By Sicily Houk, Current Editor-in-Chief
Yet another school year at River Hill has already passed like a quick gust of wind that blows us by. This year was filled with new experiences, challenges that were overcome, and what seems to be a change in perspective for all grade levels this year.
The pandemic made it complicated for some students on many levels. When asked in an interview, freshman Maddie Talbot exclaimed that “this year was very stressful, as well as draining.” When considering Maddie’s perspective, you can see that the pandemic and not being able to go into school were causing stress. The freshman students were not able to go into school for a majority of their first year.
While some students are having more of a negative outcome, sophomore Elanor Kim is more optimistic, “This has been a rough school year for everyone, but I feel that both students and teachers have made the most of it. Though some social opportunities were not possible this year, new ones were made available.” Being a new student Elanor did not know anyone moving here, yet she made the best of this stressful situation and branched out.
On another note, the Junior class was having a very rough year as well. Having to prepare for college and starting on their new adventures, it was not easy to be thrown into online school and to have less opportunities. junior Kelsey Thomas remarked, ”I think a lot of students struggled with being alone, and this was seen by many but not much could have been done to help fix this problem.” Feeling alone can be rough when all you want to do is interact with your friends and socialize.
Finally, the now graduated senior class of 2021 has gone through four years of high school already, and now they are going out into the world. Many seniors were saddened by the fact that they missed their final year. It can be frustrating when you want to experience as much as possible before going to college or starting down a new path. Senior Grace Hull said, “I am going to miss so many things but looking over this year I would have to say it was full of new experiences both good and bad. I met new people and made new friends that I am glad to have had the chance to meet.”
This school year has been an interesting one at that, being full of excitement, new situations, and many different perspectives that have changed. It may have brought some people closer to family, new friendships, and a different mindset as a whole. Many hope that this pandemic will slow down, and that they can get back out there with friends and socialize. These things happen for a reason, and hopefully there were a lot of students who learned important lessons from this past year.