KSJC Homecoming 11/03/2023

In Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie finds a newfound comfort when watching his new friends Sam and Patrick dance away to “Come On Eileen," in Spider-Man: Homecoming Peter Parker finds what it truly means to be Spider-Man, and at KIPP San Jose Collegiate, students are met with an empty dance floor, a corner filled with awkward glances, and the Billboard Top 20. Why is it that Peter Parker and Charlie Kelmeckis can have riveting and exciting homecomings, while ours are so underwhelming?

I may sound a bit like my mom, but movies aren’t life. When holding expectations for something and seeing it fall through, we are immediately disappointed and hold the new low bar for future reference. When asked about homecoming and if they are going, most students say no because it will be just like last year: cold, awkward, and lame. The constant belief that homecoming will be lame manifests itself into reality and unintentionally creates a lame homecoming, driving people away. Although we created this problem, there is a simple (sort of) way to fix it: go with an open mind and take it all in with some hoco hope. 

“We’re living in a bit of a fantasy world where we’re pretending that COVID is not relevant. There is a lot of COVID out there and we’re not testing for it and we’re not telling people to get tested,” stated by the Whitehouse coronavirus response coordinator, Deborah Birx. Over 500 million people or more were affected by the virus COVID-19, with kids having to be taught in online classes, and lockdown having us in place for almost two years. Only recently on May 2, 2023 has COVID been officially declared over by the World Health Organization, giving us the freedom to finally be able to calmly leave our homes and not have to wear masks every time we decide to go out. This news brought a lot of happiness, and for some it finally put us at ease, not having to worry about the deaths it had brought upon us, as it’s finally over. But recently, numerous pieces of data have been pointing to the possibility that there is a high chance that COVID-19 could be making a comeback.

November 1 just recently marked the date that the mask mandate was officially issued on plenty of healthcare workers. According to Los Angeles Times, a state data has been provided stating that “There has been a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in California and across the U.S., California’s coronavirus test positivity rate was 12.8% as of Sept. 10, compared to 5.1% two months ago," There is no doubt that COVID-19 cases are continuing to spread rapidly throughout the month; reportedly, congestion, sore throat, and dry cough are only three of the many prominent symptoms of covid right now. Another issue that has been circulating was the introduction of the two new variants of COVID-19: HV.1 and EG.5. These variants are mutations that can allow the virus to be immune to recent vaccines or could possibly increase its growth rate. Unfortunately, scientists found more variants that are said to be carrying an alarming mutation.

Whether COVID-19 possibly comes back or not, one thing that is guaranteed is that people should be more careful and aware of the symptoms that their body is experiencing and should take precaution immediately, whether it’s covid or not. We should always be careful. So be mindful, try to stay healthy, and stay away from crowded places to prevent the slightest chance of contracting these new variants, as it’s not only symptoms that come along with it, but also possible death which is more than possible with its alarming rate of growth.

Written by: Rhiane Kate Dalisey 9th