A Greenwood student has had her thoughts and feelings about the COVID-19 pandemic featured in a recently released book.
“Kids Journal Through COVID-19” by Laval W. Belle is a collection of essays from kids ages 7-13 from all 50 states.
CyZariah Jones, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Greenwood Middle School who represents Mississippi in the book, primarily talks about how much school and life have changed for her since the virus reached the state.
As she put it frankly on Friday morning, the two worst parts of the pandemic have been “not going to school” and “wearing a mask.”
“When they told me that we didn’t have to go to school, I was happy at first because I didn’t like to go to school. I mean, what kid likes going to school?” Jones asks in her essay. “But as the days went by, I was tired of being at home and acting like every day is Saturday. I missed school. I missed talking to my friends and laughing at the class clown’s jokes. It’s not the same talking on the phone.”
At Greenwood Middle School, CyZariah is an avid learner in STEM classes and also plays flute in the band. But for a year, she and her fellow students have had to take part in distance learning away from school grounds.
She said that although she doesn’t mind virtual school, aside from occasional WiFi problems, she is looking forward to going back.
On March 15, after spring break, nearly 650 of the district’s students, or roughly 15% of the total, will return for hybrid learning, which will blend in-person and virtual learning. CyZariah said she is one of them.
And she is excited.
“All my friends are doing it,” she said with a smile.
For her essay, which she wrote when she was 12, CyZariah said she was told about the opportunity from her aunt in California. Her aunt correctly saw her niece as the perfect candidate.
So, CyZariah said she took a day to write all she had felt about what was happening in the world — and that is the essay that was selected.
Jones
“I was rightly proud,” Antonio Jones, her father, said. “It’s one thing to have your own experiences and to think one way as a parent for your children. But for them to have their own perspective and to see that perspective in the way that she expressed ... I was rightly proud.”
He and his daughter say they share the same silver lining: more time with family.
Jones, a barber, said he had to shut his doors early in the pandemic because of the close contact his profession requires. Although that was difficult, he said the support from CyZariah, the eldest of three, and the rest of his family was bountiful.
“That’s one thing that I’m wanting to do, and God really grants your prayers. Just be careful what you ask for, because he’ll give it to you,” Jones said. “And I prayed that I wanted more time with my family because I’m always working. … And by the time I get home, they’re in the bed. I get in around 10 or 11 o’clock every day. So, the pandemic allows me to be home a lot more.”
With vaccines rolling out, the Jones family is looking forward to a brighter, COVID-free future, which for CyZariah, means working towards her dream career of becoming a baker and managing her own bakery.
As for writing more in the future, that’s still up in the air.
“Maybe,” she laughed.
• Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. On Twitter at @AdamBakst_GWCW.
