The beginning of the new year, 2021. The COVID vaccine is slowly being released to the public, restrictions are being lifted for our region, and people are slowly going back to their daily lives. Here at the MV community students are excited and looking forward to the new year and the second semester of school.

At the beginning of a new year, there is a western tradition called a “New Year’s resolution” where they set a goal for themselves. Here at MV, many students did not set a resolution for themselves or at least haven’t started on one yet. Martin Cates, 21’ and Conner Mays, 21’ both said, “No” on the matter while Gavin Banes has a peculiar resolution for this year and stated, “World Domination.”

The COVID crisis is slowly but surely coming to a close as the vaccine is slowly being distributed throughout the country. Many students at MV have plans for what to do next after this pandemic is over.  For Mays, he plans to visit his friends. “When it is officially over I’m sure my friends would have some sort of get together,” said Mays. Cates has plans for his education and said one word: “College.”

Here at MV, the first semester of school is over and the second semester has just arrived. Students are looking forward to what is to come in this school year. Mays is looking forward to his extracurricular activities and stated, “Operetta”. Meanwhile, Cates and Banes have no expectations for what’s to come for this year. “There’s not really things to look forward to other then the possibility of school easing up on its restrictions,” said Cates.

Although a vaccine is created for the pandemic there are mixed feelings towards it.  Some might not trust the vaccine because of its potential of deadly side effects while others believe that the vaccine works just fine. In the MV community, many students wholeheartedly believe in the vaccine. “I don’t understand what there is not to trust,” said Mays. “I will take it as soon as possible,” stated Banes. “It will surely make the world safer,” said Cates.

This year is the start of a new president taking office. The public had already had many mixed opinions on this new president taking office. Mays remains indifferent to it. “I don’t necessarily follow any specific political party, but I do believe this is the lesser of the two evils,” stated Mays. Banes stated it straight, “He won the election.” Cates has some hopes for this new president. “Hopefully [he is] better than Trump,” said Cates.

With the start of the semester, there is also a start of a new rumor going on that the school at MV is potentially going go 4 days a week instead of two. “I’m on both sides, I have read the report on why it would be ok for us to go back and I believe I’d get work done better because of it, but it still seems kinda scary that the virus is mutating and we are returning to basically full time,” said Mays. “I’m all for it,” said Banes.  “It sounds better because I can get more education out of 4 in-person days rather than 2 a week,” said Cates.

People will naturally want to improve themselves for the new year and be a better person as compared to previous years. This, of course, remains the same for the MV community.  For Mays, he wanted to improve on his work ethic. “Last year I let myself slip from my work, so this year I’m going to do my best from falling into that place again,” stated Mays. While Banes has one goal and said, “Graduate.”

During COVID, many have to stay quarantined at home, this naturally gives many lots of time on their hands. People came up with many ways on how to spend their time during COVID. Here at MV, students spent their time in various ways. “I was needlessly sleeping all the time,” stated Mays. While Cates had his own ways of spending time. “I played video games during that period,” said Cates. 

Many things are happening in America as of now whether it’s political, medical, or international. Things have become hectic as of late, and this causes concerns for the future of America and what will become of it. “I am very worried about the situation in the U.S. We completely ignored the virus for too long and now no one wants to follow the restrictions. Other countries were fine with them and they’re basically all clean now. It’s kinda upsetting that we are asked to be like adults and then in return, our officials are acting like children. This could’ve been dealt with in the beginning and since we didn’t even try it has now mutated and taken so many more lives,” stated Mays. “It was embarrassing how poorly the virus was handled last year, but with a new administration, I can only hope that it gets better,” said Banes. 

Since COVID is slowly being eradicated, people are getting tired of being trapped in their homes and are now planning on what to do next once this pandemic is over. This is exactly what the MV community planning to do. Many of the students have already made plans for their next step in education and have given a similar answer. “[I want] to do good in college,” said Cates. Mays and Banes both agreed with Cates’s statement.