Back to Normal: First Full Year Of In-Person School Since Covid

By Manahel Shuja

For the last few years, New Rochelle High School students have not experienced a full normal year of school. They first had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and then had a flood infiltrate the school. Even though the school is still trying to get back to normal, there have been a lot of opinions on how online school was compared to in person school. 

For some New Rochelle High School students, this is their only full year without any online school. They may have gone to school last year in person, but they entered the school late due to flooding, which shut down some houses in the school for repairs. This loss of a high school experience has upset a lot of current students; they feel as though they lost their chance to make new friends and excel in academics. 

To gauge students’ opinions, I surveyed various students about their thoughts on being back. Lelianar Osman, a junior at NRHS, stated she likes being back at school: “I get to interact more and make more friends and it actually feels like what a normal school year should feel like which was strange at first because it’s been a long time.” A lot of students are happy to be back in school even without use of the pool or library due to the flooding. 

Students also feel as though they are doing better in their studies where there are fewer distractions. As a student at NRHS said, “Being in school is great cuz u can receive hands on help!” Online, students had to reach out to teachers via Zoom or messaging to get help. Being in person allows students to ask questions to the teachers directly before or after class. This allows the teacher to help the student with specific questions by looking at his or her paper and writing on it, which teachers couldn’t do online. 

Additionally, school in person has allowed students to gain confidence and social skills. On Zoom, students were unable to socialize with each other. When they were put in a break out room with other kids, most of the time, the students either all fell quiet or one person completely took over the conversation. This brought a lot of awkwardness and prevented students from expanding their social circles. 

Many students were unable to get the new start they were looking for when they were brought into a new school. With the start of this new school year, students are becoming more positive and have more hope for the high school experience. The pep rally has brought back hope by allowing students to interact with each other and participate in school activities and traditions, reviving normality in the school environment.

As life after COVID is starting to come back to normal, more people are starting to take off their masks, while some are still keeping them on. When asked about the school’s COVID protocols this year, a student stated that “This year it is as if Covid isn’t really a thing, there are no mandates or anything, and it could be due to the low severity now.” In classes the six feet apart rule and mask mandate are not practiced as much as before. Last year students were told to skip seats between each other when in the auditorium, use hand sanitizer on a regular basis, wear masks all the time, and take COVID tests whenever feeling ill. Last year the school provided all students with COVID tests, but this year they have yet to give any out. This may be due to the cases of COVID decreasing. 

Even though we have faced a historical event which will be taught years later in students’ history classes, we as students have been through so much that we have learned that anything could happen any time. Many of us went for the 2020 spring break thinking we were going to come back in two weeks, just to find out that we would be staying home and learning online for almost two years.