When Victoria Vial’s Miami Middle School closed last spring and her classes connected to the Internet, it seemed like the beginning of an adventure. “I was in my pajamas, sitting in my comfortable chair,” the 13-year-old recalled. “I was texting my friends during class.”
He then received his academic progress report. Student A and B before the pandemic, missed three classes. The academic slide left her mother, Carola Mengolini, in tears. He insisted his daughter create to-do lists and moved the girl’s workspace to the guest bedroom to take out the notes.
During the summer, Victoria’s tennis and theater courts were canceled. His family postponed a planned trip to Argentina to visit his extended family.
He formed a pandemic pod with five close friends, but the girls scoffed. Subcliches were formed and Victoria and her best friend were excluded. The sheath collapsed.
The return of face-to-face school last fall was a relief, but with some of her classmates still at home, teachers had to shift attention between face-to-face children and those who were online, leaving the disorganized students and back.