In March of 2020 was when I first  learned about Covid. When we notified on the intercom during the last period that we would be getting two weeks off I was ecstatic for the reset I had in mind. As soon as my friends and I heard the news, we texted in the group chat making all these plans to make sure we could make the most of our time off. 
When the two weeks were coming to an end, we got an email saying we couldn’t return to school because they don’t know what's going on and that’s when I thought THANK GOD.  That soon came to a halt when my mom sat me down and told me that there genuinely was a national problem going on and I would need to stay home until it was safe to go out. 
This is when the panic started to set in. Why is this happening to us? What caused this to happen? Tons of questions just ran through my head over and over again because I felt like I knew absolutely nothing. As the days kept going with less and less social interaction, the mental health effects really started to kick in. I had come to the realization that because of the rise in problems within the world, teens have developed higher depression rates.  
After not being in school for six months, we jumped right remote schooling meaning we sat in front of a computer for hours. To make the transition even harder, I was coming into high school for the first time as a freshman so I started off what people call “ the best four years of your life” on a computer stuck in my house. 
For me this is when I was thriving with my grades but my mental health completely deteriorated. At a point where my academics were amazing, I couldn't even bring myself to get out of bed. Being trapped for months was a feeling that I couldn't deal with due to the lack of social interaction and staying in the same space for many many hours. There's only so much that you can do in a house with the same things without losing your mind. At this time, I realized that there was a bigger problem than just boredom; it was depression. 
The NIH Medline Plus stated that “More than one third (37%) of high schoolers in the United States reported experiencing poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a 2021 CDC study.”  This ties back to when I was in my all time high of depression when I was locked in my house for months. Covid was when people finally saw that mental health issues are not a joke. Isolation makes people go insane and not for nothing, drives people mad because they are just around the same people 24/7. 
Being in high school I've seen the most depression I've ever seen before. Watching kids barely come to school because they simply don't have the effort to get out of bed. Or watching kids come to school in pajamas looking a mess because they haven't showered in who knows how long. All that compiling on top of the fact that kids are so mean that they will pick on the students who are struggling even when they are trying their best with what they have going on. Newport Academy recently did an overview stating “In addition, 11.5 percent of US youth (over 2.7 million high school students) are experiencing major depressive disorder with severe impairment.” This just tries to highlight the fact that there is a huge population of students who have depression and it is VERY common. This isn’t something that has just come out of the blue., it's been something that has been risingfor a very long time. 
I would like to emphasize that depression has not only gotten bad for high schools, but all of the United states. I just want people to know that being in high school during these times has definitely made the impact harder. 
Four years later, we are still suffering the consequences of the mental deterioration that Covid strung upon us. Because this is still affecting us now, we need to take action and use the resources that we can. Never say never to help. 

Works Consulted
“Adolescent Depression in Schools: Main Cause of Mental Health Issues.” Newport Academy, 
17 January 2023, 
newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/adolescent-depression-in-shools/. Accessed 8 May 2024.
“Teens are talking about mental health | NIH MedlinePlus Magazine.” NIH MedlinePlus 
Magazine, 16 May 2023,
magazine.medlineplus.gov/article/teens-are-talking-about-mental-health. 
Accessed 8 May 2024.