A Letter from Vianca

If you had asked me two years ago to describe what I had thought of the pandemic, I would have (very possibly) said, ‘Zombie Apocalypse’. It had been the first time I had seen such an international and collective sense of fear occur. Soon enough, the government began to release statements that recommended we remain in our houses and stand 6 feet away from everyone we met. Upon hearing this, the Vianca in 2019 began to map out the similarities between the present situation and the World War Z movie she had watched for her Geography lesson.

Despite the endless amount of missed opportunities the pandemic had caused, I had discovered that there were also a few advantages it had delivered, at least, for me.

Percy Jackson, Avatar the Last Airbender, and almost every Disney Channel movie that had been released after the year 2004; two years ago, I wouldn’t have given any of the listed a second glance. I would have left my beloved Heroes of Olympus series to collect dust on my bookshelf and would have never known about Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third and his crew. The pandemic had brought me closer to these nostalgic experiences, eventually allowing me to discover a part of myself that I had thought to have been too immature and childish. I had used these means to entertain myself during online school and during those times where I needed some time from the sounds of Sam & Cat babysitting a man’s doll during Halloween. They became my escape from the endless problems occurring around the world, comforting me after receiving the emails from school announcing that we would be returning to online school.

Online school. What an experience. I don’t know how to describe it. I really don’t. Was it a curse? Was it a blessing? I couldn’t make sense of it, and to be honest, I still can’t. All I know is that it had squeezed out most of my motivation to complete my homework and menial tasks. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt genuinely excited about a project since corona struck.

Until now, that is…

Zafirah had brought up the idea to me after I initiated a conversation about my recent epiphany on Peeta Mellark’s uncanny similarity to Tom Holland. Around halfway through a round of keyboard smashes, she had said, ‘Hey Vianca, at my old school, there was an entirely student-run school newspaper. I wanna start one’.

Before then, the thought of starting a club, much less one for journalism, was a faraway fantasy inspired by the multiple movies and sitcoms I’ve watched throughout my life. The Student Record was a dream that had turned into a reality! Together, we took the idea by its neck and nurtured it, becoming incredibly invested, terribly quickly. Soon enough, we were producing proposal presentations to send out to the SLT and the English department and creating mounds of promotional pieces while at it.

Honestly, throughout the whole process, I could practically hear the adrenaline pumping through me. There were multiple occasions where I would pester Zafirah, asking if she needed any help on her incomplete tasks, just to keep myself busy with projects regarding the newsletter. It became a large part of my life almost immediately after we started our first proposal presentation.

We hope that all of you will cherish this student-run project as much as we do, and we look forward to seeing you around for each issue.

Welcome to the Student Record!