Sask. students, parents say goodbye to pandemic school year

It's the last day of school for many in Saskatchewan and some have already finished their pandemic year of studies.

It's been a rough year for Khemissa Cardinal, who said it hasn't set in that it's over just yet.

"Starting the year off online was very hard," Khemissa said. "It's really hard to teach yourself and you can't ask your teacher questions throughout the day because they're teaching other kids."

The Grade 11 Regina student went back and forth from in-person to online about five times, but knows of people who made the switch seven times. Khemissa's mother Shana Cardinal said being able to finish the year in-person was great.

"People have some closure. They know what to kind of expect for next year. And getting ready for summer break is always nice too," Shana said.

Shana said she's fortunate as a mother that she doesn't need to worry about daycare for her child or caregivers, but there's been anxiety and mental health challenges throughout the year.

"Ups and downs, and I'm not a teacher, so I can't help her in some of these subject areas," Shana said. "I've tried to assist her as much as we can, doing literally hours of homework a day."

Khemissa said she has learned about herself and how to create her own structure when working at home. She and her family have also become closer.

"We may want to strangle each other sometimes, but we do give each other a lot of privacy. Like if mom's on a meeting, I'll do my own thing and my grandma is at work, so we do get our privacy a lot," Khemissa said.

Khemissa said it's also been hard to maintain friendships. They weren't able to hang out at school due to COVID-19 rules and protocols, she said. She's hopeful that with the reopening, they'll be able to see each other soon.

"I have lost a few friends, but that's OK, everything happens for a reason. I feel like I've grown a lot as a person through all of this and I've become a lot stronger and healthier," she said.

Shana hopes that with vaccinations, masks won't be needed in schools in the fall and people will be able to smile and laugh with each other. Khemissa said she is so used to wearing masks that she can't imagine herself without one, but is excited to see people's faces once more.

"If we can survive COVID, we can survive anything," Shana said. "There's hope."

Grade 7 student finding joy during the pandemic year in the classroom

Mia Eiswirth said it's been a very different year. The Grade 7 student had some normal experiences, like startingto playin band and playingoutside in the winter, but also had to learn to deal with dividersat tablesand constant masking.

"You kind of grow into it after the first couple of months. It ends up getting easier."

Looking ahead, Eiswirth said she's nervous for Grade 8, but excited at the same time to be back at school. Eiswirth said she loves walking into class and seeing her teacher and friends, despite the pandemic.

"We all play, we skip rope and we play limbo as a class and we play volleyball. It's just really fun. Even with the global pandemic, it still doesn't change how we can hang out," Eiswirth said. "We just have to be a little more cautious."