By Sara Solimani, staff writer
Due to the pandemic, all students in Maryland had to go through a full year of virtual learning. As a result, sophomores awkwardly set foot in the building with a warped perception of the reality of high school. This warped perception was caused from virtual learning and is causing struggles for some this year.
Students’ conceptions about the general workload have changed dramatically.
Teni Adejana, a sophomore, prefers in person school over virtual learning. She expresses that, “In the beginning of last year, we kind of didn’t do much at all, it was slower paced even though we had one semester to finish a class. But at the beginning of our year now it felt like we were thrown into [this year’s content]. We weren’t given a second to adjust to all of it.”
Many students share the feeling that last year’s misconception about the amount of content made it harder to get used to the start of this year. While others believe last year was helpful in preparing them for sophomore year instead of causing harm.
“The beginning of this year was more chill. Freshman year and sophomore year really wasn’t a big change… Freshman year kind of eased me into this year because I already knew what was coming.” said Jalen Finn, a sophomore who was indifferent to the transition.
Along with the workload, perceptions of teachers and their methods of learning contradicted those that were formed last year.
“I thought the teachers were really involved, but then being in school I realized that a lot of the things we learned, we have to self-learn,” says Teni Adejana.
As a result of the previous year, students had expectations of what the teachers were going to be like.
Kayla Maglalang, a sophomore who prefers virtual learning, commented, “I thought [teachers would be] more lenient this year because last year they were sorry for having to cram in everything. But now they’re still like ‘1 test every week [for] all your classes’.”
Navigating the building as sophomores has presented itself to be an abnormal circumstance as well.
“I did get lost really easily in the beginning of the year. Every hallway looked the same and it was confusing to figure out where I was going. Everyone thought I was a freshman,” shares Becca Sirak, a sophomore on the track team.
Some students were able to get past this problem easier than anticipated.
Jalen Finn admits that, “Navigating around school was challenging, but over time it got easier.”