Max Bielawski — 17, Kahului, Hawaii

Aloha, my name is Max and I am a 17-year-old from Maui. I am a high school journalist for my school, Kamehameha Schools Maui. The whole coronavirus predicament has affected my life in ways I could have not imagined just a mere month ago. A lot of things have changed. People have seemed to change with some kind of spell cast on them, compelling them to hoard toilet paper and meat. With both school going online and prom being canceled, I can say my junior year of high school is a bit unique.

I'm on spring break right now, but we'll eventually "go back" to school, through videoconferencing, I guess. Being stuck on an island, we have this existential threat of the ports being possibly closed, so that's quite gloomy. Resources and job security have been a challenge. While in line at a local grocery store, I overheard this guy talking about laying off 75% of workers in this tour company, due to nobody traveling or doing anything anymore, and it was quite sad. The one silver lining to this situation is that at least the beaches won't be closed anytime soon.

Match the sentences:

1. I literally said the words "I am so happy!" for the first time in years,
2. I took my first day of online school pretty seriously,
3. I’m lucky to have a fun dad at home
4. She's started teaching me how to cook and bake,
5. I don’t usually work and live on my parents’ farm,
6. With both school going online and prom being canceled,

 

___ I can say my junior year of high school is a bit unique.

___ but for the next month I will live, breathe, and sleep out in the middle of nowhere.

___ and she's been encouraging me to find recipes that I'd like to try out.

___ just because I couldn't contain such genuine emotion.

 

___ who can help me make TikTok videos.

 

___ but by day two, my focus had waned.

Questions

1. Who is helping Eli make TikTok videos?

_________________________________________________________________________

 

1. What has Grace been doing since she went into isolation?

_________________________________________________________________________

 

1. What has self-isolation taught Grace?

_________________________________________________________________________

 

1. Where is Sophia living at the moment?

_________________________________________________________________________

 

1. Does Sophia help with chores? What does she do?

_________________________________________________________________________

 

1. How was Max affected by the current situation?

_________________________________________________________________________

 

 

1. Does Sophia help with chores? What does she do?

_________________________________________________________________________

Preparation Task

Vocabulary                                       

___ To rely on

                                   

___ To hang out

 

___ Though

 

___ Journal

 

___ To venture out

 

___ Boredom

 

___ Horse vault

 

___ To muck

 

___ silver lining

 

___ to wane

 

 

Definition

1. to decrease in size, extent, or degree

 

1. a daily record of news and events of a personal nature; a diary.

 

1. gymnastics and dance on horseback, which can be practiced both competitively or non-competitively.

 

1. an advantage that comes from a difficult or unpleasant situation.

 

1. the state of feeling bored.

 

1. remove manure and other dirt from a horse's stable or other animal's dwelling. (British)

 

1. to go out of something cautiously.

 

1. to spend a lot of time in a place or with someone.

 

1. to need (someone or something) for support, help, etc.; to depend on (someone or something).

 

1. despite the fact that; although.