Courtesy of Alex Goodale
If you know me, you probably know I passionately advocated for not going back to full time in-person school last spring. Despite my multiple emails to administration, two Hilltopper articles, and many, many rants, we ended up going back to school. (I know, shocking).
In case you missed it: I argued going back to school full time in-person could be harmful to students both physically and mentally. Crowding small classrooms with 20+ students seemed unsafe, and disrupting everyone’s schedule for just a few weeks seemed unnecessary and mentally exhausting.
When the school announced we would be switching to full in-person learning last spring, I believed the last six weeks of school were going to be miserable. I wouldn’t get my much needed remote weeks (yes, I acknowledge that remote weeks were difficult for many, and for myself and some others, they provided us with a break we needed), and being in a crowded classroom made me feel unsafe.
Looking back, I realize my pessimistic attitude on the matter clouded my judgment, and I was unable to imagine that I would enjoy being back in school with everyone. Now I will say something I don’t like to say very often. I was... (deep breaths, I can say it)... wrong-ish.
Don’t be mistaken: I did miss my remote weeks, being in crowded classrooms was uncomfortable (though I didn’t feel that unsafe), and I maintain that going back to full in-person for just six weeks was unnecessary. At the same time, however, it wasn’t the miserable experience I imagined it would be. Going into the new mode of learning, I thought I would be too physically and mentally exhausted to get out of bed every day. I thought I would have overwhelming anxiety in classrooms. I thought seeing people I hadn’t seen in over a year wouldn’t excite me.
After that first day back in school with everyone, however, I knew being full in-person wouldn’t be absolutely horrible. It was surprisingly nice to see old acquaintances I hadn’t seen since that dreadful March of 2020. All the teachers seemed open to having “chill” time -- time at the beginning/end of class to talk -- and going on mask breaks became much more of a frequent occurrence. I guess I got used to the more solitary life COVID brought, and when I finally got to be around a decent number of people, I realized what I’d been missing.
In terms of exhaustion… I was exhausted having to go in person to school every day, but it wasn’t as hard of an adjustment as I made it out to be in my mind. Being in the hybrid model all year prepared us students for actually being in school, and the last few weeks were just that: days in school. Yes, we didn’t get a week at home in between our in-person weeks, but we were used to sitting in a classroom. Plus, given that summer was mere weeks away, I had a lot to look forward to and missing out on the few days at home was okay.
So, I, along with the rest of the NHS students, survived the last month of school all in-person. Even more than that, I think most people enjoyed it. Through this experience, I learned to appreciate the value of keeping an open mind about changes; things might turn out better than you imagined.
Again, though, I must add (because I’m a stubborn person): I still think it would have been best to keep the hybrid model for the rest of the school year. But it wasn’t as bad as I believed it would be. So, FaceBook moms who felt the need to comment on my article ridiculing my opinion (you know who you are), I concede.