Despite all the difficulties of the past year, junior Mahika Nagradona has managed to find time to reinvest time into hobbies and personal interests, “I got into reading again my old middle school books again like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The Selection,” also discussing her new love in Korean Dramas, “They are so good, like I am so obsessed I always watch them.” She says her favorites include Crash Landing On You noting that she, “cried so much,” and Penthouse.

Nagradona says that virtual learning has given her more free time to explore her interests and spend time to bond with her family, “During asynchronous time I just try to finish my work so right after school I don’t really have anything.” 

Though she loves reading and watching K-dramas, Nagradona also uses her free time to get involved in a great multitude of clubs and organizations in school. She is the historian of National Honor Society (NHS), Cofounder and Co-President of Youth Medical Community Service Club (YMCSC), part of the Color Guard, and has been involved in DECA for her three years in high school. 

Nagrandona mentioned plenty of events that she has participated in since the beginning of the pandemic: a guest speaker event with a pediatrician from Triangle Pediatrics in YMCSC; the national ICDC competition in DECA; and numerous social events and discussion in NHS.

During virtual academy, Nagradona says she’s been enjoying all of her classes, but especially AP Environmental Science with Mr. Hill, “I just really like his way of teaching and he’s just so understanding.” And when Nagradona was interviewed, she also reminisced about classes she had taken in-person at Green Level, “I had AP Human Geography with Mr. Cooper, and it was so much fun, we were always laughing. It was one of the first classes we took as high schoolers.” Additionally, she also recommends students to take the elective, PEPI, or physical education pupil instructors, “You teach PE to the special needs kids at our school. I saw them everyday because of my class. There was one student who I made a really good connection with, his name was Matt, he has nonverbal autism, and he was a really sweet kid.”

Overall Nagradona has said the year has been, “a good learning experience and I can tell people I lived through a pandemic which not a lot of people can say.”