RECEIVING THE COVID-19 VACCINE
LEADS TO DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES
By Kristen Cho
​
Ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, life has never been the same. Streets suddenly became empty, schools shut down, and people forced to stay home to the best of their abilities. In an attempt to bring back society and save millions of lives, a COVID-19 vaccine underwent its development in 2020 and is currently being distributed across the country by three major companies: Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer.
Just like any other vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccine does have possible side effects, including: a sore arm (especially near the injection site), fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, chills, fever, and nausea. However, the severity of these side effects that people experience has been different for everyone. Bayside High School Journalism Teacher Mr. Shein, who received the Moderna vaccine, said, “My experience was very good. After the first dose, I had a very sore arm for two days. After the second dose, I had some chills and felt a little rundown, which both lasted two days.” Similar to Mr. Shein, Bayside High School Physics Teacher Mrs. Norwich said, “I had a fever, headache, and felt achy for a day after receiving the vaccine.”
However, during the last couple of months, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has contributed to controversy and skepticism towards the COVID-19 vaccine. It was recently discovered that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been linked as the cause of rare blood clots in seven patients who received the vaccine. Due to this discovery, the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was halted. According to an article in Forbes titled “Covid-19 Weekly Roundup: What Happened With the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine?” by Leah Rosenbaum, “In the affected patients, researchers have seen a rare clotting reaction similar to a rare side effect of the blood-thinning medication Heparin.”
Although COVID-19 vaccines are relatively new and brought forth many questions, the simple question of “how?” can be easily answered. According to an article on CDC Guidelines titled “How Vaccines Work” by the CDC, “mRNA vaccines contain material from the virus that causes COVID-19 that gives our cells instructions for how to make a harmless protein that is unique to the virus. After our cells make copies of the protein, they destroy the genetic material from the vaccine. Our bodies recognize that the protein should not be there and will remember how to fight the virus that causes COVID-19 if we are infected in the future.”
In simple words, the vaccine injects a small strain of the virus into your body as a preemptive attack in order for your immune system to learn how to fight it off. This is done so if someone were to contract COVID-19, his body would have an easier time fighting off the virus and he would most likely have only mild symptoms.
COVID-19 has changed our life in so many different ways, but the development and distribution of the vaccine brought us a step closer to the end. Hopefully, one day, everything will be able to return to “normal” once again.
REMOTE LEARNING CREATES CHALLENGES FOR AP EXAM PREPARATION
By Bailin Li
​
On September 21st, 2020, 95% of Bayside High School students began remote learning, leading to an increased level of difficulty for both students and teachers. Regular high school level courses are challenging for some students, yet Advanced Placement (AP) classes and tests add to the stress that many students already feel.
Due to many issues and disadvantages from remote learning, CollegeBoard has shortened the amount of content that will be on the Physics I AP test. According to CollegeBoard, there are usually ten units that are taught as preparation for the AP Physics I exam, but this year there will only be seven on the exam. However, all other AP subjects/exams will be the full length of three hours and cover the entire curriculum for its subject.
Bayside High School junior Julia Zhou said, “Preparing for AP exams last year felt easier compared to this year. Last year we learned the majority of the course in school, which gave us a better understanding of the subject. Rather than a whole test, we had about an hour to do some written responses, but this year we have to take the whole test digitally, which is a new experience for a lot of us.”
While taking a full length test in a different environment has brought challenges for many AP students, CollegeBoard has provided many opportunities for teachers to help students overcome the obstacle. Bayside High School AP Chinese Teacher Ms. Hsieh said, “CollegeBoard has provided a great deal of information for the teachers for exam preparations, along with practice tests and unit quizzes that can be taken online.”
Last year, students who took AP tests had experienced difficulties from remote testing such as loss of Internet connections, inability to upload written responses, and outside distractions that led to loss of focus during the exam. To resolve these issues, CollegeBoard decided to allow students to choose between in-person or remote testing, but both locations require one’s test to be taken on a computer in order to reduce technological problems. CollegeBoard has also created a new lockdown browser so online exams do not require continuous Wifi connections, but according to guidelines on AP Classroom from CollegeBoard, this browser also comes with the inability to move between questions, meaning students cannot go back to change their answer(s).
Bayside High School junior Dianna Liu commented, “Taking a digital AP exam requires a lot of tedious steps, and I don't think some policies are reasonable. There are many ways to prevent cheating, but not being able to return to the question is unacceptable. I like to do all my exams very quickly first and then go back to check each question carefully. But now with the digital exam, I can't return to questions, which makes me feel very anxious.”
There are many other external factors from remote testing that may create severe disadvantages for those taking the AP exams. For example, many students may get more nervous when taking their tests at home, they may have distractions from family members or outside noise will affect their ability to concentrate, and/or students might not be able to type as fast as they can write. Bayside High School junior Jessie Liang said, "In-person testing has a different feeling than online. School creates an atmosphere and pressure that forces me to face the test with a better attitude and more focus."
Although in-person exams may be difficult due to COVID-19 risk and restrictions, in-person testing comes with advantages for many students, as well as a chance to focus in a normal school environment.
PSAL SPORTS RETURN WITH
COVID-19 GUIDELINES
By Stephanie Johnson
​
On March 22nd, 2021, Mayor DeBlasio announced that Public School Athletic League (PSAL) sports would be returning within the next month, alongside COVID-19 restrictions such as wearing masks and social distancing. These restrictions have proven to cause difficulties within certain sports, such as track, in which proper breathing and running strategies with others must be implemented in order to succeed in the sport.
Bayside High School junior Brianna Mapp commented, “Returning to the girls’ track team with COVID-19 restrictions made it harder to run while wearing a mask, especially since there were actually more girls this year which also made it difficult to social distance during practice.”
According to an article from NPR titled, “To Play, Or Not To Play: Schools Wrestle With CDC's Athletics Recommendations” by Eda Uzunlar, "High school senior and varsity athlete Audrianna Hill states, ‘It's made it harder for me to go to college. Schools can't come and actually watch you. You have to rely on technology, and I don't know if some [college] coaches feel like watching 50 [performance] videos of different kids.’"
However, others have felt a different effect from COVID-19 on their ability to play sports. Bayside High School sophomore, Kyara Perez, states that she was unable to join a sports team this year due to the fact that her preferred sport, softball, was not taking place this year even though COVID-19 guidelines became less restrictive.
Furthermore, an article from Chalkbeat titled “NYC Student Athletes, Coaches Lament the Loss of School Sports” by Christina Veiga, states, “‘I really miss the practices,’ said Javin Trail, a senior at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School. This summer, he spent time perfecting his shots with his weaker left hand in the hopes of winning a title. Now, Trail is juggling college applications while keeping up with his remote classes and wondering what this basketball season could have held.”
Although COVID-19 precautions may cause students/athletes to have a harder time experiencing a sport for what it truly is, one can only hope that pre-pandemic normalcy will return to athletes and PSAL sports alike.
