During this new era of synchronous learning, some students have found comfort in spending more time with family and structuring their own routines at home, while others miss the school environment and spending time with their classmates. Some may even feel a little bit of both.

Joshua Enebo ‘21 explains, “I do have a routine that I usually stick to… right after school, I’ll get a workout in, then have lunch and that’s usually pretty consistent.” Sofia Perri ‘23 adds, “At school, I kind of have a different mindset than at home. When I’m at school, I’m in a building, and I’m forced to actually do school work. However, at home, it’s really easy to get distracted.” She continues, “I feel more comfortable, but it is a little bit harder to actually sit down and do three hours of work in a row.”

Enebo speaks about staying motivated at home, stating, “As long as I am doing something, then I’m pretty motivated. Whether it be school, working out, or debate… but if I start relaxing before I finish stuff then things will get procrastinated pretty long.”
As for the social aspect, Tommy Pan ‘21 adds, “I do get to spend more time with my family… it’s the time I look forward to every single day.” As Flora Yang ‘20 explains, “my family and I always try to go out for a walk for an hour and a half, which is a long time, but it is nice to be outside, especially when you just don’t have that many opportunities to do so.”

Yang continues, “As a senior, I feel like I speak for a lot of people when I say that we want to go back to school… it’s the time where we are just supposed to have fun in the classes that we’re in without having to worry about anything external.”

Enebo refers to this period of synchronous learning as “stagnant” and Perri as “mundane,” but Pan optimistically adds, “It lets me appreciate school more next year. I will actually be looking forward to going back which I feel like is a rare gift for us going into senior year.”