By: Daniel Maiorana
After a year of logging into Google Meets and having no social interactions, Howard County students are finally returning to in-person learning. The constant routine of waking up and turning on your computer will be changing for those returning to school, and yes, you will have to change out of your pajamas and leave the house. High School students have been able to adapt to the new schedule; now the next, and final step, is getting back to “normal”-actually be going to school.
HCPSS has provided students with ChromeBooks, including a special software for students to use in the classroom. The county has also disabled most forms of social media and streaming services on the school wifi, including almost all platforms except for Youtube. Junior Andy Sobhani, who will be returning to school on April 12th, is ready for a change in his daily routine. “I’m most excited about seeing my friends that I haven’t seen in a while,” is what Sobhani said in response to what he missed most about in-person learning. The social aspect is key for teens who haven’t seen their school friends in over a year, and sometimes the best memories are made in the classroom. For many, waking up to sit through a class at your desk looking at other students icons is not very eye pleasing. Returning to school will give students that social aspect that has been absent from their daily lives for over a year.
Yes, students are returning to school, but there are still many COVID-19 guidelines that will need to be followed. Walking into the school, arrows will be seen on walls for students and staff to practice social distancing. The last thing schools want is a COVID-19 case, so everyone in the building will have to be aware of their surroundings at all times. Students won’t be able to congregate in groups before school, in between classes, or after school, to make sure there are no opportunities for people to attract the virus. When leaving the building, students will have to follow the arrows to exit the building, and go straight to their bus, parent’s car, or their own car while practicing social distancing.
When in the classroom, classes will still be on Google Meets on a student’s chrome book. When the class is over, students will have a good amount of time to catch up on any extra missing assignments, tests, etc.. Yes, there won’t always be extra work to be completed, so students will have to keep busy, perhaps with a book or drawing to pass time. Sobhani does not appreciate the county disabling social media platforms on the school wifi, as that is how the majority of high schoolers pass time during the day. “I think it’s unfair because when kids have free time they should be able to use it to their pleasure.” It will be hard to keep yourself busy as a student not being able to access what teenagers use daily, but at least there’s youtube.
Another aspect that students will have a tough time adjusting to is paying full attention to instructions, as there won’t be any at-home distractions. Be ready to focus up, as there will most likely be punishments if you aren’t paying attention, unlike at home with your camera off. The pleasure of sitting in bed with your phone in your hand, clicking join meetings, then going back to whatever else it is besides school, will be missed, but it’s about time students start changing back to a real-world routine.
The wait is finally over, at least for those returning to in-person school, and there will be lots of adjusting to do in the first week of in-person classes. Getting out of the house at 7 o’clock a.m. won’t be fun, but students will quickly learn to adjust. The proposed schedule that started March 1st was the last step in the process to get students ready for in-person classes. Starting the day even earlier, beginning March 29th, will be very tough, but students have to realize that their days were much longer pre-covid. Yes, students will be returning to school, but Google Meets will still be the way of instruction, as not all students will be in the classroom. Changes like these are what students need, as the rest of their lives won’t consist of online classes with barely any responsibilities, so brace yourselves and finish the school year strong!