Social distancing for the past two months has been challenging. From learning to do school online to figuring out what to do with such large amounts of free time at home, it has been a struggle. But what has BHS been up too? 

Junior Zoe Thomas has been volunteering to hand out free lunches at the Lumberyard Arts Center and Baldwin City Public Library. 

“We have been cutting elastic for masks so other people can use them. We have been doing kid and adult masks, and they are available to pick up for free outside the Lumberyard,” Thomas said. “I also volunteered with the lunch program at the library by assembling and handing out free lunches for students.”

With volunteering in mind, junior Jillian Markway has been spending her time fostering a dog and her puppy. Markway applied to foster through Unleashed Pet Rescue. From there she was selected to foster a young mother, Momma, and her pup Luke. 

“It is awesome. I will definitely be fostering dogs as much as I can in my life. It was an amazing experience,” Markway said. “The best part about fostering is seeing the amazing progress these creatures make because of our help. From the first day that you pick them up when they are scared, confused, and happy to be loved by someone, to the day you drop them off with their adopter and they are comfortable, excited, and ready for a better life.”

Not all students have been able to spend their time volunteering. Junior Jacob Hofman has spent most of his time doing his homework and preparing for his College Board AP exams in AP US History and AP Chemistry.

“Throughout this last quarter, I’ve had homework from all of my classes, which has taken up a lot of time each week,” Hofman said. “In addition to regular homework, I also had to study for my two AP exams, which took up even more of my time.”

Along with students, teachers have been keeping busy as well. During her time at home, math teacher Danielle Balsman has been spending quality time with her family. 

“My favorite activity during the social distancing is going on walks with my husband and daughter when the weather is nice,” Balsman said. 

Like Balsman, AP biology teacher and tech integrator Drew Ising has been spending more time with his family, as well as enjoying some of his hobbies. 

“I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts. I’ve also been trying to play board games and Role-Playing games with friends online, though it isn’t quite as fun,” Ising said. “I hope to be able to get more reading in once everyone gets used to using their online platforms for continuous learning. But for now I’ve kept pretty busy with work and helping keep [my daughter] Makenna  on track with school.”