By Kelly T. and Andy X, staff writers
After coming back from a whole year and a half of distance learning, we’re edging towards the end of our first semester back in-person. While some say it has been nice being in school again, others say the opposite. We at Galileo Press asked students and teachers, “ How has your overall school experience been this semester, after not being in school for over a year? ”
“Bad. Since we’ve been back my grades have been going down like crazy. I mean, I don’t know, it’s helped overall, but like it’s really been the same thing.. Just more work.”
– Brandon, Freshman
“It’s been okay, I guess, but it’s also been hard. I’ve been doing online school for like a year and a half and I’ve been on the computer an so coming back to in-person school and seeing all the students and seeing all the teachers, it’s all just been a little harder.”
– Prisca, Freshman
“This past semester has been very good. I really like it. It hasn’t been as challenging nor hard. I think in-person learning is much better than online learning because it’s easier. Overall, it’s been good.”
– Jeward, Sophomore
“It’s been overwhelming. After over a year of being online-learning, I had a lot more time. However, it’s been a challenge going back to school because it takes away more time than I had before. On top of transportation, being around so many people again, and work being given to you, it was a lot at once. There’s also the schedule change. Because of that, I get home later and the days feel longer. As the semester went on though, I wouldn’t say it’s gotten easier, but in a sense it did.. like I got more used to things again. However, I know things won’t really be the same.”
– Katelyn, Junior
“It’s been easier.. But also kind of challenging because at the same time I’ve been going through some changes in life and it makes it a little harder to focus in school. But I do have a lot of teachers that I care for and that care for me and I know they’re going to be there for me if I need them.”
-Evelyn, Senior
“It’s been really nice seeing everyone back in-person. However, it’s also been very tiring by the end of the day especially because we start later now. But overall it’s been way nicer seeing all the students and being able to interact with them.”
– Mr. Welch
“Well, I think I was fearful about Covid at the beginning of the semester, but as we got into a routine of coming here, it felt a little more normal.The hardest thing I think was getting the students on board with: “We’re in school now and the workload is more, my expectations are higher, let’s get to working.” This was a little bit difficult. I spent my beginning trying to get students to be more social, more verbal, and I think that worked for me. Now my freshmen class, that’s a whole other story. Aside from that though, I think without my students being able to actually verbalize it, I think they really did miss interacting so I think they like that opportunity of getting to see each other and that’s made me really happy. So yeah, my first year back I’m exhausted, more tired physically, but overall I’m happy with my classes.”
– Ms. Alarcon
“I would say it’s been wonderful to be back in the classroom and I think a lot of us needed the social interaction because I do believe, a lot of us developed really bad habits of like playing video games and doing other things while doing school work and I see that all the time in my classroom.”
– Mr. Moir
“Oh boy. I mean, I’ve been so happy to be back. It’s definitely better than being online because I didn’t get into teaching to sit in front of a computer all day. I got into teaching to work with students and to be around them. With that being said, it’s been a little challenging transitioning back into getting used to coming to school, having students get used to being students again, and to interact and teach. But overall, I’ve been really happy to be back.”
– Ms. Nelson
“It’s been okay being back, especially with P.E.. Teaching on Zoom, I think P.E. was like the one class that suffered the most, you know? P.E. you couldn’t really do it online, cameras were off and working out, it just didn’t work, so yeah.. It’s definitely better now that we’re back, we can actually get some movement in and do actual physical education.”
– Mr. Braund
