You wake up at 6 a.m., eat a bowl of cereal, and get out the door. You turn on the street that you’ve been walking towards for fifteen minutes. You feel your face light up in the cold, brisk air. You see your school. The place where you depend on that will get you through the day. The people inside that you trust will make you smile. This is the home that many people say otherwise.
With COVID- 19 hitting our country and social distancing rules being put in place, no one is in school right now in Washington State. This means that many students have to stay in their houses, longing for all of this chaos to be over and schools to be reopened. Many students depend on their school to take care of them whether that is having good social connections with their friends, teachers and peers or having their first meal of the day at lunch. Instead, they have to stay at their house where the rest of their family lives and try to get through one day at a time.
Some of us are lucky to have a roof over our heads, have three meals a day, and be comfortable with the family around us. We are the ones that call a house a home. A home to us is where we can go at the end of the day to relax and be ourselves. The place where it seems all is good and a place where you feel protected.
However, that is not the case with many students around our country. They are not able to live in a home. Instead, they live in a house. In their eyes, it is a building or other places where there may be bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, and whatever else there is to have in a typical house. They are not able to unwind there after a busy day or even feel that they are in a secure environment.
To these students, their school is the safe haven and ultimately home that they are able to go to between September to June. The place where their meals, friends, and education are at. The place that will help them get a future. Their school is the place where they feel like they can laugh and make some of their best childhood memories. Without this comfort, they are out there likely struggling and waiting for all of this to be over.
Typical houses turned into homes are the places where you are surrounded by the people who love you. It is the ordinary beige house with the colored door and flowers out front. When many people are asked what a home is, this is what they picture. A home doesn’t need to be in a house. It is the place where you find the most comfort, safety and joy in.
