Making matric work over miles (and Zoom)
By Chandrea Serebro
Yeshiva College Boys, Matan Kaplan
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
Every human being on this planet has had challenges and missed opportunities due to Corona. The biggest hardship for me was that it fell during my final year at school. With syllabi to finish and ideas for school projects and innovations to be launched, everything was brought to a screeching and dramatic halt in March.
My school adjusted and pivoted with incredible flexibility and fluidity and, in a matter of days, we were on Zoom. Zoom is a gift, but, unfortunately, it isn’t the same quality of learning as “in person”. With new concepts to be taught, and a looming deadline to finals, it was hard to stay focussed and “in class”. By the time we got back to in-person school in June, there were definite gaps in our knowledge and a lot of the work needed to be retaught at school. Realistically, some subjects do not lend themselves to remote teaching.
Triumphs of the time…
The triumph for me is in the mundane. I began to appreciate the unappreciated: sitting and chatting to friends at break; going out for a burger; going to shul; or just playing a regular game of volleyball. By the time we returned to school in June, we were so excited to be back with our teachers and friends. Every lesson became a treat, to the point that we were excited to sit in a physics lesson. We realised that with so few precious school days left, we had to make the most of every moment, every lesson, and every interaction.
Lesson of the year…
My matric English teacher, Mr Tennant, taught us about Perseus, the Greek figure of patience and overcoming challenges. This year tested the ‘inner Perseus’ of every matric student. We triumphed in taking each disappointment as it came and doing our best not to dwell on it. So many missed opportunities and missed “lasts”, but as a matric cohort, we chose to see the positives and celebrate the small victories and appreciate the little things. For example, we were so grateful for a small in-person celebration instead of a traditional valedictory and farewell. We enjoyed every minute of that special night!
COVID-19 made us miss out…
We missed out on a ‘real’ matric experience. We missed out on a proper matric farewell, valedictory, mentoring bar mitzvah boys, and so much more. We spent our high school years waiting to get to the matric year to dominate the school, to create the vibe, to lead, to bring “gees” to the school. We missed out on all of this. We had very little time for socialising, bonding, and fun, and we missed the closure we needed to end our high school years. We didn’t know we were having our last regular school day back in March. It caught us unaware and we’ll never get those school days back again.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year to come?
I intend to go on a GAP year and spend it on Bnei Akiva’s MTA programme. I will be studying at Yeshivat Har Etzion and I am so excited for what the year will bring. COVID-19 has created uncertainty around the programme and the structure. Many of the highlights will need to be adjusted and some may be cancelled (eg. the annual Poland trip). I, like so many others, am just praying for the vaccine to change the trajectory of the virus and for us to get back to normal living as soon as possible.
Yeshiva College Girls, Yonit Herring
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
This year we have experienced many challenges and situations that were out of our control. Even though technology has given way to Zoom meetings and distanced learning, I find that a Zoom class can lend to more distractions and less individual focus. Moreover, I feel that a class atmosphere boosts a student’s motivation.
Triumphs of the time…
At the beginning of the pandemic, I was worried about how I was going to motivate myself with the lack of personal interactions between my teachers and peers. Yet, the constant support that I received from my teachers enabled me to keep up the momentum of learning, enabling me to complete my matric year without any setbacks. In addition, upon returning to learning at school with social distancing and masks, there was a feeling and understanding of determination for us all to succeed.
COVID-19 made us miss out…
My final year of school was spent at home, rather than on the school campus. I was constantly working, learning, or preparing assignments. There was no possibility to go away at any point this year to recuperate and recharge for upcoming prelims and finals. This was difficult to overcome, but with so much support from teachers, fellow peers, and my family, I progressed through the year.
Lesson of the year…
This year has taught me the importance of preparation and organisation. In order to keep self-motivated I learned how to balance my time between studying and taking breaks. This is a skill that has not only benefitted my work ethic this year but will continue to benefit me as I move forward into my future.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year to come?
The COVID 19 pandemic has not altered my decision or ability to go to Israel for a year of learning and self-development. I will be attending the Bnei Akiva MTA 2021 programme, at Midreshet HaRova. I am so excited to deepen my knowledge of Torah, Zionism, the Israeli culture, and to learn how vital my Jewish identity is to me. I am grateful that I am still able to participate in this programme, despite the effects of COVID-19.
Herzlia, Jethro Klitzner
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
The crushing realisation of my uselessness in the light of a pandemic while wearing a mask while writing prelims and finals.
Triumphs of the time…
I don’t know. Didn’t experience a matric year under normal circumstances.
COVID-19 made us miss out…
I was unable to go to Israel for the ‘Diller Teen Fellow’ Israel Summer Seminar as a Junior Counselor.
Lesson of the year…
Self-development has taken the forefront and a punching bag is useful.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year to come?
I didn’t really have much planned for next year. I’m possibly going to UCT to do a PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) degree. Other than that we’ll see.
Torah Academy Girls , Naama Kay
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
As a student, whom you would not call the most conscientious nor the most dedicated or passionate, rather my focus and time has been dedicated to dance and sport. Matric 2020 definitely wasn’t an easy one. As my mom would call me, I am a social butterfly. And at the beginning of this year all I really was looking forward to was the jol of spending one last incredible year with my friends, with the extreme workload a mere side issue that I would deal with as I went along. Due to the lack of social interaction and distractions, however, school became the centre of attention and it hit me that I didn’t have much choice but to start working. The glorified Zoom and new education programme really did not work for me – so much so that I debated not finishing matric and switching to GED online school. My parents were planning their Aliya for December 2020, which included many changes, emotions, and the worry that matric would not be written at the end of year and I knew I had to be finished school by the end of 2020, whatever “school” that meant.
Triumph of the times…
In the end I decided to finish matric, thanks to the encouragement and reassurance of my principal. This year held real challenges and the fact that I am sitting here writing this, about to finish school, is something truly amazing. Just to add to the uncertainty of Covid and the pressures of matric, I realised that I had no plans for 2021 and thus started the conversations, phone calls, and interviews of what would be the correct programme for me to do after school. Deciding on a year in the old city at Midreshet HaRova, I was struck by the fact that prelims are starting and I really have to start working. So, the challenge of 2020 was going out of my normal social and active life and having to sit down and get done what needed to be done, even though it was hard and at times I genuinely thought I would never finish school or ever write matric.
Lesson of the year…
This year I internalised what I always knew, that perseverance is crucial and that you can’t just give up when times get hard or unfamiliar. For me, personally, the results I will achieve are of secondary importance, it is rather about the completion of something I started all those years ago and pushing through uncertain, complicated, and trying times that has led to me to my biggest triumph: being a matriculant of 2020.
King David Victory Park, Tzipora Krawitz
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
I think a very significant part of the school experience is interacting with peers. While online schooling was effective, it cannot replace the comradery that is particularly unique to a matric year and that one can only experience to the full in a classroom setting. I missed that social interaction and I found being physically apart from my peers to be a significant challenge.
Triumphs of the time…
COVID-19 brought challenges to society as a whole and everyone had to navigate very strange terrain. I think that converting the typical matric and school experiences to an online medium was a massive challenge, but one that we managed to successfully overcome. I will look back with pride at the Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha’atzmaut, and other activities that we managed to successfully organise online. We certainly did not have any precedents to follow and we were able to carve out a new way forward for others to emulate.
COVID-19 made us miss out…
I am very cognizant of the very real human challenges that society has experienced during this period and I am thus cautious of bemoaning the loss of a matric dance or our final sports matches. However, there is a sense that we missed out on those typical matric experiences that students in years gone by have been able to relate to their children. I guess we will be able to relate an entirely different experience.
Lesson of the year…
I have learned that, as human beings, we have a tremendous capacity and resolve to adapt and overcome challenges. These challenges are most effectively overcome by working together, placing trust in others and giving everyone an opportunity to make their own unique contribution.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year to come?
I think that the university experience will change for at least half of 2021. Thus, I am expecting campus life (wherever I decide to experience that) for at least the first 6 months, to be mostly online. This is certainly not what I would have envisaged at the end of my grade 11 year when I first contemplated going to university, but it is something we will now need to accept.
Akiva Rosen, Torah Academy Boys
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
At the start of lockdown, school had ended abruptly and there was uncertainty as to how long it would last. The transitional phase from physical school to virtual school was most challenging. I was not accustomed to the integrated technological aspects, since school had not been adapted for this in the past. This period was stressful because of the unfamiliar path that we would have to take in order to learn the subject material.
Triumphs of the time…
Owing to the abundant time during lockdown, which stripped away the extraneous parts of my daily routine, I have been able to spend my time more productively. I was able to focus more on my academic studies, while my personal learning improved dramatically. My family’s support ultimately gave me the encouragement to strive for new heights.
COVID-19 made us miss out…
My approach to this year was to tackle each challenge at a time, head-on. This way I could not be disappointed in the way things turned out, however skewed. I did miss out on socialising with my friends, but I made up for it with video calls.
Lesson of the year…
Do not focus on the negativity of the difficult challenges being faced, rather see the positive way in which one can overcome such events and how one can became a better person. The most important lesson is to attribute this outcome as a result of one’s perseverance, as opposed to the external factors.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year to come?
Although I did not have a set plan at the start of the year for next year, I contemplated a number of options. I plan on studying Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Witwatersrand next year, please G-d. Preparations have been made for online university which could pose more of a challenge than anticipated. Thankfully I have time to de-stress and plan beforehand, despite the extended school year shortening the break period somewhat.
King David Linksfield, Erin Atie
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
I think the biggest challenge for me was feeling so disconnected from friends. Although we tried to catch up through Zoom calls and WhatsApp/FaceTime to check in on one another, I still felt a real disconnect from my peers and friends at points in the year.
Triumphs of the time…
This year, I think each matric student really gained the full understanding of perseverance. We were required to deal with situations unknown to us and had to hold our heads up high and keep on working hard.
COVID-19 made us miss out…
The saddest thing for me personally was not being able to celebrate and commemorate the ‘yamim’ like Yom Ha’atzmaut, Yom Hazikaron, and Yom Hashoah. In days where the Jewish community gets to be the closest, it felt difficult to be physically so far apart.
Lesson of the year…
Definitely gratitude. I never fully understood the extent to which I was so blessed. Whether it was online lessons through laptops, virtual public speaking competitions on iPads, or challah bakes through cellphones, King David High School Linksfield continued to function as ‘normal’ as they possibly could. I also realised that while matric students may have lost out, so did the rest of the world and that, in reality, my challenges were incomparably minute to the challenges being faced by many other South Africans.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year to come?
My plan was and still is to do a gap year in Israel with Bnei Akiva next year. The programme is called Limmud. While I was certain that I still wanted to go, the uncertainty whether the programme would still happen and who would still come or who would pull out created another aspect of uncertainty in the year.
Yisrael Meir Shwer, Yeshiva Maharsha boys
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
I can’t pin it down to one challenge only – there were multiple challenges, starting with the far greater effort than usual that was required by us matriculants to get through the syllabus. Much more independent working was expected of the students. This was followed by the challenge of studying for prelims, which were followed back-to-back by finals – which caused a near burnout, aggravated further by having to write exams while being masked! That was really tough – aside from feeling suffocated, it was nauseating and hampered my vision. There was no single challenge; COVID-19 caused a ripple effect of complications for matriculants, from start to finish.
Triumphs of the time….
I found a lot of untapped potential within me, which paved the way for optimum success in my preparation for finals. I learned how to manage my time better, how to efficiently prioritise my work, and how to manage my stress by keeping a consistent exercise routine. I also found a lot of amazing online learning resources which assisted me tremendously in learning many of the new topics on my own. Thank G-d, by being forced to turn to alternative methods to remain successful during my final year, I achieved a lot of improvement in many areas.
Lesson of the year…
I feel that the biggest letdown for me in my matric year because of COVID-19 was the ban on socialising and enjoying my friends’ company and support, during a period in my life where I felt I needed it most. To go through my final year of school with absolutely no physical interaction with my friends and no face-to-face conversations with them definitely made it harder to remain positive and driven. The biggest lesson that I’ve learnt from this year is to enjoy my own company and to appreciate having a big family. Although it took me time to accept very limited social interaction, I gained a lot of inner strength and learned to pass time very productively and engage in alternative enjoyable activities, which I probably would otherwise not have done.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year to come?
COVID –19 has barely affected my plans for next year. I had always planned to go study in a yeshiva in Israel and I will hopefully be starting at Yeshivas Bircas Hatorah early in the year. The only change of plans would probably be the two-week quarantine, currently scheduled for me upon my arrival. I hope that the actual ‘yeshiva experience’ will not be affected too much by Covid, as I intend to develop my strength in my Yiddishkeit and, more importantly, to find my personal drive and passion for commitment to my religion during my studies there.
Hirsch Lyons Girls, Talya Sieff
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
Adapting to online learning was challenging at first. However, the bigger challenge was not being able to see my friends and socialise across grades everyday. It was also difficult to consolidate the 12 years of school while not being there for the final year.
Triumphs of the time…
I believe that this year truly has been a blessing. Being at home for the majority of my matric year allowed for more time for studying with fewer distractions. It also gave me the opportunity for family time. Not being at school physically actually saved a lot of time especially without the traveling time.
COVID-19 made us miss out…
Because of COVID-19, I was unable to be as involved in the school, particularly concerning the younger grades. I had fewer opportunities to fulfil my obligations as a student leader. I also missed out on my piano exam because of Covid.
Lesson of the year…
This year has taught me the importance of gratitude particularly towards my family and my school. I spent a lot more time with my family this year than most matrics would in a usual year and it has given me the opportunity to be thankful that I had special people to help me through this journey. Moreover, I have immense gratitude towards my school and my teachers for ensuring our safety, but also for making the smooth transition to online learning. My teachers ensured that we completed our syllabi and each teacher adapted to online learning in his own way and still managed to give 110%.
How has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year to come?
Next year I plan on going to Israel on MTA to Machon Ma’ayan. Despite Covid, I was able to have interviews with different midrashot and decide which place was right for me. This is the plan, however this year has taught me to be flexible and that things aren’t in our hands.
Ze’ev Sussman, Shaarei Torah
What was your biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19?
The biggest challenge writing matric during COVID-19 was the constant uncertainty.The uncertainty of when exams would be, when we would be going back to school, and the constant fear of whether we would have to go into quarantine.
Triumphs of the time…
Not having the structure of a school day forced me to take responsibility for my own time. I learned how to manage time effectively, splitting my time between Torah study, school work, and excercise.
COVID-19 made us miss out…
We missed out on some of the highlights of our school year, such as the yearly Shabbaton, and, for most of the school year, we missed out on interacting face-to-face with classmates and the community.
Lesson of the year…
As our sages say, “Nothing stands in front of a person’s will.” This year has taught me how we can rise to the challenge of dealing with and overcoming challenging situations. We have grown and stretched ourselves in ways that we could never have imagined a year ago. COVID-19 has taught us resilience, flexibility, and grit, as from one day to the next no one knew what would be. We have had to place our complete trust in Hashem in a very real and tangible way.
How did COVID-19 affect your plans for the year to come?
I plan on going to study in yeshiva in Israel next year. I can’t say COVID-19 has affected my plan, but it definitely has made it much harder to follow through with my plan. For example, I will have to go into isolation.
