By Hannah Chadwick
Eight weeks! It has been 8 weeks since the beginning of spring break! And it has been 6 weeks since online school has started! That is a lot of time at home and boredom is bound to occur. Even with online school, Tempe Prep students are finding themselves with a ton of free time and what have they been doing with it? A few of the students are defeating boredom by discovering new hobbies, staying active and fit, or even starting new businesses!
Junior Maya Kostov has not let quarantine get the best of her. Even while at home, she has been making herself quite busy with a few new hobbies. When school was announced to officially be online, Maya took up painting by number, and since then has completed two very complex paintings. After completing her first painting Maya concludes, “I did my first ever paint by numbers, and I probably spent over 40 hours on it. I’m now doing a three-panel puzzle of 1,500 pieces but I’m almost done with that so I’ve got an even harder paint by numbers to do after I’m done!” Incredible right? Since then Maya has completed another paint by number which she said took her around a month and a half to complete, and she did it all on top of her juggling online classes!
Another student who has been filling up her free time doing what she loves is freshman Kailee Austin. Kailee has been literally staying active, by running, and doing workouts during her extra time in quarantine. Kailee states, “I have been doing simple things like going on runs and watching workout videos on YouTube, as well as following zoom videos that the TPA girls soccer coach has been setting up three times a week.” What a great idea? Not only is working out a good time consumer, but it also is very beneficial to the health and wellness of each individual. Kailee enjoys being able to get her mind away from the real world while staying fit, like she normally would have done during track and soccer, and she exclaims, “I definitely recommend working out over quarantine, even if it’s small, because it will get your mind off of things for a while and will just make you feel better in general!”
Lastly, Junior Kelly Clark has also been very occupied during her self-isolation experience. Kelly has started making masks for people in her community, began tutoring two fifth graders, joined an online STEM program, and even created her own online baking business! Kelly has been baking a lot of goodies since the quarantine started, and has even been giving them or selling them to her friends! When asked about her baking, she explained, “I’ve been baking a lot for family and friends to safely cheer them up; and I even started a food blog to document the fun things I make and share the recipes!” It sounds like Kelly has been having a lot of fun baking, and now has even turned it into a small business by selling her items to her friends and family so they can enjoy them safely too. Baking is such a fun way to consume extra time, and can even turn into a business approach like it did for Kelly!
During this self-isolation, everybody has had a ton of extra free time on their hands, and TPA’s own students have been using that time to do fun things they never had the time to do. Maya Kostov, Kailee Austin, and Kelly Clark have all been very productive, and instead of being upset about quarantine, they have been using it for fun! And now hopefully they will inspire other Tempe Prep students to do the same!