Students across the country are now taking on “online school” to further continue their education while the coronavirus begins to spread to their town.  My most recent article was about how students at New Providence High School would feel if school closed. Now that New Providence High School and schools across the state are closed, I followed up with those same students to see what their “online” experience has been like.

How is “online school” working for you?

Raquel Silva (freshman): It is working pretty well for me. There is less of a workload on the students, so we have more time for ourselves. I can take breaks whenever I want and still get my work done. I can wake up later, which allows me to be more focused and up to doing my work.

Sabine Silva (freshman): So far online school is going pretty well.

Lily Pergola (freshman) It is working very well! 

Kate Ure (sophomore): Online school is going well! The work is generally pretty easy and I’m able to get it done quickly. It is also fun to hang out with my siblings and help them with their work as well.

Olivia Gelormini (freshman): Online school is working well for me!

What is it that you like/ or do not like about online school? 

Raquel Silva (freshman): I like that we can do our school work on our schedule. We can wake up when we want. I don’t like that we have to teach ourselves most of the work.

Sabine Silva (freshman): The thing I like most about online school is that I can do it anywhere in my house. I don’t have an assigned seat for each class and I can do the work in any order that I want too. The thing I don’t like about online school is that it is time consuming because we now have to teach ourselves the lesson. 

Lily Pergola (freshman): I like how we now have more time to get things done. 

Kate Ure (freshman): it can get pretty boring and is hard to stay focused with so many distractions. Food especially!

Olivia Gelormini: I like it a lot better.  I like that we can sleep in but now we have a new schedule so everything is due by 4 which I don’t like because I feel like now I have to rush on my work.  I also don’t like that there have been so many problems with Google Classroom and how students aren’t receiving emails.

Is there anything that can be improved for you as a student to achieve a better education? 

Raquel Silva (freshman): I can reach out to my teachers more if I don’t understand the lesson. I can email to get a better understanding of what is being asked of me.

Sabine Silva (freshman): For me to achieve a better education I can make a schedule for each day for when I do the work for the specific time period. 

Lily Pergola (freshman): I wish we could ask questions on a live call or something of that sort.  I just think it would be a lot easier.

Kate Ure (freshman):   it has been hard to get in contact with some of my teachers, but they have mostly been pretty available.

Olivia Gelormini (freshman):  They should improve on getting back to students quicker and not having problems with Classroom and gmail so that we can contact one another. 

How many hours does it take for you to finish all your homework each day?

Raquel Silva (freshman): It normally takes me four to five hours to finish my homework. If I have a lot of homework it could take up to six hours sometimes.

Sabine Silva (freshman): It depends on which day it is. it mostly takes about 4-5 hours for me to complete work, but if there is more work on a particular day it could take up to 6 hours.

Lily Pergola (freshman): Usually it takes 4-6 hours.  Sometimes I go on FaceTime with my peers to work on questions or slides.

Kate Ure (freshman): It normally takes me around 4 hours

Olivia Gelormini (freshman): It usually takes me about 3-4 hours to finish my work. 

Now that you are doing online school, do you actually miss going to school physically or not? 

Raquel Silva (freshman): I miss going to school physically because I can’t see my friends. Also, being home all day not going anywhere makes my day boring.

Sabine Silva (freshman): I actually miss physically going to school. I can’t see my friends or have teachers explain everything step by step in front of me. it’s just emails.

Lily Pergola (freshman): I absolutely miss going to school.  Yes it’s nice to stay home but I want to interact with my friends!

Kate Ure (sophomore) : I am! Although I can get everything done faster this way, I miss seeing all my friends and being able to ask teachers questions in person. 

Olivia Gelormini (freshman): I miss going to school a bit because I don’t see my friends and it’s also easier to ask teachers questions when you’re at school.

Students are continuing to work hard through these different circumstances and will not let anything stop them from receiving their education!