Lyndsey Hill was the winner of our Essential Worker Giveaway for the month of June and kindly agreed to answer some questions about her life during Covid 19.

Can you tell us a little about the work you have been doing during the pandemic?

Teaching students virtually from my home, while caring for as well as teaching 2 children of my own, has been one of the hardest things I have ever done. My husband is also a teacher and a coach so we were both trying to teach our online classes plus make up for the preschool time our kids were missing out on. I tried to do crafts and school time with them every day because they were missing out on their school time as well.

How has it been different from the work you were doing before?

Before school let out, I had taught from 8-3:30 and then since I am a coach, I had cross country or softball practice after school until 5:30. Since our softball season was cancelled I was able to spend extra time with my kiddos outside playing and it was a blessing in disguise!

What has been the hardest thing for you and family during this time?

The hardest thing for my family was learning how to live a "new normal." My husband and I coach softball together and we ended up having our season cancelled, which was really tough on me. My athletes are like my daughters. I see them every day and spend so much time with them and we have become one big family. With season cancelled, it was like I lost a part of me. The silver lining is that softball season rarely lets me come home when it is still daylight outside so I can never play with my kids outside. Once Covid hit, I got to spend so much outdoor time with my kids and that was priceless!

Has there been anything positive that has come out of this experience for you?

A couple of positives that I have taken away from all of this is it's taught me how to roll with the punches. As teachers we are required to modify and adapt and this has really put that to the test. I could not be more proud of my school and my coworkers for adapting to online school. We literally had our regular normal job and adapted to basically a totally different job within a week and made it work and excelled doing it. I saw teachers put kids first instead of grades. I saw relationships put before rigor. It was truly heartwarming. The last positive that I have taken from all of this is not to take a single minute for granted. I have spent priceless quality time with my family during this and I couldn't be more thankful for that time.