By SUNNY NIXON
Sheridan High School Student
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
Last year was rough for everyone. Teachers, students, and parents all had to adapt to the new norm that 2020 gave to us.
Many were excited last March 14 when we all figured out we’d be getting a week off from school. Online assignments were easy and sleeping in every day was just the cherry on top. That is until that one week turned into a month, which turned into the rest of the school year. It wasn’t that bad at first. It just felt like an extended summer break. A summer break filled with no fun vacations, never seeing your friends or family unless it’s over the phone, and … many, many hours of binging everything on Netflix.
By the time the next school year rolled around, many parents were iffy on whether or not bringing their kids back would be safe. Many did, but many who saw how fast the disease was spreading took the opportunity to keep their children home. At least for the first semester. I, being one of the kids whose parents picked online school, saw how negatively it impacted me.
It was tiring, going through the same day over and over again from the start of March 14 to Jan. 6. Not only did I see a negative change in my mental health, but physical health as well. My anxiety was terrible and I lost a lot of weight. I was constantly stressing to get all my assignments done on time, I’d forget to eat because I was more focused on getting all my work done, and I never just had time to breath and talk with my friends. It was hard keeping everything balanced.
That’s why, on Jan. 6, I was the happiest I’ve ever been to finally go back to school. Right away, I saw an improvement in everything … everything but actual school. Being thrown back into a classroom was terrible. It had almost been a year since I was in this type of setting, and I had never had such a hard time focusing in class before. After just a month, I noticed how burnt out I was getting. It was hard coming back and being on what felt like a different level than everyone else. The classes I took over quarantine put me so behind from everyone else. I would sit in class and watch other peers answer questions out loud and all I could do was watch.
It’s hard comparing how good you were last year, academically, to now. My online classes helped me with nothing and haven’t prepared me once for what’s to come. I can’t help but stress over how I’m going to even get a somewhat decent grade on my finals. Looking around, I’m not the only one who feels this way. Many of my close friends are struggling too.
Janielis, a sophomore who took online classes for the first semester, says, “I isolated myself. Like, mentally, I was in a really bad place because I didn’t have a very good support system around me. I started to isolate myself from everyone, but once I got back in physical school, the atmosphere really helped my mood. Academically though, I noticed a really big negative change.”
Not only do online students feel this way, but students who have been going to school do as well. Emma, a sophomore who started physical school back in August, says, “I noticed with being quarantined, you are thrown in at a disadvantage when you return to school. Learning from home is not nearly as thorough, especially when everyone else is at school. Most teachers don’t put in the effort to upload everything you need online, or even all of the material you need to understand the subject. I remember coming back from school with only two weeks to make up six quizzes and a test. It was completely overwhelming and my grade definitely dropped because of it.”
You get thrown out of that classroom setting and have to teach yourself what’s going on. Then one or two weeks later, when you come back, you’re expected to have all your work done and be ready for the test the day after.
It’s been hard. Not just for the students who took online classes, but for the ones who have been going to school but keep getting quarantined due to peers around them getting sick. We’re all on different academic levels now. Some who used to be honor roll are now barely passing many of their classes. When you keep getting hit with bad grades on assignments you would have aced last year, it only makes you more burnt out than before.
Taking finals out of the picture this year wouldn’t only benefit me, but the many high school students I’ve seen who just don’t have the same positive energy as they did last year.