Like everything else since last March, Covid-19 has taken in its merciless grasp, our education. Without a doubt, the stress caused by our pandemic has taken a toll on our grades and overall motivation to maintain their high ranking. While the severity depends on each student’s at-home situation, everyone is experiencing new challenges as the virus progresses and slows. 

During the past two school years, students of all ages were excluded from the usual school experience we all had taken for granted. With fear of being quarantined, standing too close to classmates, and the hardship of breathing with a mask on for seven hours a day, solving for X isn’t exactly our top priority.

When Alexa Wolf, 9, got quarantined, she started to get behind on all her school work, she said. She lacked the ability to focus and put it off until the last minute. She had to catch up the night before all assignments were due and became sleep deprived; she couldn’t keep her eyes open, she said.

Some of the most highly anticipated aspects of high school include meeting new people, forming lifelong relationships, and exposing ourselves to different cultures and backgrounds. Well, unfortunately, the hopes of that happening were quarantined, along with the rest of the world, on March 13, 2020. Now, we are divided and separated by how we chose to learn. 

This year, Taylor Rose’s virtual school day consists of getting up at 8 or 9 am and staying at her desk to complete her assignments for the day. It usually takes one to two hours, Rose said.

First semester administration made an effort to alleviate some of the academic strain on students by creating a new “rock bottom” of 50% in the gradebook. However, with the start of the new year, administration removed this buffer in the gradebook. In other words, zeros returned to the gradebook

“My grades didn’t really change, because I haven’t been quarantined, but it was a lot easier when you couldn’t get less than 50% on an assignment. But now, they’ve changed that rule,” said Alexia Smith, 10.

Whether a student is an academic accelerator or a sport super-star, or anywhere in between, all of us have had to drastically change what our expectations looked like prior to the school year. 

“Before wrestling, we are not allowed to shake the hands of our opponents,” said Smith.

As for teachers, they had to modify all previous lessons that didn’t abide by the Covid-19 guidelines, complete lectures through masks, continue lessons with classes of ten or less at times, and the obvious: adapt to the technology.

“When half the class is missing, it makes it incredibly difficult for a teacher to get everyone on the same page,” said Danielle Ross, geometry teacher.   

“Teachers are still trying to figure out technology, so it makes it a little harder to find our work in Google Classroom. It is much easier to do assignments on paper,” said Smith.

Despite these ‘unprecedented times,’ as we’ve heard them called oh so many times, students and teachers have been supportive and understanding toward one another. 

“If a student is doing their work, or at least making an attempt, most of the teachers I know are going to work with them and help them be successful,”  said Karen Brown, English teacher.