Staying safe and still learning

     It’s not often that students receive the opportunity to choose how they learn in school, but this past year, due to COVID, that has changed. 

    Students got to choose to stay in school or attend online learning at home. According to the vice principal, Lori White, the amount of students online at CHS decreased since the last semester of school. 

    It is more beneficial to learners to learn in-person with a teacher in front of them than to attend online schooling. When students are learning in-person they have the chance to cooperate with their peers and ask questions. Rather than doing online work, you can be shown how to understand what you’re working on while taking part in physically going to school. It’s a great way for students to interact with each other for projects and to socialize. According to White, “Students realized it was more difficult than they expected to learn at home by themselves and wanted to return.”

    Sophomore Kayla Heagy has been an online student for both semesters this year. Heagy mentioned that when she has the chance she would like to go back to school. She has had a rough time concentrating on school work causing her to not learn as much. “Staying focused is definitely harder with e-learning compared to being in an actual classroom where you’re almost forced to pay attention and focus.”

   The social component is also a challenge for students.  “Not being able to be with friends is definitely a negative. I feel left out a lot of the time and I miss having fun with friends and sharing laughs everyday at school,”Heagy mentioned.

During this rough period of time it is important that we are all safe and taking care of our physical health, but don’t ignore the mental health.