Postcards From The Pandemic: A 10-Year-Old Yearns For Recess And Friends

When the coronavirus pandemic forced children to leave their classrooms in the spring, they had to quickly adapt to a life without in-person interaction. Now they're sitting in limbo during a summer with few open pools, recreation centers or entertainment venues. Meanwhile, they wait to find out what school will look like for them in the fall.

One of those kids is 10-year-old Kahlil Williams of University Heights, a student at Gesu Catholic School.

"At first I thought we would go back to school sooner," said Williams, "but once I saw the news and saw a lot of people dying, I just knew it became serious, serious." 

Leaving the Classroom

I bet this is all the kids. First, they were happy. Then, like, four days later in the week, they wanted to go back to school. That was me. I miss my friends. I miss recess. I could go outside and play basketball. And I miss my teachers. 

Cruel Summer

This summer for me is going to be OK because our family might go to Cedar Point. We won't have that much fun because some places might be closed for the whole year. So yeah, I was planning to go to Sky Zone but that’s not going to happen, I know that for sure.

Hopefully we get to have some kind of fun this year, but I'm not sure what kind. 

So yeah, I'm looking forward to getting out of the house and going to school. And my mom would be really happy to get me out of the house because she knows, I'm really bored. Like I never been this bored in my life. 

Back to School?

My mom said I might go back to school like two days or something like that. I really don't want to do no online schooling again. I would just be down, like my face would be like an upside down smile.

I'm trying not to think about it. I'm trying to think about good stuff, like my mom said, because she said if I think about good stuff, good stuff happens. So that's what I'm trying to do.