From Science Bowl to stay-at-home: Murrysville brothers adjusting to life amid pandemic
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Six weeks ago, Urvish Jain and his high-school teammates were earning a third-place finish at the National Science Bowl’s regional competition in West Mifflin, and his brother, Bhav, was kicking into high gear during his first spring semester at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.
Now, the Murrysville brothers are adjusting to life at home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s sad, but at the same time I’m glad we still got to do it,” said Urvish, 15. “I play tennis and the spring sports season got canceled, but there’s bigger issues at this point.”
The five-member Franklin Regional science bowl team competed against 40 other schools seeking a spot in the state competition.
“Most competitions are only one subject: biology, math. This is different in that there’s every subject, math, energy, space, physics, biology, chemistry — there’s a lot of depth,” Urvish said.
The team’s third-place finish earned a $500 prize for the high school, but it was also the last school-related event Urvish will have a chance to participate in with his friends, now that Pennsylvania’s school shutdown is extended through the end of the academic year.
Bhav, 18, found out in mid-March that the remainder of his freshman-year classes would be happening online, and shortly thereafter was given four days to pack up his dorm room and leave the MIT campus.
“It was definitely a strange week,” he said.
Both Jain brothers said online learning has been an adjustment, but is going well.
“It’s definitely different than being in school and having that personal connection,” Urvish said. “But it’s been going great.”
“It’s an interesting experiment in how we can use certain aspects of technology in order to still stay connected,” Bhav said. “It’s extremely unfortunate to not have our classes in person, but our school is definitely doing its best to still attempt to keep the spring semester as planned.”