Undertaking the Higher School Certificate (HSC) is hard enough without COVID in the picture, but like everyone else, high school students are trying to adapt to functioning within the current lockdown.
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Esme Barker attends Bega High School and said the lockdown announcement came right in the middle of her Higher School Certificate (HSC) trial exams.
"It threw me off course a bit," Esme said.
"When it became official I lost a bit of motivation, which is bad because I have so much to do.
"With so much uncertainty there isn't anything concrete I am working towards. We don't even know if we will get a chance to finish our trials.
"I often think about what I am doing this for, I am slaving away and the sense I am not really doing it for a purpose does dissuade me at times."
Without a formal classroom environment and contact with her peers, Esme said it was hard to maintain connection.
"Working online is quite time consuming and it is harder to engage with my teacher. I rather dislike being at my computer all day," she said.
"School is also social, so the connection isn't really there. Everyone is so busy studying, it's hard to really engage," she said.
Esme and her friends had also been planning for their formal, an event usually seen as a rite of passage for graduating Year 12 students, but with the threat of COVID appearing nearer to the Bega Valley at this time, this too has become uncertain.
Exercising regularly is something Esme said she tries to do, knowing it is beneficial for her mind as well as her body.
"I know that when I don't do enough movement it can cause me to be more irritable or lack focus. But I never really have free time, if I do take it I feel guilty," she said.
Eden Marine High School captain Ben Neville said remote education had its challenges but he felt well supported despite the sudden shift from school to home this week.
"We were lucky enough to finish our trials for each subject the week before lockdown," Ben said.
If still on campus, students would now be focused on completing a lot of revision and finishing up the last few units of study for the year.
"There is still a lot that can be done from home and it's quite easy to stay in contact with teachers via Google Classroom," Ben said.
"Getting through the content is pretty easy with the system in place, but the hard part is trying to get the motivation to log on, as there are a lot more distractions at home than there are in a regular classroom."
With the current lockdown scheduled to be in place for one week, Ben felt optimistic about the impact to his studies remaining fairly minimal, but remained aware regular schooling may suffer further disruption.
"It could be quite detrimental if it goes on much longer. Especially as we don't know yet how the HSC will be formatted," he said.
"It's hard to know how to plan for it when we don't know if we will be sitting the exams physically."
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In 2020, some local high school students experienced a very pronounced negative impact of lockdown on their ability to complete their education.
"I think after last lockdown last year, there were a number of students who found the remote learning too hard and just said, 'stuff it, we can't do this... it's not worth it'. There were a few who didn't return to school afterwards," Ben said.
"Nothing can beat face-to-face learning, it's very impersonal through a screen."
Ben is keeping sight of the bigger picture and offered some encouragement to fellow students in the same tricky predicament.
"Especially to HSC students, you are almost at the end, keep going," he said.
"At the end of the day your marks are just a number that won't matter in five years time.
"Remember that your mental health is more important. Go outside, get some fresh air, detach from the screen for however long you need to connect with yourself, and know everything will be alright."
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Leah Szanto
Regional journalist covering the Far South Coast of NSW.
Regional journalist covering the Far South Coast of NSW.
