Believe it or not, despite the emergence of a virus that has affected the entire population of Earth along with a crazy year surrounding the election, there have been some good things that happened in 2020.

Here are twenty good things that came out of 2020:

1. Coronavirus Vaccine: As a reaction to COVID-19, the virus that resulted in a global pandemic, scientists around the world have put enormous amounts of time and money into creating a vaccine. Creating an effective vaccine in under a year is an immense scientific achievement considering that the fastest vaccine before this was the mumps vaccine which took four years.
2. SpaceX Launch: On May 30, 2020, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched two American astronauts into space for the first time in nearly a decade. This is also historic as SpaceX is the first private company to shuttle for NASA.
3. Reconnection: Although the government lockdowns around the world have had negative effects on individuals’ lives, some good things have come from them such as reconnection with family and friends. People have gotten to spend more time with their families during lockdown and have reconnected with friends over virtual communication such as FaceTime and Zoom.
4. Virtual Communication: As a result of students having to learn from home and employees kept from coming into work, virtual communication has improved immensely. Although mostly everyone disliked learning and working virtually, advances made in remote work, telehealth and virtual gatherings will outlast the pandemic.
5. Art: With the isolation that came with lockdowns, artists have been forced to make the best of it, letting their creativity go in a different direction than normal. This has resulted in wonderful music and other types of art that otherwise would not have emerged.
6. Gathering: Although people have not been able to gather in a more traditional way, creative ways to gather were inspired. For example, drive-in movies made a comeback giving small towns a sense of community and family-owned businesses hope. Aside from movies, other ways to perform concerts were created such as drive-in and virtual concerts.
7. Television: Americans were brought together in isolation this year through new television shows and movies. One of the most notable, “Tiger King” had 34 million tune in withing the first ten days of its debut.
8. Health Care Workers: Our appreciation for the health care heroes has grown immensely in the past year. While hospitals and ICUs have reached capacity in many places around the world and health care workers have had to work long hours, we have expressed our admiration for these courageous people.
9. Woo Back Wednesday: Despite the tragic death of rap artist, Pop Smoke, one good thing came out of this. Woo Back Wednesday is a day to celebrate and honor the life of the legendary artist. It occurs every Wednesday and helps many get over the hump day of the week.
10. Pack A Puncher: Magnet alumni, Seth Dominiak, who has 2.4 million YouTube subscribers  partnered with Nesquick this summer. This is a huge accomplishment for Seth’s gaming career and should be celebrated as we love to see Magnet students succeed!
11. The Browns: 2020 was the first year that the Browns have made it to the playoffs since 2002. It is also one of the three winning seasons for the Browns since they returned to the NFL.
12. AP Seminar: Because the coronavirus pandemic forced students to learn from home, AP exams had to be modified. For the class of 2021, this resulted in an exemption from two presentation aspects of the exam which was considered a great thing for a lot of people.
13. Early Outs: As a result of the Coronavirus, Academic Magnet juniors and seniors received Study Hall early outs. Compared to years past where only seniors would get early outs after their thesis project was completed, this is a big win for Magnet students
14. Animal Shelters: 2020 was a record breaking year for dog adoptions in America. So many dogs were adopted that this was the first national Christmas puppy shortage.
15. Flu Season: This year had a record low for anumber of flu cases. Although it is most likely due to social distancing and masks for COVID, this is still an accomplishment.
16. Collabs: This year was full of collaborations between celebrities and big companies which produced great things. To name a few: Travis Scott concert on Fortnite, Travis Scott Burger at Mcdonald’s, and The Charli at Dunkin’
17. Thriving Companies: Although 2020 was a horrible year for businesses across the world, there have been some companies that did well as a result of the nature of a pandemic. For example: Zoom, GrubHub, Online Retail, and Liquor Stores.
18. Starting Strength: Workout program, Starting Strength, was introduced to many magnet students by senior Nick Patterson this year. It has helped many students reach their fitness goals and get shredded.
19. Barstool Fund: In order to aid small business during these trying, digital media company, Barstool Sports has raised $6.5 million dollars since December 17 and helped out 22 businesses.
20. Reduction of Pollution: Levels of NO2, a major air pollutant decreased 27% in 12 major global cities 10 days after lockdowns were initiated. These continued to decline over months along with other pollutants although have risen since lockdowns have become less strict.

So yes, 2020 will go down as one of the worst years in history, but it wasn’t all bad.