it also has helped us learn to be more independent.

Volunteering and providing service to the community are both vital and inspiring activities for our age. To be able to stay safe while still lending a helping hand, we find volunteering opportunities in which we do not have to meet anywhere. These activities are facilitated by calls and conferences. For example, we engage in GTF projects and presentations, tutor online, ship homemade goods, and write articles. Rather than participating in public areas for volunteering, we find a way to do them online.

To make an effective plan for time management, we make a list of all the tasks that we must finish and make a schedule. We finish the ones that are due in the next few days first and then attend to those which are due later. We also finish the tasks that are more difficult first and the easier ones a bit later. This has allowed us to visualize the amount of work that we have and how much time we have for it. In this way, we can relieve excess stress and manage all our activities on a time-to-time basis.

One avenue some of us exercised was to research various aspects of COVID-19, for example, COVID-19 and DVT, COVID-19 treatment, the effect of COVID-19 and placenta, etc. and make presentations at various University settings.  Some of us talked on the local radio show about the various aspects of COVID-19.  We feel that by doing this, not only we kept our time well-spent, we also helped the community understand how to face this grave condition.

Mrs. Archana Athalye, one of our mentors in GTF has taught us to be ready at all the time, think positive, work hard to overcome the hurdles and be brave. With time we have noticed our multi-tasking and time management skills have strengthened with the methods we have highlighted throughout. We have tried to use a combination of discipline, mind control, and schedule to maintain work-life balance throughout this pandemic. We have also started coaching our fellow classmates and neighbors in some of the techniques that we have learned through this experience.

Being optimistic also has many advantages. Naturally, those who think more positively are more efficient in their work and happier people in general. Thinking optimistically is one way to relieve stress during a pandemic. Although there may be difficulties that must be overcome, thinking about the benefits corona has caused and the opportunities and skills gained from the experience proved to motivate me. One main thing that we see was a positive impact of COVID is that in a way, it gave us more time. If the pandemic did not occur, we would have to commute daily. However, while staying quarantined, we can spend more time on other activities in place of traveling. Another positive aspect of COVID-19 is that it improved our multiple skills: time management and independent learning. While completing both GTF and school activities, we had to develop these skills to do the work more efficiently online. Overall, this optimism eased the frustration caused by the difficulties of online learning.

Being optimistic students, we had decided never to give up and make the best from the worst things that are happening. Throughout my COVID-19 experience, we learned to manage our school and extracurricular activities and fight frustration by safely doing our work online, maintaining a schedule, finding online service opportunities, and constantly thinking positively. Although the current crisis has caused much harm to our world and although it is difficult to manage all these activities while COVID-19 is adding more frustrations, by striving to push past it and stay productive, we have gained some beneficial aspects. In the end, this Pandemic has contributed to helping us manage everything as well as we did before the pandemic while maintaining quarantine. So, the positive attitude that we learned from our parents and mentors has paid off. Fighting and pushing past COVID-19 and its inconvenience has ultimately made us stronger than before. We are better prepared and ready now to face even more challenges in our life.  Although we are not wishing for bad times, if ever these times come again, we know that we can handle the challenges much better!

About the Authors:

Ananya Mahesh is a Junior at the Johns Creek High School. She is inspired and motivated by her family since the members always support her and push her to do her best. In the future, Ananya wants to pursue a career in medicine, particularly as a surgeon.

Malvika Sawant is a sophomore at Johns Creek High School located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Malvika is a member of the Global Thrombosis Forum and enjoys spending her time in community service.  She is aspiring to enter the medical field.

Meghana Malempati is a sophomore at Johns Creek High School. Her goal in life is to pursue a career in the medical field as a doctor and help bring equity of access to healthcare.

 Rishi Bappanad is a sophomore at Johns Creek High School in Atlanta, Georgia, and a member of Global Thrombosis Forum. I aspire to enter the financial field as a financial advisor.

Rishima Sharma is a junior student at the Alliance Academy for Innovation. She hopes to pursue a career in Medicine with a specialty as an oncologist.

Roumika Patil is a sophomore at Milton High School. Her main inspirations are her friends and family, who show that anything is possible and motivate her to do her best for anything. In the future, Roumika aspires to be in the career field of medicine, particularly looking at medicine as a business.

Sonika Tatipalli is currently a junior at South Forsyth High School. She is extremely interested in science and math. In the future, she aspires to pursue a career in the medical field.