Students compare their experiences during this abnormal school year

Brett Richter, Opinions Editor and Carmen Sarabia DiCiccio, Staff Repotrter
Originally published June 11th, 2021

Senior POV

This school year has been hard for everyone, but as seniors, the usual explosive excitement leading to the end of high school has been more of a slow fizzle. 

As senior Cameron Donnelly puts it, “in my mind, I was ready to leave school… I kind of just show up, I’m doing my best, but I’m over it.” 

Even though it seems seniors feel that the return to school is anti-climatic in most regards, many can agree that the chance to see friends again makes it more than worth it. 

“It’s been nice to see my friends again, and old teachers and things like that. But it’s also definitely been a little bit strange,” Ruby Eaton, senior, commented.  

Strange definitely is a good way to put it. And though many aspects of this year are strange, that traditional annual disease we all know, senioritis, has come around knocking and it makes a killer combination with online classes.

“It’s [a] different type of learning. In those morning sessions, I don’t really pay as much attention because they’re way too short. In the afternoon, when I’m in person, I definitely learn more… but when we’re online in the afternoon, no one pays attention to you,” said Donnelly. 

“…I think senioritis would have hit regardless,” added Eaton. 

Many seniors, instead of looking forward to another year of high school, are ready to fly the coop. For those going to university, COVID-19 presented another issue.

“I got into a few other schools out of state, but I wasn’t able to tour them… I couldn’t see myself going to a school that I hadn’t been to before,” Eaton said. 

All-in-all, with the vast majority of senior year over, the class of 2021 seems to be looking more towards the future than trying to recreate the past. 

“It’s disappointing that we can’t do all the fun stuff that we missed out on… so it’s a mediocre senior year experience, which is acceptable, I guess,” said Vangie Laufert—which sums it up pretty perfectly.

Freshman POV 

In many ways the freshman experience this year was not what the class of 2024 expected. Switching from middle school to high school is always a big change but factoring COVID-19 into the transition definitely added more pressure. 

Freshman Phoebe Howe talked about how she felt coming into in-person this year. “It kind of felt nerve-wracking at the beginning because I didn’t know the building but it was really nice to see everyone and not a set of icons on Teams.” 

Grading has been a big issue this school year, with teachers and families disagreeing about how the grading system should be executed. In particular, freshmen encountered a struggle to adjust  from middle school grading. Some say that coming back to in-person school has helped improve their grades. 

“It’s way more helpful being able to be with teachers and with other students and being able to get help, rather than being alone, and feeling like you don’t have anybody to help you out.” Freshman Miller Piercy said.

Moving from classes being online for seven and a half months to attending school for more than just three hours a day was an interesting move, mainly for cohorts A & B who now attend school in-person twice a week. 

“I definitely enjoyed being back in school cause you know, in the morning I used to just wake up, throw on a pair of sweatpants and now I can actually put an outfit on and go to school, and enjoy it.” Freshman Emme Rousseau explained. 

With freshman year coming to an end, most freshmen are already planning out what they want their sophomore year to look like and what new things they want to experience that they couldn’t this year. 

“I’m really excited to be a sophomore… hopefully putting this behind us and starting fresh, and you know being able to learn again, that’s all new, and we’re all in person  it’s just easier for everyone,” Rousseau said.