From September through late April, students in the junior high and the high school who were part of the hybrid schedule attended classes 2 days a week and were home working remotely the other days of the week. On April 26th, the 7th and 8th graders began attending school 4 days a week. 

Many students have talked about feeling overwhelmed by the amount of people and the changes in faces. 8th grader Addy Ross said she has 25 classmates now in her science class and because of the influx of people, she didn’t see the people she always saw on Mondays and Wednesdays when students with last names beginning with A-K were here just last week.

Addy also mentioned lunches have changed. She is also happy she gets to eat in a teacher’s classroom to lessen the amount of students in some of the lunch areas. 7th grader  Abby Conti mentioned she eats in the same spot throughout the week but her friend switches lunchroom location twice a week.

One positive of returning to school is the amount of in-person class time. Students went from only having each class once a week, to having it twice a week. This allows them to have easier access to the teacher when they have questions or need help.

I have found it hard to transition to 4 days a week. I am not used to having to get up early every day. It is difficult for me to stay organized. I can never remember which classes I have on which days, and what I need to bring for them. My Friday workload has also gotten larger since going back. But, it is nice to see some other faces in the hallways and have more help from my teachers.

I surveyed the students about their feelings upon returning to school 4 days a week, and I found the results quite interesting. When the idea of coming back was first brought up to the students,  41.3% of them were originally excited about it. One student gave “I felt excited because I would now have a routine returning to school and I get to see my friends every day now.” as their reasoning. 27.6% of the students were NOT looking forward to it. Many of them said that they liked being home 3 days each week, and weren’t huge fans of full classrooms. 27.2% of the students had mixed feelings about it, and 3.4% had none. “I was really annoyed I had to get up early every morning now. But I also thought it would be easier because I would be there every day and the teachers could help me get more work done” said one. The remaining 3.4% is doing virtual learning. 

When I asked them how they felt now that we have gotten started, most of the students agreed (65.5%) that it was both a good, and bad thing. “I like it because I’m getting more work done, staying more active, and seeing my friends more but at the same time I am tired after school everyday. Some teachers are also assigning work due on days that we do not have their class. It makes for a long day between school, sports, and homework everyday.” said one of them. 27.6% of the students fully embrace being back, “I like being back because I get to see my friends every day”, was what a joyful student said. The 6.9% of students left, do not like it. “We have less time to do our homework now and we now also have quite a bit of class work as well” remarked one of my peers.

It seems that the majority of the students like being back because they can see their friends and have easy access to teachers for help. They dislike having less time to get work done. Students who have sports after school are getting overwhelmed with the amount of work. “I feel like we have the same amount of work but 2 less days to complete the assignments. And kids who have sports don’t have a lot of time to complete them.” says one person.

Grades wise there hasn’t been much of a change, according to the students. 58.6% of them said their grades stayed the same. 17.2% noticed their grades go up and 17.2% saw them go down since returning to school. The rest of them decided not to share their grades.

To wrap things up, the 7th and 8th returning to school 4 days a week has had both positive and negative effects. Now that we’re 4 weeks in, things seem to be running a lot more smoothly than they were during week one. I think that returning to school now will help us in the long run. It will prepare us for hopefully going to school 5 days a week in the fall!