By Riley Gonzales, Staff Writer
With the school year nearly at its end, River Hill students are beginning to think about what’s to come in the fall. These past few years have been hectic due to the pandemic, and now that things are cooling down, students have a lot to say about what they’d like to see in a more normal environment.
Students have already submitted their class requests for the 2022-2023 school year, and there are some that they’re particularly looking forward to. Sophomore Sapna Joy shared, “I’m looking forward to taking Forensics and Psych,” later elaborating, “I like sciences a lot and those two subjects I’ve heard really good things about.” Sophomore Kayla Garnett is also eager to take Psychology, in addition to other electives, as she states, “I’m excited about Psych and Law and Sociology.”
Students are not only looking forward to their new classes, but also clubs and other extracurriculars. Junior Allie Billups expresses, “I also really want to expand clubs and get involved in more and more things,” specifically “figure drawing club, [and] I’m the president of National French Honor Society so I really want to expand that.”
Students are excited to pursue a multitude of different interests they haven’t previously, in addition to continuing current clubs and activities. Junior Preston Passamonti is looking to get involved musically. He shares, “I’m definitely doing brass ensemble and I might do jazz band as well, and maybe, if I have a little extra time, I might do solo/ensemble.”
Some students have ideas for changes they’d like to see in the coming school year. For example, Sapna expresses that she wants “better balance in the lunch rooms because I know some lunches have very [few] people and then some have a ton of people.” It can be difficult to get to class on time when larger lunch groups take up more space in the hallways as they leave the cafeteria.
Kayla talks about some of the things she’d like to happen in the coming year, explaining, “We need a new Black student officer, we need a better, stronger Black Student Union, and then I would like to see more involvement with students and teachers.”
Multiple students, Allie included, discussed wanting to see more events take place. She states, “I’d love for [school] to be more spirited I guess. We have a couple spirit days, I know that’s a thing, but I’d love more events to take place, like with Hillfest.” School-wide events are a great way to get students involved, and holding more would hopefully generate enthusiasm and school spirit.
Even though the pandemic has begun to calm down, it still interferes with our day-to-day lives. Students are hopeful that the hurdle of COVID-19 will be over by next school year.
“I’d love to finally feel comfortable taking my mask off in school,” says Allie, “I know that we can, but I’m always a little nervous about that, so I’d love the pandemic to come down a little bit more.”
Preston adds, “It’s sort of gotten way less severe than it was, which is nice because I think we all kind of want to get past COVID. Especially, it’s my senior year, I want things to be fun. I want to have a usual senior year, not one where I’m locked indoors or having to distance myself from everyone.”
Whether it’s new classes and clubs or having the end of the pandemic in sight, there’s lots of excitement to go around about the future. Students are hopeful that 2022-2023 will be a great year.