U.S. enterprise journalist Martha Irvine reinterviewed young people around the world about how the pandemic had changed them, one year after first asking them to describe their experience as the pandemic gripped the world. Coordinating with her international colleagues and the far-flung subjects, Irvine delivered affecting video and touching interviews, giving AP’s customers and readers a window into how the pandemic had molded these young lives.
Among the vignettes: An 18-year-old in California, newly vaccinated, flashes a smile and a peace sign as she poses for a prom photo with her pals. She feels strange but elated without her mask. In Australia, a girl still clings to the fluffy border collie that her family got to comfort them in the depths of last year’s lockdown last year; she recently had to shelter at home again because of a nearby COVID-19 outbreak. And a baby-faced teen in Rwanda who wanted to be a soldier has changed his mind — he now wants to be a doctor.
Michaela Seah, 18, second from left, stands with friends at her parent-organized prom in Palo Alto, Calif., June 4, 2021, in a photo provided by Seah. Now fully vaccinated, it was one of the first times she and friends gathered without masks. Admittedly, she said, it felt a little “awkward.”
Courtesy Michaela Seah via AP
Niki Jolene Berghamre-Davis, 12, works on a computer with her dog Bailey at her side on in Melbourne, Australia, in a June 10, 2021 photo provided by her family. Niki has missed her friends at school during pandemic lockdowns but says she's also learned to work more independently.
Anna Berghamre via AP
Freddie Golden, foreground, takes a shot at the Chicago gym where he plays basketball and works out, June 8, 2021. Staff at the facility started offering limited classes and open gym sessions earlier this year — and have been slowly ramping up as Chicago’s COVID numbers drop.
AP Photo / Martha Irvine
Elena Maria Moretti, right, has breakfast with her parents, Massimo Moretti and Letizia Perracchio, at their house in Rome, June 3, 2021. Last year, she was dancing alone in her bedroom and spraying disinfectant on packages the family received. Italy was among the first to experience major death counts because of COVID-19.
AP Photo / Gregorio Borgia
Manuela Salomao, 16, holds her phone as she poses for a portrait in the lobby of her residential building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 10, 2021. As COVID cases continue to surge in Brazil, she expressed frustration with President, Jair Bolsonaro, whose government repeatedly ignored opportunities to buy vaccines. “The pandemic was not easy for a lot of people in Brazil. Many lost their jobs and could not socially distance because they needed to survive.”
AP Photo / Andre Penner