By Barbara Beck
and John Dilmore
We’ve become accustomed over the course of the pandemic to disruptions, large and small. Few can look over the last 12 months and see anything resembling their pre-pandemic lives. Work changed. Travel changed. Social interactions changed. Layers of risk and risk-management were added to even the simplest daily tasks and life’s more complex requirements could at times feel downright daunting.
Young people have had an especially tough time as school, such a huge component of their lives nine months of every year, most definitely changed. Many students had a difficult time with remote learning as school facilities were shuttered and education was forced online. Still, the students, their support networks of family and friends and the army of educators serving them soldiered on through a remarkably difficult year.