“I like it a lot. It’s just very long and my attention span can’t keep up. I’m happy to have the hallways full again and be able to spend more time with teachers. It’s a great feeling knowing that March last year was not our last regular day of high school. Obviously, it’s different but it’s just very comforting/happy we’re able to experience this one last time before we graduate.” -Kate McCormick
Monday March 26th, the students of OA returned back to school for a ‘regular’ school day for the first time since March 2020. Naturally a hot topic is what said students thought of these regular days.
Across the board students had varying thoughts on whether or not they liked returning to their previous school model. However, a consistent feeling for OA students is how abnormal the return felt after not experiencing a normal school day in over a year.
According to senior Emily Han “I was left thinking how we ever did this. It feels so weird especially knowing I’m 5 years older than some of these freshmen and I just want to graduate.” Junior Ryan Moore had similar thoughts with, “It was weird it felt like the first day of school again.”
Aside from getting readjusted to odd feelings of going back to school many students felt uneasy facing the possibilities of returning.
“I was a little hesitant about going full in-person, but I feel like there were a lot of benefits when I went today that made me not regret my choice. It was nice being able to have everyone in class, and see my friends that were in different cohorts than I was. In my classes, I felt like it could be awkward with half the class online and the other half in person, but now I think everyone’s more comfortable and talkative now that the majority of us are in school. Of course, there are things I’ll miss about being remote—like being able to sleep in—and there are still some things I’m iffy about with full-in person, but overall, I felt like it went well” explains senior Lindsey Pompilus.
Something major that is going to taken time adjusting to for these students is the duration at school itself. It has been over a year now since OA students have experienced a 6 hour school day.
Junior at OA Ella McDonough says,“I also feel like I forgot how normal school used to be and really how long it has been since we’ve done this.”