With over 300,000 COVID-19 cases in the United States and at least 9,300 deaths, according to the New York Times database, the U.S. has become the country with the highest number of infections. People have been urged to quarantine themselves and practice social distancing. The term social distancing is pretty self explanatory- remain six feet away from others that you are not quarantining with at all times and stay home. However, Travis and Williamson counties are now under “Shelter In Place” orders. Shelter In Place is much more serious. It means that unless you are getting groceries or other essential items or services, you must stay home. This is being implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic by limiting the number of people one comes into contact with. Although quarantining is not an ideal situation, it is critical that people stay home. On the bright side, it can be a time to self-reflect. Pick up that book you never finished. Try out a new makeup look. Journal your thoughts or experiences. Find a new hobby. Need ideas? Here’s how some of your fellow classmates have been spending their quarantine.

Ainsley Shaw (12): “Painting flower pots, writing letters, finding new music, watching new movies, calling friends, trying out new vegan food recipes and wondering how this will affect my graduation and first year of university.”

Rachel Oliver (11): “I’ve been doing a lot of things I usually don’t have time for like drawing and painting. I also bought the new animal crossing which has really helped with killing time. It was really good timing that it was released when it was because now everyone’s playing animal crossing since there’s nothing else to do. Now I can hang out with all of my friends that I can’t actually see in real life.”

Jharna Kamath (11): “I really like making art, but during regular school I’m usually just making a piece for an assignment. Quarantine has given me time to explore what I truly like to create and practice making art for myself again.”

Arie Shaver (11): “Watching cartoons on Netflix, eating everything out of the pantry and watching a lot of TikTok videos. I’ve also been sleeping a lot out of boredom.”

Addy Roberts (12): “Painting, making playlists and burning CDs.”

Ashley Evans (12): “Playing Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Zombies.”

Alexa Cumming (12): “Cooking without a recipe.”

Alysa Vaughn (12): “Forcing myself to cook. I’ve made so many different kinds of quesadillas.”

Breann Black (11): “I’ve been reading Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers and teaching myself how to make my own cross stitching stencils. A friend of mine’s birthday is coming up so I’m going to use the stencils to make patches to put on a sweatshirt.”