April 2020

Coronacation

Jeffrey Santo ~ March 25, 2020

If you told me a month ago that I would have online school because of Covid-19, I would have thought you were crazy. But the governor of New Hampshire on Sunday evening, March 15, announced on Twitter that all New Hampshire schools will be forced to shut down and will make a transition to online learning.

I was shocked when I found out the news but at the same time, I wasn’t. Everyone knew that the school was going to get shut down sometime soon, it was just the thought of doing school online all day. I knew the transition would work out just fine in today’s age of technology, but if this virus happened before advanced technology I probably wouldn’t be writing this essay right now.

The transition has been quite easy for me. Most of my classes were mostly all online work anyways. But even for the classes that are not online based, it is still fairly easy to get the work done for those classes.

I do my work in my sister’s room at her desk or I do it on my bed. I use my sister’s desk because it’s a nice surface that I can write on if I need to and she’s never home anyway, so she doesn’t care. It also apparently fixes my posture? I don’t know, that’s just what my mom says. My bed is also a place I like to work because I can listen to music on my TV while I work. Most of the time I work on my bed is because I’m too lazy to get up.

My routine so far has been all over the place. Some days I will get up at 7:30 a.m. and get right to work and other days I will get up at 8-9 a.m. and start working then. I do an hour of work for each class that I have that day, then I stop and take a two-hour break. Whatever I didn’t finish I go back and finish it. I’m used to my normal 8-3 school schedule where I get home at 3:30 and just do my homework that I have and then chill for the rest of the night.

I think that the online school has definitely affected my eating habits. For school days, my mom would make me pack a nice healthy lunch, but now I’m home with open cupboards and can just grab food whenever I want.

The advantage of online learning is being able to think with a clear head in a quiet area. In school, kids are often running their mouths about dumb stuff that nobody cares about. Your mind can just relax and have time to think about what actually matters. I miss seeing my friends every day and seeing some of my favorite teachers. I haven’t been this long without seeing my friends in a long time.

I believe that I won’t be back in school until at least late May. The virus will only slow down if everyone just stays in quarantine or just stays six feet away from each other. A lot of people won’t be able to do that because they are too self-centered. I want to be able to go back so I can see my friends and then hopefully see my sister graduate.

Remote Learning Realities

Christian Shafer ~ March 30, 2020

Since March 23, schools across NH have been ordered to continue education remotely, to ensure that if a student’s health were to be compromised from this new virus, that it would not be because of exposure in the classroom setting.

Personally, this doesn’t affect me in a negative way. In fact, I kind of like it. I no longer have to get up at 7:00 a.m. and still end up being late for my first block class. With this, I get to be with my dog all day, so he’s not lonely. I’ve also been able to spend more time with my family, kind of.

My grandmother is working from home too, which is nice, however, every state my grandfather’s company operates in deemed his work “essential” so he won’t be around.

I decided I would work primarily in my bedroom, the living room, and our bar, which has gone well with no disruptions.

While this transition has not proven to be an issue for me specifically, it has, however, been an obstacle for many families. Families with very young children, and parents who have to work, need to find available relatives or family friends that do not mind taking in another child during a pandemic. It is either that or find a nanny.

But that is not even half of it; how are families without available internet at home expected to make this transition work? Luckily from what I heard, one of the internet providers in the area stepped up to provide free internet temporarily for families without. What about the children who go home every day to an empty refrigerator? Thankfully members of the community have stepped up to ensure that no child goes hungry for the time being.

These are all problems the community tackled together, and for that, we have to be grateful. Everyone who anticipated this knew the transition would not be easy. Nevertheless, they all worked to ensure that each and every child could move forward with their studies, providing a sense of normalcy in this abnormal situation.

I do have to mention one thing because I have heard a lot of others complaining for no reason. I am usually not impressed with anything Littleton High School does, but it has done a very good job with this transition into virtual learning. From what I have seen, the pre-existing use of an online educational portal for assignments and grades made this switch 100 times easier than it would have been with a traditional paper and pencil school. The administration and all of the teachers have been very helpful through this all as well.

While the transition was pretty seamless for me, I can partly attribute it to the fact that I have been through every type of school there is by now. I have gone through public, private, private therapeutic, I was a dorm student and a day student at both all in one year. I was in night school while I held three jobs during my sophomore year, and this year I simply had to switch to online schooling. These experiences have made me more adaptable to different learning environments. Even though I was never able to establish a group of friends in my own school, I am more versatile and I am happy with the cards I have been dealt.

The decision to switch to remote learning was abrupt and surely discouraged many. However, those who can remain vigilant and push through will have something they can use for their college essay prompt: “Name an instance where you were faced with adversity and came out successful”.

My Way of At-Home Learning

Josh Finkle ~ March 24, 2020

Six months ago, if I were to bet a thousand dollars with odds of 450-to-one on whether or not we would be learning from home in March of 2020, I would not be doing too bad right now. Unfortunately, I did not, but we are learning from home for the foreseeable future.

In New Hampshire, Governor Sununu had all schools close until April 3 (editor’s note: the closure date has been extended to May 4), causing a shift in our learning and our everyday lives. Covid-19, more popularly known as coronavirus, has become an epidemic in our country as well as others.

There are ups and there are many -- and I cannot stress this enough -- many downs to remote learning. For the seniors, they are missing memories that last a lifetime with their friends, with the thought they might not ever be going back to school, at least for the duration of their high school career. They are not able to be with their friends every day and if school was going to close for the duration of this academic year, then they would not have graduation like other the classes that have come through LHS. They would also miss their class trip, all of which are memories people live for. The juniors may also not have their prom, which is a positive memory as well (editor’s note: this spring’s prom has been postponed).

The upside of remote learning is that you can do the work at your own pace and in the comfort of your home. Teens complain that school gives a ton of work and preaches getting eight or more hours of sleep, all while having sports and tons of homework. With this, we can get enough sleep and still have enough time to do all our work.

My experience and my peers’ so far is undecided. We have only had one day and some have their opinions, while others are not sure yet. Leah Kelly said she was “not a big fan.” Senior Jasmine Brown said “I am not a huge fan of it and have little motivation to do school work, as it is like going on vacation and being given work to do every day.” She said she also “likes the Zoom calls” but she wants to go back to school because she misses her friends.”

For me, I like it, but I also hate it,

I think it is fun to have my own schedule, but always knowing my work is due at the end of the day. I also like how the work taxes a max of three hours a day, so I have the rest of the day to do other things. I do miss being in a classroom, as I learn better that way and teachers can spend a lot of time on something if we do not get it. That is not the case at home, as we must just chug along so we get everything done.

I would be fine if we did not have school. I would get used to the way we do it and eventually be okay. My friends like it, as we just play video games all day after our work. It is kind of like a vacation with school work, I miss seeing my friends and playing sports. Hopefully, this is over soon, but I would not mind if we stay out of school.

The coronavirus is getting worse and people still do not listen. I see people together all over Snapchat not thinking, just doing what they want with no regard for others. I think everyone needs to stay inside, do what we are supposed to do to try and make this virus go away. If we all do our part then that will go a long way to make this better.

One part that sucks is that we might not have baseball and that’s what I’ve been looking forward to. It is my favorite sport and I really want to play it. I would be upset if we didn't have a season, but I totally understand it as we need to worry about people’s health over sports.

Overall, I do not mind learning at home. I can go at my own pace and I know I will always have enough time to finish my work and turn it in on time. I get to play a lot of video games where I communicate with my friends. I never have too much work each day which is nice. My only wish is that I could see my friends, but I understand why I can not. I hope all of this gets better and we can go back to normal life.

Adjusting for At-Home Learning

Stephen Lucas ~ March 30, 2020

At-home learning is weird. You don't really know what you are going to do in a day, and so it is not like at school where you get the teacher saying what you are going to be doing next class as you walk out.

It was also weird how it all started because I was just getting used to hearing about how it was in China and how the cases were rising every day, and I didn't really realize that it would get here and blow up so fast. I heard that there were a few cases in the U.S., but then thought it would never get here, and if it did, it wouldn't be that bad. It started getting worse, and more cases kept popping up, and I still didn't think much of it until there was a scare down at the Newmarket school, and we had to play in the same gym as them that day. That was on Monday, March 9, and then from there it just got worse. We ended up winning, and so did Newmarket, so we had been planning to play them Friday, March 13, and had been practicing all week. Everyone on the team was hyped, even when they said only the players could get four tickets for people to go.

Friday came and the day felt good. Everyone on the team was excited until about 10 a.m. in class, my friend said that the game had been suspended. This ruined everyone's mood, and it went downhill fast. Next thing we know, it is Sunday and the school has been shut down for two weeks. Then the government says three weeks, then one week in, it is for another month and does not seem to be getting any better.

People around the school had been expecting this to happen because the week of March 9, we were hearing that other schools near us were closed, so it didn't take us by surprise too much. The school work at home is different because we don't have the same learning tactics now that we have to learn on our own. I have a spot in my room I work at every day, which is my bed. I also use the same schedule which is to wake up around 11 a.m., do all my school work and try to be done around 1 p.m. to play online games with my friends for most of the rest of the day. Then it is to bed and repeat.

I will miss going to school somewhat because there are some people that I'm best friends with and I won't be able to see them. My friend group will be smaller because of that. And I will also miss actually seeing people and being able to do things.

Some advantages of doing at-home learning are you get more sleep, so you are not tired at school and also it doesn't take seven hours to do all your work. At home, it takes around two hours. I feel like the rest of the school year will get cancelled because I do not see this situation getting any better too quickly.

Setting a Routine

Austin Marquis ~ March 27, 2020

After completing my first week of remote learning, I am still unsure if I am a fan or not. When I initially found out that we would be remotely learning until April 3, I was shocked and loved the idea of not going to school for three weeks.

The decision to switch over to remote learning seemed very abrupt. It came shortly after the boy’s basketball championship was postponed. What really surprised me was that during one of the morning announcements, Mrs. Carbonneau said that there were no intentions to cancel school or anything of that. She said this a day after a school-wide survey was emailed to us asking if we had internet at home.

I talked to my parents and also my grandparents, both of them saying that they have never seen anything like it. They were saying how they were very concerned about the economy.

Our first week we had off was great. I hung out with my friends and relaxed at home with our new Goldendoodle puppy. I went to bed and woke up whenever I wanted to, just like I was on vacation. I didn’t have to stress about doing any school work, either. During the week that we had off, students had to go back to the school on Thursday to pick up our belongings. I got a little taste of reality that day, and it really opened my eyes. I realized how serious this coronavirus pandemic was becoming and that I would probably not be going back to school for a while.

Monday, March 23, was our first day of remote learning. It was a white day, which is my least favorite. I woke up around 9:00 in the morning to our new puppy, whining. Around 9:30ish, I got onto my computer and read the emails that showed our assigned work. I had work to do in chemistry, government, and economics, computer tech two, and algebra two. Some classwork took a lot longer than others, and I skipped around, but I eventually finished around 4. The next day I set an alarm for 8:00. I also decided to work in the order of my classes on a maroon day. So I started with media and journalism then once I finished that, I went onto my art two work. After I finished that, I did my comp tech two work and then ended my day around 1:00 with some work from graphics.

Creating and maintaining a schedule so far has seemed to boost my productivity. I started to finish my work earlier and earlier. I found that it was more efficient by locking in on one task and going from start to finish.

At school, you are used to staying in your seat, not moving around, and definitely not checking your phone. When I'm at home, I am doing the exact opposite of this. It's tough to make this transition from school to home, and I think that it will take some time until I’m working like I would at school.

Due to this, I believe that working at home is a disadvantage. I also just miss going to school and seeing my friends and teachers. It just feels weird and very abnormal. Hopefully, this will end sooner than expected and we can go back to our normal everyday lives.

Schoolwork in Pajamas

Parker Paradice ~ March 24, 2020

I would never have thought I would be finishing my junior year online sitting at my dining room table in my pajamas. But that is how every kid in Littleton is living their life right now due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus. This new virus has virtually taken everything from us, from sports to businesses to travel, and now it has even forced us to live our lives in our homes all day doing school work. This shift to virtual learning took everyone by surprise and will be an interesting experience in many student's educational lives.

The decision to move schooling and education to the comfort of our homes was very abrupt and came out of nowhere. We were scheduled to go back to school, but randomly all the students at LHS got a call the night before school informing them that school was shut down until at least April. Nobody was ready for that announcement, as every student had their school supplies crammed in their lockers still. The students were forced to go pick up their supplies in trash bags so they could successfully make the transfer to online schooling. I think I speak for everyone when I say I didn't expect a switch this drastic and this fast to occur. I knew everything was going south with the coronavirus, but I had no clue it would become this hectic overnight.

This experience has changed how my day and schedule go very much. I don't know if it is for the better or worse, but my days are nothing like they were before this epidemic. I find myself waking up at ten o'clock every day, which is fantastic as I am someone who loves sleep. Then I start my online work at eleven, and continue to work up until three or four in the afternoon. This is totally different from the usual waking up at six a.m. I enjoy not having any homework, and knowing once I finish my work, then I'm done and free for the day, but I guess in a sense, all the work is homework. And the best part about doing my work is I can go out my own pace and finish when I want to and not have to wait for my classmates to finish. So doing my work at my speed is excellent as I finish much faster than I would inside of school. Finally, the best part is being able to wear slippers and my pajamas when doing my school work, the level of comfort that I am in when working is phenomenal.

Not every part of this online school transition has been fun and enjoyable for me. I still have these parts that I don't like or that I miss from my regular schooling experience. The most significant part is the learning that I am receiving; for some classes, I feel that I learn best being there in person, but with online, I think I am not getting the full understanding of whatever that may be. Then boredom sets in and I am bored out of my mind here at my house due to the fact I haven't set foot outside in a week. My day is just working and then sitting on the couch and sleeping, and I repeat this monotonous cycle every day. The last part of this experience that is terrible for me is the fact that I don't get to see my friends. Some of the greatest moments with your friends happen at school, hanging out with one another. So I say I miss having lunch with them and walking the halls talking and just having a good time, but due to this lockdown, I don't get to speak to them ever.

Doing my work here at my house has had its ups and downs so far. I enjoy having my big dining room table as my designated spot for my work to be done. My entire family is also home going about their lives, so it is pretty nice to be able to see them and talk to them whenever I feel need be. With my family being home there can be some bad parts. That is, we are all driving each other a little bit insane as we all try to get our jobs and work done without interrupting or disturbing one other. It seems the internet can't be helped, so we do end up interrupting each other's work as there are four people constantly on the internet working on documents or doing calls, which leads to a lot of lagging and is annoying to everyone. So far, we have managed, and we are all learning how to work with one another, so this experience is getting better in that aspect. And this whole online learning thing might go on longer than we think so we better get used to each other or we are in for a long couple of months.

At the beginning of this change, it was said we are aiming to enter regular schooling again in the first days of April. But as the days go on, it seems more and more doubtful that we will ever make that switchback. This is due to how fast corona is changing and affecting everything in America. This virus has shown no mercy and is spreading through the U.S like a wildfire, infecting thousands and killing hundreds by the day. So with how bad this disease is becoming, it leads me to believe that returning to school may be impossible for the remainder of this school year. Many events like prom and the senior class trip have already been cancelled, and with this virus not slowing down, the closing of school seems to be a reality.

Covid-19 and Its Impact On This Guy’s Life

Josh Finkle ~ April 14, 2020

Before Covid-19, I was playing basketball every day in preparation for a state championship. I was hanging with the boys, going to school and just living life. I was living my best life, having fun, not thinking about what was yet to come.

Sunday, March 16th, that’s when our lives were flipped upside down. For me, I was doing my daily routine on social media, absolutely scouring Twitter just to see what nonsense I could come across.

Then I saw it, “Governor Chris Sununu has canceled all New Hampshire schools for three weeks.” I was confused because April Fools’ Day was a way away, but then my phone blew up, showing me the exact tweet I just read. All of my friends were confused and happy. When it was confirmed, I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to me. Three weeks of no school with the first week being a free week, can it get much better?

Well, let me tell you, it gets worse and ten times worse, that is. I last saw my friends March 15th and 16th. I dunked on Steve so hard on the 16th that his grandchildren will feel it. By the time you read this, I will not have seen him in over a month. I can’t imagine how tough that has got to be on someone as sensitive as Steve is.

The first three weeks of no school were not bad. I enjoyed being at home, sleeping in and doing what I wanted. That’s when I saw the new demoralizing tweet from our beloved governor. I said to myself, ‘There’s no way I can be home until May 4th’. At that point, I missed my friends and annoying my teachers. I flat out missed school, that’s something I never thought I would say. I missed the people experience at school, not all the work. I missed being social and playing sports.

Sports play a major role in my life and that role is now a hole. Without sports, I play more video games than ever before. Yesterday, April 13th, would have been our first baseball game, and now it seems like we will not even be having a season. Baseball is my favorite sport that I play. I also play basketball and soccer, which I enjoy playing. My friends and I dominate our local teams in sports and everyone hates to play us. We like it like that. So you know, I could beat Steve one-on-one with ease, but now the tables have turned and he beats me every single time on NBA 2k20. Between you and me, I let him win.

I decided to gather some other people’s thoughts on this situation. I interviewed my good friends and loyal readers of my monthly articles, Hannah Brown and Olivia Kim Corrigan.

What are your thoughts on the new normal life right now?

Hannah: It is stupid, and it is good sometimes, but not all the time because I miss my friends.

Do you think we will go back to school?

Hannah: No.

Finally, how much do you miss school and your friends?

Hannah: On a scale of 1-10, 15.

What are your thoughts on the new normal life right now?

Olivia: Um, um, I kind of like school, I get better grades. I can’t do activities now cause everything is closed.

Do you think we will go back to school?

Olivia: No, not really.

Finally, how much do you miss school and your friends?

Olivia: Scale of 1-10, a 9.5, and I deeply miss Mr. Stinehour because he is my favorite.

Obviously, Hannah and Olivia were just not sure what to say as all of this is really confusing to everyone to some extent. Corona is changing how we live life, and now when this is all over, our government will have something in place if it ever happens again.

Overall, corona has its benefits and it has many downfalls. I miss seeing my friends and playing sports. I am fortunate enough to talk to Parker and Steve every day on PS4, along with my friends from summer baseball. My PlayStation is pretty much keeping me sane right now and without it, I am not sure what I would do. I haven’t played a sport in over a month and sports are a major impact on my life, always giving me something to work for and striving to get better. Without them I feel like I have nothing to do. School only takes me two hours a day max and then what should I do?

I started working out, which is awful, but necessary. I am also prepping for baseball season in case we do have it. I have been hitting and throwing, and even if we don’t have a season I plan to play in the summer and fall. Hopefully, all goes back to normal and we can be back picking on Steve in person. I can’t imagine as to how much he misses that.

A Unique Holy Week

Christian Shafer ~ April 16, 2020

Earlier this week, believe it or not, people celebrated Easter Sunday. In the United States, many Americans spend this day with family during a church service, and with colorful eggs and candy.

Traditionally this holiday was established to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And to this day, the atheist population continues to acknowledge this.

The first Easter Sunday was celebrated in the year 325 AD when the council of Nicea decreed that Easter was to be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Many people in the states celebrate Easter Sunday in one way or another, but how is the holiday celebrated in other countries? Is this Christian holiday observed by nonbelievers?

In France, children don’t receive treats from the Easter bunny, they instead get them from the Easter bells. According to Catholic doctrine, church bells can not ring in the middle of Holy Thursday and Easter Vigil. In time, it was believed that church bells weren’t rung because they had grown wings and flew away to Rome to be blessed by the Pope. After this, they returned Easter day with chocolates and presents for the children.

Even though Christians comprise a mere 2.5 percent of India’s population, they still orchestrate elaborate Easter celebrations, especially in the northeast. The western India state Goa holds carnivals, complete with street theatre, songs, and dances. Here, people exchange chocolates, flowers, and colorful lanterns as gifts for one another.

On Pasqua or “Easter” in Italian, citizens of Florence celebrate a 350-year-old tradition called “Scoppio del Carro,” which, in English, means “explosion of the cart.” A centuries-old cart is packed full of fireworks and pulled towards the front of the Duomo, where they light the fireworks and spectators observe from afar. The celebration symbolizes peace, in hope for a good year ahead.

In Poland, on the day before Easter, families prepare what the Polish call, a “blessing basket.” This basket gets filled with colored eggs, sausages, bread, and other food that will be taken to church to be blessed. In Polish culture, Lent doesn’t end until a priest blesses the basket. Like their Italian neighbors, the Polish celebrate their most notable tradition a day after Easter; Smigus Dyngus. On this holiday, young boys try to get girls (and each other) wet with water guns, buckets of water, etc.

In Australia, children do receive gifts from the Easter Bunny, but rabbits are seen as pests because they destroy the land. Because of this, some Australians choose to celebrate Easter with another animal. In 1991, the Anti-Rabbit Research Foundation began a movement to replace the Easter Bunny with an Easter Bilby. Bilbies are similar to rabbits; they have big, soft ears like rabbits, but long noses like mice.

Unfortunately for this year, the Easter celebrations looked a little different due to COVID-19, but the reason for the season remains the same. Although congregations could not celebrate the resurrection of Christ together, they adapted because they all understood the significance of this sacred holiday.

Remote Learning Goes National

Parker Paradice ~ April 13, 2020

For students across the country, virtual learning has taken all by surprise as the coronavirus continues to blanket America.

The switch from regular schooling to online learning has been a challenging and interesting process for all the students and faculty members to go through. The situation we are in now has never occurred before, so the thought of schooling from home on computers is a hard thing for everyone to adapt to. Nobody expected the virus to take over and spread as it did, so with the abrupt decision to shut every school down nobody knew what to think of it as confusion surrounded student lives. But with the first month of the virtual learning experience coming to an end, students have overcome the struggle of adapting to their very new schedule.

Virtual learning has affected millions of student's lives nationwide as their day's schedule takes an entirely different shape in how they go about their school life. Students are now not forced to wake up at the crack of dawn to get ready for their long school day ahead. They can wake up whenever they please and move along through their work, however fast or slow they want. So not all things that have come from the quarantine school life have been bad; some aspects are even better with school online. Students will now be able to have their own personal workstation. For some that could even be a couch, so the school day for them has become a very relaxed and stressless thing.

But for others, the transition to online learning hasn't been all that easy. I am a learner that must-see and physically hear a lesson to fully comprehend it. Thousands of others are just like me, but with the switch to online school, we don't get that level of understanding from a screen. With this new way of schooling, students cannot ask the number of questions that they usually would. Email is always open, but teachers are also struggling with this experience as they are receiving upward towards 500 emails a day, so answering every question is sometimes not possible. Internet access has also proved to be a problem for some students as doing their work could be very slow and take them even longer, causing more frustration and stress.

Our community at Littleton High School, I feel, has made a smooth transition into online learning as everyone I hear has no complaints about it. Josh Finkle, an LHS junior, stated, "I love it, being on my own schedule is great." LHS has been in online school for three weeks now, and it seems everything and everybody has settled in and adjusted. At first, some teachers struggled with the workload as they didn't know how much is enough, and some students struggled to find the motivation to do assignments. But after the third week, it appears everyone has figured it out, and it is becoming routine, as it is with the rest of the country.

High school students haven't been the only ones affected by the spread of coronavirus, as every university has also shut down for the year. College students probably have it the worst as they are paying the big bucks for their school, but they aren't able to receive the top learning by being stuck at their dorm or house. Some students are even paying for apartments and housing on campus but aren't staying there as they are back in their hometown with the family. So money could be getting lost in that aspect.

Elementary schools are also struggling with online learning. As you can imagine, seven to 12-year-olds will be struggling with focusing on their work. Parents have now even become their kid's teachers trying their hardest to keep their kid motivated while teaching them at the same time with no experience at all.

This worldwide epidemic has affected everyone everywhere with their learning experiences. Students of all ages are struggling and suffering in their efforts to learn as some are handling it better than others. This switch to online learning is not an easy one as it has never once happened before in the history of education. Teachers, students, and parents are doing what they can to make the most of the situation and adapt to this online experience. No one knows how long this will go on, maybe to the end of the year, perhaps not, but it is a blessing and a curse as everyone focuses on making the best out of the tough situation.

Above, an unknown teacher somewhere in the United States offers instruction on a lesson to students online. This method is rapidly becoming the new normal for students around the globe.

Remote Learning Rolls On

Austin Marquis ~ April 16, 2020

The COVID-19 outbreak began in Wuhan, China, back in December, it has expanded, nearly touching every corner of the globe. There are now almost two million confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease and just over one hundred twenty thousand confirmed deaths. Due to the outbreak, these past couple months have been a bit of a blur, but at the same time, it felt like March was 60 days long. This pandemic has changed everybody's lives, and for students, I know that we are being affected heavily. Since we have been remotely learning at home for over a month now, I believe I have a much better understanding of how we are being affected.

After receiving the news that we would be learning at home until April 3, my friends and I were thrilled. At this, I wasn't focused on my education. Instead, I was thinking about how I could wake up whenever I wanted to and that I would be able to video games with my friends even if I wasn't allowed to hang out with them. I thought that this would go on for two weeks, and then we would be back to a healthy life, or this is what I wanted to happen.

My first week of remote learning was a learning process. The transition wasn't smooth, going from a huge high school to a tiny bedroom. Learning at home is very different, and I figured this very quickly. There were more distractions, and in no time, I found myself off task even during the simplest tasks. One of my friends said, "I feel less motivated to do my work, and having structured schedules improves my effort," when we were discussing remote learning. Our guidance counselors were and still are constantly checking in and inviting us to meetings, discussions, and presentations covering nearly everything about remote learning. One topic was creating a schedule, so I experimented and found out what worked the best for me. By the second week, I had mostly adapted to a new schedule that seemed to be the most efficient. I mean that I was finishing my assignments quicker; I wasn't learning it as I would have in school.

For some classes, it doesn't matter what setting I am in. The teachers just give you the assignments, and you learn through working, and I prefer it this way. I am very self-dependent at school, and for these classes, it has been working great. For the courses where a teacher is more important, it is more complicated. One of my classmates stated, "It's hard reaching out for help, it was already awkward enough doing it in class, and now it's even worse when you are doing it virtually." One of the classes where I think a teacher was more critical was chemistry. Communicating with not only the teacher but also my fellow classmates was something that I found extremely important to my success.

However, I still feel like I am learning less then I would if I was at school. The very little interaction between teachers and students, which might account for some of this feeling. But the main reason I think that I feel this is the way is that I am learning a little less. Art II, chemistry, and computer technology II are the classes where I feel this way. For these classes and their alternatives, like online labs and simulations, they are just not the same as hands-on activities. A quick survey revealed that four out of ten students felt like they were learning less through remote learning and that six out of ten thought they were learning the same.

I know that this wasn't an option. Nobody really had a choice and this was done for our own safety. But it sucks that our education is being affected by all of this. I feel really bad for the seniors that are missing so much of their final year of high school and for my grade, our prom has already been postponed, and we might not even return to school this year. No one really knows what's going to happen, so we will just continue to play the waiting game because that's all we can do.

Reporter Stephen Lucas was regularly harassed by the anonymous LHS student pictured above. Lucas states that he never considered the treatment "harassment".

Lucas said their give-and-take was always done with good nature, and that he actually misses seeing (and hearing) the anonymous student every day at school.

The Silver Lining of Being At-Home

Stephen Lucas ~ April 15, 2020

The at-home learning for students has opened up new opportunities. In this day and age, technology is everywhere, and it can do basically anything you want. This had made it easier for students to go from at school learning to at-home learning. There also have been positives for the at-home education because this allows students to be able to sleep longer, so they are not tired when they are trying to learn.

Another positive is with being at home; they can still email their teachers and get a response in about 10 minutes on a question they might have while being at the comfort of their own house. Negatives of being at their own home are they do not get face-to-face work with their teachers, and they may struggle with not being able to focus with distractions that may be at their house like a pet or a video game.

Asking some students on what they think about at-home learning, some say "I haven't been learning much because I'm used to being in school and getting that experience, so changing to this has been very different." Others say, "I have learned about the same because the school generally is online anyways, so the only thing is we aren't in school. Also, I don't really like it because I miss the social aspect of school, and I miss seeing my friends."

Overall for at-home learning, the students have shown the same results. They are okay with learning at home, but they miss being social and doing things. In today's age, this makes it so much easier because say this happened 20 years ago: the school would be shut down with no work being given to the students because they didn't have access to computers. Also, with the access to social media and the ability to message people and get a response in minutes is crazy to think about compared to what it was 20 years ago.

The positive for students that came out of all of this is that they get to spend more time doing what they want instead of having school and waking up early. For me, this is so much better because I was always tired at school, and sometimes it was hard to focus because I was drowsy. The only negative that I can say about this is sometimes learning can be difficult when learning harder subjects because they would be really complicated and then confusing and occasionally frustrating. After all, you are trying to learn the subject, but sometimes you just can't, and then getting emails doesn't help. I cannot complain about at-home learning because overall it has been a pleasant experience for me, and I feel like it has helped me for the better. In my opinion, this was the best decision for all students and the school to continue onward.

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