One week down, ten more to go. We’re officially back in school in person and learning through a hybrid schedule. The feeling is weird and something that a lot of students had never imagined doing while in school.  However life is ever changing and the experience helps to create a unique school year for sure. With everyone going back to school in person whether you’re in group one or group two brings up mixed emotions. Some kids are happy about it while others don’t like the idea of going back to school because they don’t feel safe or protected within the school. The same thing goes for parents. Everyone has mixed emotions about going back to school which is very understandable. 

For some students, it’s easier for them to be in school. They need that school environment to keep them motivated and to keep them going. For some students doing online was harder for them. 

“I like doing Hybrid Learning better because not only does it let me have easier access to my teachers when I need to talk to them but it also helps me to be more involved and stay motivated while working.” senior Hannah Rolf told us while talking to her about what she thought of being back. 

Although overwhelmed by a lot of the changes happening in the school Hannah does agree that for her being back in school is better because she gets to see her teachers and friends again along with having some normalcy back in her life even if it’s only for two days a week. 

 “The school didn’t seem to be terribly different besides the difference in the way the classrooms are set up.” Hannah continued when asked about some of the changes she noticed in the school. 

For other students like senior Madeline Kovanda going back to school was just not something they wanted to do. For Senior Madeline Kovanda her decision to go fully online was based mainly on the fact that being able to work fully online helped her to be able to stay working full time at her job along with not having to deal with the possibility of schools being shut down again due to COVID. 

“I like being because when we are finished with the material we can end the session or the WebEx meeting. In the physical classroom, if we are already finished, most of the teachers will just assign busy work or we will just sit there until the bell rings.” 

Madeline said when asked about whether she likes being fully online or wishes to be back in school. 

“However, I do believe that physical school is better for teaching many students, mostly because we are used to it and because if someone is watching us (the teacher) it makes some of the students get their work done. In online school, it is difficult to complete assignments because it feels less important.” She continued. 

In her interview, Madeline did conclude with a statement saying that although she does miss being able to see people while being in school and she misses being able to give her opinion on any topic or assignment during classes compared to staying on mute and having to guess almost the whole time she does like online better. She believes that at least for her being fully online is better because it provides more benefits and more time to do other things. 

We are currently halfway through semester one with one week down of hybrid learning and ten more weeks to go. So far everyone is doing a great job with all of the precautions being taken at FHS. Everyone at the schools whether group one or two seems to be happy to be back and content. However, that isn’t to say that other people aren’t happy with the idea of hybrid. For some students and even parent’s they just got into another routine only to be thrown a new routine and yet another change with learning at them. Depending on the family that’s why some students are fully online and others are back in person and school. We need normalcy in our life whether it’s a new normal of doing fully online school through the LaunchED program or going to school two days a week. It gives us some normalcy back and helps us in one way or another and that’s what matters.