My name is Maya and I am a freshman Animal Behavior and Marine Bio major here at UNE. I have ten pets, including three dogs, four fish, two snakes, and a bearded dragon. My hobbies include reading, getting tattoos (I have 8 so far), and spending time with animals. I would love to one day be a dog trainer, work with birds of prey, or even open a shelter for animals of all kinds. In March of 2020, I was a Junior in high school when we had to switch to a virtual learning environment due to COVID. I struggled through Zoom school as I was missing out on the part of school I actually enjoyed, which was seeing my friends. I finished my junior year and hoped to be back in person for senior year, but that was not the case. Our school continued on Zoom in the fall, but after the first month I decided I could no longer handle it for various reasons. After considering multiple options, I decided to switch to an online self-paced learning system for the remainder of senior year. Although this was still not ideal for me, I did enjoy the self-paced element and it enabled me to get a job as a dog walker in February of 2021. I am very grateful for that opportunity, although it was a small piece of light in all the dark caused by COVID.