Ann Wason Moore: The kids are alright in face of COVID-19 pandemic

The Class of 2020 is one for the history books - thankfully, it looks like the kids are alright. Ann Wason Moore sat down with one of the city’s school captains to see how they’re doing.

THE Class of 2020 is one for the history books.

Our Year 12 students may be missing out on time in the classroom, but they’re more than making up for it with a crash course in life lessons.

In fact, COVID-19 is proving one heck of a teacher for our 2020 graduates. And thankfully, the kids are alright.

Rivermount College school captain James Walker says he and his cohort are already acing the practical pandemic subjects of resilience, positivity, courage and wisdom.

While his school room is set to remain in his own dining room for at least the next few weeks, he says Year 12s refuse to flatten their learning curve.

Year 12 school captain James Walker pictured at his Ormeau Hills home. Photograph : Jason O'Brien

Despite the challenge of navigating altered final year assessments and exams, he says the bond between his classmates has only strengthened.

Even as school musicals, camps and even formals have been postponed or cancelled, James says students’ spirits remain high. But there is one thing they fear far more than the pandemic’s physical threat to their health.

“We’re all just praying that Schoolies still goes ahead,” says the 17-year-old.

“There are so many things we’ve already missed out on, but I think that one would hurt the most.

“It’s something we’re all looking forward to, something to get us through the hard times, to think about the time when we can be together again with the worst of it behind us.

“It’s not about drinking or partying, it’s just about celebrating what we have achieved and survived.

“And also the fact that I’ve already paid my deposit and I really can’t afford to lose that,” he laughs.

James says although he gives his school high marks for online learning arrangements, the disruption to the academic year has been stressful.

He says being part of the first Queensland cohort to graduate under the ATAR system only adds to the unknown.

“As far as online learning goes, our school has done a great job. I feel like it’s been pretty smooth, my motivation is definitely still there – probably more so than it even was before.

“For myself and my mates, we don’t want to bludge and stay in bed all day, we want to put in a serious effort and make sure that we do our best with everything that counts towards our ATAR.

“We’ve all been making sure we keep the structure in our day, attending our lessons and getting some vitamin D by getting outside during breaks. We’re all careful not to spend too much time on screens after school because it messes with your head, all that blue light.

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“Senior school is stressful as it is. I spent most of last year worrying about this year but of course I had no idea what I should actually have been worrying about. I never considered the coronavirus happening.

“Now that I’m here in Year 12 and this is all happening, I’m actually less stressed than I expected. I’m just taking things day by day. I think in a lot of ways corona has hit the reset button. It changed the playing field and we’re all doing the best we can with what we have.

“I think in some ways this will work to our benefit. We’re learning how to handle a crisis, how to be resilient and how to stay positive.”

James says one of the biggest challenges is that the academic structure of the year has been changed.

In late March, Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace announced the state’s curriculum advice body, the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, would remove one assessment piece from each subject in Year 12.

QCAA chair Brian Short said this meant the final subject results in general subjects would be calculated from two internal assessments and one external assessment, instead of three internal and one external. In other applied subjects, it would be based on three internal assessments instead of four.

“At first I was thinking, ‘Great! One less piece of assessment’,’’ says James.

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“But the reality is that it just means every assessment we do now counts for so much more.

“We’ve already done the first assessment so there are only two left that are in our control.

“For maths, I had an exam before corona and I got a C but I wasn’t worried because I could really step it up over the next three tests. But now I only have two left, so I really need to nail it.

“It’s also disappointing because for my drama and film class, we were meant to make a documentary as one of our assessments which has now been cancelled, and I was really looking forward to that.

“I was also meant to have a part in our school musical of Matilda but it’s not happening now either.

“Still, it just gives us that motivation to do everything we still can and to do it well.

“Everyone worries that maybe we’re at a slight disadvantage because we have to do online learning, but I think that will be a real benefit when we get back to our actual school. We just want to make every day, every lesson count.”

“We just want to make every day, every lesson count.” Photograph : Jason O'Brien

James says he’s taking that same attitude when it comes to his role as school captain.

Already he has made the news as being part of Rivermount College’s special home delivery of school jerseys to Year 12 students, and that is just the start of his grand plans when classes resume.

“Dropping off the jerseys to our classmates was great. That was something we thought we would miss out on,’’ he says.

“It’s just incredible how quickly things have changed. It’s like we’ve all aged a few years in one term. When I think back to the start of the school year it seems so long ago. I was stoked to be school captain, I never imagined that would be me, but we’ve had to pause all of our big plans.

“I know when we get back we don’t want to waste a day. Some people might think that our year misses out on so much, and in some ways we have, but in other ways we are a year like no other. There will never be another year like 2020. At least, I hope there won’t be. I think we’ve all tried to take a positive attitude, we stay connected on social media and when things seem hard we try to think about how we’re doing this to protect our grandparents and parents too.

“Our morale has been good. You rarely see someone bludging or not showing up to an online class. With my mates, if anyone is missing we text or call to make sure they’re on their way. Usually they’re just at the fridge or in the bathroom. I think our year level is really showing that we have the ability to take what’s been thrown at us and to make the best of it.”

While finishing Year 12 is one challenge, it is the next step into 2021 that is also cause for concern for James, who says the economic effect of the coronavirus crisis will have an impact on 2020 graduates.

Although planning to go to university, it does worry him thinking about what the future jobs market will look like.

“That’s probably the scariest thing about all this. What sort of world are we about to enter?” he says.

Year 12 school captain James Walker. Photograph : Jason O'Brien

“My brother got a job that he really wanted down in Melbourne and he only just got there and then he lost it. Nothing is turning out the way we all planned. “Luckily he got another job and is on his feet, but it does make me worry about what sort of jobs there will be when I’m ready.

“I was planning on going to university anyway. I’m interested in social work and criminal justice, anything to do with helping people. But university also seems like a good way to delay entry to the workforce until it’s a better environment. I guess for all of us finishing high school this year, we’re learning to expect the unexpected.”

That might well be the lesson that sets the students of 2020 at the head of the class.