In February 2020, The Eastside Panther wrote a short news story about a disease that had surfaced in Wuhan, China. Never did we imagine that three years later, the class of 2023 would graduate as the first seniors to have had all of their high school years disrupted by Covid-19.

We still see the ripple effects in many aspects of our school life today. More students miss assignments and ask for extensions. Overall, there is less of a sense of urgency. We came back to campus as juniors with little memory of what it was like before the pandemic.

The newspaper staff was affected, too. People kept rescheduling interviews and we had trouble filing stories on time. We had to rediscover the good practices that were ingrained habits before.

But with all of that, I want to applaud the class of 2023. You came back in your junior year to loads of APs and tough classes, and you crushed it! And all you other classes and teachers and staff – you also had to come back and readjust. Teachers had to learn how to help students return and develop good Habits of Work. Students had to re-learn how to interact socially and be in a classroom setting again, not just at home typing into chat on Zoom. That all took time.

One thing we all learned through Covid and high school is that time is extremely valuable. Back in 2020 and 2021, people were sitting with their families one minute and lying in hospital beds hooked up to ventilators the next. Lives were cut short. People lost loved ones. There was no more time for so many.

Covid also changed people’s perceptions of time. I’m sure we all share memories of finding ourselves forgetting what hour or day it was and losing a sense of time. When we came back in 2021, we had to readjust to clocks and schedules and the time-management that we need to succeed in school, sports, clubs and work. At Eastside, we talk a lot about time management. And it clearly isn’t just a high school thing: The college coaches even teach about it to prepare us for time management in college. Personally, I have tried all kinds of color-coded calendars and planners and still have trouble making time for everything I want to do.

Joe Meyers, one of Eastside’s regular tutors, contributed a short column on why time matters (see article below). He has some useful advice, so please take the time to read it.

For me, as I look back at my time at Eastside, I agree with Joe that time-management is so important. But I also want to remind you that time – just time – is really important, too. Make sure to just sit for a while and cherish your time. Although we want to jump into the new exciting things that are coming in the next few years, let’s not forget how special our time is – with our loved ones, our classmates, and our teachers. Time is of the essence!

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Time: A Simple Key to Success

By Joe Meyers, Guest Opinion

School is all about time. two-minute warnings, bells to start and end class and even meals; deadlines for homework and papers; stopwatches for quizzes, tests and exams. Time is not listed in the curriculum, yet there it is: ever present, all-important.

Why so much emphasis on time? Well, the real world runs on coordinated time. Planes, boats, buses and trains leave on a schedule: If you’re late, you’ve wasted a bunch of your own time. Consideration for others includes not making them wait. If you are 10 minutes late for a meeting with a dozen other people, you’ve wasted two hours of their time.

But here at Eastside, there’s another dimension to it. Classes and homework are carefully structured to blend practice with instruction. If you use your time wisely, do your part and meet deadlines, you will be giving yourself the best chance of success.  Many courses, such as math, reward punctual work with a solid baseline of credit — even if you make mistakes on your first try. It is in your interest to submit your work on time.

Working to schedule may seem like drudgery compared to doing what you want, when you want. But if you learn this self-discipline — one facet of self-mastery — you will be rewarded with success at Eastside, success in higher education, success in your career and life. And, whenever you address necessary work head-on rather than procrastinating, your life will be more joyous and carefree.

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