46: Monique Ortega

Secretary, Elwyn Opportunity School

Monique Ortega is a secretary at Elwyn Opportunity School, where she works about 35 to 40 hours a week. Before the pandemic, she worked at the school as a paraprofessional, but that position was furloughed during the shutdown. For several weeks, she was not working, but then the school hired her back in her current position. During a typical day, Monique checks all the staff in, does the COVID screenings, checks students’ attendance, answers emails and phone calls, sends info to the school board, and makes calls to parents. During the shutdown, when she was working at home, her work was much less hands on and saw her dealing with technology often. Working from home was very hard for her because she is a very visual person, and it was especially hard to navigate being trained for a new position virtually. 

Monique lives with her boyfriend, who was working throughout than shutdown as a direct care worker. She didn’t personally know anyone who had COVID, but she knows how many people lost loved ones and she is so grateful to still have hers. 

Over the course of the pandemic, Monique feels like she has become a lot humbler. She worries about her makeup and hair a lot less, and she was also inspired to exercise more, which has helped with her cystic fibrosis. Ultimately, she wishes that society could become more open minded and positive. She hopes that, after this time of such difficulty, we can decide to put less anger and judgement into the world and spread more love and happiness instead.