Written by Kaherdin Clohan Bonnet (News Writer)
With the school’s new hybrid model that follows COVID guidelines in place, students are finally able to attend classes in person two days a week for the remaining six weeks of the school year. With students separated into two groups, Group A and Group B, dependent on their last name along with many students deciding to stay fully online with their classes, the school only has around 30% of students in person at a time, and this leaves students much safer from any possible contraction of the virus.
Despite the plenty of safety precautions and safety measures such as brand new air filtration systems within all the classrooms, sanitizing of desks, and rules about wearing masks, many students still don’t wish to return in person in fear of endangering themselves or friends and family. One example of this would be Miles Hoogner, who had this to say in response to whether they felt the hybrid is safe, if the hybrid is worth it, and if it could be beneficial for students’ mental health, “I’m not doing the hybrid classes because I’m not vaccinated. In addition, I don’t know how good other students are about wearing their masks. I do not believe in person classes are worth it, as the school year ends in a few weeks; it seems like a desperate push to have kids in class. Despite this, I believe that in person classes are good for students’ mental health because it gives them the social aspect of life many of us have missed out on in the past year.” There’s a lot of logic to what he had to say, in that up near toddlers and uneducated adults, teenagers would be most likely to not abide by mask wearing rules put in place, yet as of now there seems to be no problem with the enforcing of masks, and Miles Hoogner’s moral of only returning after he has been vaccinated seems to be shared by many but this likely won’t keep many out of school, as more and more teenagers aged sixteen and up are getting the vaccine of their own accord.
Meanwhile Stan Aguas who is in favor and more than happy to return said, “Returning to school in person part time has been really refreshing and has really good for me and my grades. I am surely more productive and love seeing my friends. It’s really fun.” His quote puts into perspective how many students, while still acknowledging the virus and taking it seriously, are benefiting from the partially in person hybrid schedule.
While both of the previous quotes are from people who are clearly on opposite sides of the spectrum on this matter, Sophia Vitali seems to be right down the middle and had to say, “Everyone has different opinions on the hybrid model. I don’t believe that it’s safe or unsafe, and to me it appears to be right down the middle. On the one hand, you don’t know where people have gone and whether they’ve been safe (I.E. Practicing social distancing, wearing masks, etc.), but on the other hand the school has been and will continue to be taking plenty of precautions in order to ensure every student and teacher’s safety alike. For me, I would rather stay entirely online rather than return partially in person, as that’s where I feel safest, and feeling safe has always and will always be a very important part of school.” Sophia Vitali makes a good point, in that in person classes can be seen in any number of ways, but despite what anyone thinks, in the end people have the choice of whether to stay online or not.
The Claw 