The 2020 school year for CAJSHS has been nothing but a bumpy road. With that being said, on November 18, students were required to do their schooling from home on the computer the school provided them. Like Zoom, students would log onto a video chat on Microsoft Teams at the original time of their classes when they had school in person. They were then greeted by their teachers and given assignments to complete. This new way of schooling lasted until November 25, for it was interrupted by Thanksgiving break.

Since online schooling in this particular way was new to all of our students, I interviewed a student from each grade in the high school to get their thoughts on this method.

Haley Wilson (Grade 9)

Q: How do you feel about online schooling? Why?

Haley Wilson: “At the beginning of the year I thought that online school was going to be fun, but once we got shut down it was very different from our normal every other day.”

Q: Do you like it better than in person school? Why?

Haley Wilson: “I really do not like all online school, because I have noticed that it is actually more exhausting than normal in school.”

Q: Is it harder?

Haley Wilson: “I would say that it actually is harder than on and off day school, because if you are a hands-on learner like me, it is difficult to go every day without actually being able to be in school.”

Q: Have you run into any technology problems?

Haley Wilson: “No, I have not.”

Q: Is there anything you wish would improve?

Haley Wilson: “I would like to improve having homework after online school, because after sitting on a computer all day, and giving us homework for after school is truly mentally draining.”

Mitchell Rowles (Grade 10)

 Q: How do you feel about online schooling? Why?

Mitchell Rowles: “I feel as though online school is difficult to learn on considering that some people have terrible internet and they might not be able to hear or see the teacher in the Team calls.”

Q: Do you like it better than in person school? Why?

Mitchell Rowles: “I do not like it near as much as in-person school because we don’t get to see the people we went to school with and we don’t learn as much since it’s much harder to teach over a virtual call.”

Q: Is it harder?

Mitchell Rowles: “It is harder for some classes because teachers assign more work with less teaching of the subject.”

Q: Have you run into any technology problems?

Mitchell Rowles: “I run into technology problems everyday because I have a hard time getting access into my meetings and the calls tend to lag.”

Q: Is there anything you wish would improve?

Mitchell Rowles: “I would like to see more in-class learning and less out-of-class work.”

Alex Leskovansky (Grade 11)

 Q: How do you feel about online schooling? Why?

Alex Leskovansky: “I feel like online schooling is better than every other day, because sometimes it can be harder to wake up on the regular school days.”

Q: Do you like it better than in person school? Why?

Alex Leskovansky: “I like them both about the same, however I like regular school more because I get to see my friends.”

Q: Is it harder?

Alex Leskovansky: “Sometimes it can be especially if there isn’t anyone to help you do the work.”

Q: Have you run into any technology problems?

Alex Leskovansky: “Not yet, I have not.”

Q: Is there anything you wish would improve?

Alex Leskovansky: “How early we have to get up.”

Katelyn Hetrick (Grade 12)

 Q: How do you feel about online schooling? Why?

Katelyn Hetrick: “Learning virtually has definitely come with its perks and downsides. On one hand, it allows us to help stop the spread of the coronavirus by social distancing. On the other, I feel it has been a challenge to get used to and that it really relies on students to hold themselves accountable for their academic success.”

Q: Do you like it better than in person school? Why?

Katelyn Hetrick: “I believe that virtual learning is the right move to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. However, if I had to compare the two without taking into account the pandemic, I would say I prefer in-person schooling because, as a senior, we have missed out on many activities, events, and sports games that are what make our senior year special.”

Q: Is it harder?

Katelyn Hetrick: “Personally, the work online has not been harder than in-person. But, it has been hard to transfer to online learning – especially when the school began doing it late last year. I, along with the rest of the students and teachers, had to quickly learn how to find, complete, and turn in assignments on Microsoft Teams, rather than on paper, which was confusing to me when we first started.”

Q: Have you run into any technology problems?

Katelyn Hetrick: “So far, I have not run into any technological problems. However, given winter is coming, I’m sure there will be days my internet could cut out. There’s also the everlasting risk that my school laptop could stop working properly. So, for these reasons, I fear that I may fall behind on my school work if I were to run into these problems.”

Q: Is there anything you wish would improve?

Katelyn Hetrick: “Overall, this is definitely a learning experience, both for students and teachers. Yet, if I had to improve anything, I would like for our workloads to be better balanced so too many assignments are not assigned/due on the same day – which I understand is difficult because this way of teaching must also be as foreign to them as it is to us.”

For now, students have returned to their A/B day schedule, where they go to school every other day and on their off days they can work at their own pace on their assignments and not have to join a video chat. With the unpredictable virus known as COVID-19, this could change in a an instant.