May 29, 2020
Illustration by Sofia Vargas, YPIE Scholar 2026
In this Issue
Starving At Home- Ramadan During Quarantine
“Imagine a World Like This”
“Panic”
Online Schooling During Covid-19
Online Learning: A Teacher’s Perspective
YPIE QuaranTimes Staff
Editors
Julia Azulay
Salamatu Lawal
Alyssa Lee
Catarina Mendes
Isabella Rendino
Contributors
Kaylee Andrade
Katelyn Daveny
Salamatu Lawal
Catarina Mendes
Hazel Montes
Sofia Vargas
Advisor
Cedony Allen
Welcome to the YPIE QuaranTimes
Produced by YPIE’s Journalism major, the YPIE QuaranTimes is a way for YPIE students to connect and share experiences during these unprecedented times. YPIE Scholars are using this time in so many creative, meaningful ways. As such, the YPIE Journalism major hopes to highlight all of the talents in our community through this publication.
Starving At Home- Ramadan During Quarantine
by Salamatu Lawal, YPIE Scholar 2025
"Breaking Fast” by Anonymous
Ramadan is a holy month when Muslims fast from dusk till dawn. They are not allowed to eat or drink anything during this period. I know what you're thinking -- yes, not even water. It’s honestly not as bad as it seems. After the 30 days of fasting Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday is followed. It’s a day where families and friends gather to pray and celebrate. Due to the COVID-19 situation, a lot of things this year are different. This, in my opinion, has been both a good and bad thing.
As a Muslim, the hardest part of fasting for me is having to go to school. I would often find it difficult to concentrate during classes due to the extreme hunger I felt. Now that school is no longer in session, I no longer have to deal with this. I can be more flexible with the time I choose to do my work when I am less hungry. I am also now surrounded by less food since I do not go outside unless it is necessary. I have more energy because I do not go outside or do as many activities as I did before the quarantine started. Also, I find it easier to wake up before dusk. This is mostly because my sleep schedule has changed a great deal. I tend to stay up eating until dusk and sleep the majority of the day.
One thing I will miss immensely this year is Eid al-Adha. On Eid, Muslims usually wear their best clothes to go to the mosque but this year, since Eid prayers are canceled, there will be no need to dress up. I will also no longer be able to celebrate with my family. This has always been my favorite part about the month of Ramadan: seeing family members whom I have not seen in a while and catching up with them. I will miss my cousins this year and am saddened that we will not be able to go on our usual adventures.
Although quarantine has disrupted many events and activities, I refuse to allow it to dampen my spirits. I am focusing on the brighter side of how it has affected everything, including Ramadan. I am making the most of my time home and hope that others are doing so too.
Image by Hazel Montes, YPIE Scholar 2024
Online Schooling During Covid-19
By Catarina Mendes, YPIE Scholar 2025 As a good portion of the earth remains in a COVID-19 induced lockdown, many students, including myself, have had their academic years uprooted, being forced to fundamentally change the way in which they study. Due to the lockdowns, many countries have been forced to close all physical education facilities. These schools have had to readjust the entire way in which classes are taught, reengineering them for online access. While there was essentially no choice, as the health and safety of students and staff is a priority, many are still struggling getting used to this strange way of learning. As a high school student myself, I have found that while online schooling is strange and takes some getting used to, there are definitely benefits as well as negatives. My lifestyle has somewhat changed, as has the way in which I interact with peers and teachers. Before the pandemic hit, I would wake up at 6:30 AM and leave the house at 7 for school. My days were hectic, and I would sometimes be gone for nearly 11 hours due to after school activities. Then I would return home to do my homework. Tired from a long day at school, I often procrastinated, and I was not getting as much sleep as I should have been. Once the schools were ordered closed, I felt I had much more time for myself. I have been able to do so much more besides just working on schoolwork. I now get more sleep and as a result feel more well-rested. Many of my peers have mentioned that they feel they have more work now than they did while school was open, so I consider myself lucky that I seem to have less work than I did while schools were open. The work I receive is manageable, and I am able to get it done without much confusion. At first, I felt overwhelmed because I would be losing the structure that school provided me with. Being at home all day would mean I could do my work whenever I wanted, as long as I got it in before a certain deadline. This would lead to me procrastinating the first part of the day. Furthermore, not every teacher had been able to brief us on how we would be receiving and submitting work, since the schools closed on such short notice. Only 3 had concrete online systems when the school closed, and one changed her methods later on. The other two teachers were quickly able to come up with a system for the class. However, one of these methods also needed tweaking. Work was being assigned, but it was to be done in our binders, so there was no method of collection. Eventually, this teacher decided that we would need to have daily class meetings, which helped a lot to create a structure for the class. Besides switching to online class, different teachers seemed to have different methods. Two used Microsoft teams, a third eventually started using teams, and the other two used google classroom and schoology. There were 3 different class methods, so I was worried that I would miss an assignment after forgetting to check one of the websites. Fortunately, this did not happen. Some might complain that their online classes are difficult to manage because of the lack of available one on one in-person support from instructors. However, I have found that the instructions given for assignments are easy to follow, and if I need clarification, teachers are more than willing to discuss a particular assignment or issue with me via messaging. Due to the switch to online schooling, a lot has changed in my day to day life. Although it was initially a struggle to get used to not having the structure created by traditional school, I am now happy with the additional time I can make for myself to focus on things other than schooling. For example, I have begun to write a story. Online schooling does have its drawbacks, such as not leaving the house for extended periods of time and not being able to see friends, but I try to combat such issues. I have been making an effort to go for walks in my neighborhood, and I have actually found that I am talking to people more often during this lockdown online than I was in person before. Online schooling success is heavily dependent on the students and staff. They must be able to adapt and adjust their methods of doing things. Many have struggled to do this, while others have found that this new online schooling actually works better for them than the traditional schooling did.
Online Learning: A Teacher’s Perspective
by Anonymous
Teaching online wasn’t anything new to me. I’ve taught SAT and ACT classes for the past 5 years online and felt comfortable with teaching students that weren’t directly in front of me. However, the reality of the difference between teaching my test prep students for a few hours a day to having to convert a complete in-curriculum to one of remote learning was strikingly obvious from the onset.
Remote learning has its benefits and downfalls. One of the things I appreciate with remote learning is the ability to utilize many different resources in my teaching. I’m allowed to be more creative in the ways I present the lesson and can get more individualized feedback from students.
Additionally, it allows students to work at individual paces. I’ve been using Kahoot! and my digital classroom allows me to express my personality and provide my students with multiple resources to amend their learning. Since my type of teaching isn’t purely live, students are able to not only complete work at their own pace but on their own time.
Some of the downfalls with remote learning are the lack of face-to-face contact and socializing opportunities among students. Some students learn from their peers and the lack of interaction can have negative repercussions. A downfall, however, is that my students may feel that I’m not as immediately accessible to them; so, instant feedback on the student end is minimal because of the asynchronous learning.
Overall, I have enjoyed teaching remotely, and look forward to finding new ways to make my lessons more interactive and interesting for my students.
Learn more about the YPIE QuaranTimes.
Interested in contributing? Email YPIEQuaranTimes@gmail.com or Max Silverman, YPIE QuaranTimes Advisor and Director, College Readiness.