When the lockdown was first announced, we all thought we were going to be back to our regularly scheduled programs in 2-4 weeks. At least, that’s what they told us. But as the estimated time extended farther and farther, the quarantine got even more boring. And even though some restrictions have been lifted, we still spent our entire summer in quarantine. So, I think we were all genuinely excited when they announced that we were actually coming back to school in September – at least half of the time.

Transitioning from lockdown to coming to school every other day was actually more difficult than expected. Waking up earlier, needing to do more work, and just being overall much more active than before was hard to adjust to. Sports have also started back up for those who chose to continue them, and they usually occur every day. Having school, then sports, and then homework is quite a busy schedule, but students learned to adjust.

“They created a busy work environment, but I like it,” said Ava Mormile, a freshman in the high school.

When asked about whether or not she felt safe in the school, Mormile said “I know the staff are doing their best to keep us safe, and knowing how careful I am, I definitely feel safe.”

It’s also a fact that high school includes a lot more work than middle school, so incoming freshmen had to adjust to school after lockdown AND adjust to the amount of work you get in high school.

Mormile commented “High school is unsurprisingly harder than middle school, but it’s a push that will benefit us.” She also expressed that she was content with the hybrid school, even more so than regular school. She explained that she enjoyed getting to be with friends and other people one day, and getting to be comfortable at home the next day.

Some people, unfortunately, haven’t yet returned to school and are currently in Group C. Although they aren’t actually AT school, they still have just as much work as those in school. 

“Online school has been harder and easier in some ways than regular school. I like online school better because I generally have more time to complete assignments, but being home also makes it harder to understand what we’re learning,” said Ginou Tchouassi, a freshman in Group C. 

Even though, technically, everyone has to learn partially online, people in Group C have it especially hard because they don’t get any interaction with their teachers. They also have no interaction with their classmates and friends.

When asked if she wished she went to school every other day, Tchouassi said, “I always wish that I were able to see my friends at school. Sometimes I’m glad to be at home because I’d rather not be in school that day, but I always miss my classmates and friends, especially when I hear them having fun from over zoom”

Because the zooms this year are more structured than they were in the spring,  Tchouassi said, “Overall, I’ve found myself a lot less stressed than I was last year during online school. I’ve had less opportunity to procrastinate on work, which was the main cause of my stress last year.”

This school year is definitely an odd one, but it still has some sense of familiarity. And although going from lockdown to school is a lot to handle, it has been manageable. In fact, people are actually acclimating quite well to this new atmosphere, and I feel like this year is going to be a good one.