Recently, horror stories of the influenza virus being especially nasty this year. 39 have already died in Travis county alone from the flu. Students and teachers all over Bowie have been feeling this outbreak, some students gone for up to five days missing lots of class and even some teachers such as English teacher Whitney Shumate have had to stay home bedridden.

““I was out for five days but I was sick about seven days. I am still recovering and it has been two weeks. I was on a lot of different medications to treat it,” Shumate said. “For me, it hit a lot harder than it did my family and my body is still recovering.”

Sophomore Thomas Bolen feels that the virus has forced other students to miss class and therefore to miss the original lesson, meaning that they have to get notes from other students while also having to tackle makeup work.

“The influenza virus has negatively affected my grade because I was not in class to hear the original material. So, I had to copy notes from a friend who was in class the day I was gone and I had to work harder to figure out the material.

Shumate has even had to address the problem of missing students by adapting her lessons around those who have been gone and by being flexible on makeup work for those who have missed class due to their illness.

“I want to be really flexible with these kids, I had it myself and so I know just how brutal it is,” Shumate said. “When you have the flu you’re pretty much bedridden and so I have been flexible with deadlines and I try to reduce assignments that are less essential. I think teachers being flexible during this time is very important.”

Bolen has encouraged fellow members of his class to stay home if they are extremely sick, but if they can stick it out they should because of the incentive program.

“I would encourage students with the flu to stay home if you really do feel sick, however, if you feel like you can go to school, you should. It may suck that one day, but having the exam incentive is very rewarding to have when finals do come around, and it is well worth sticking it out for a couple days at school, even if you don’t feel 100%.”