“I was a straight A student,” senior Emma Roussin said. “And now, I just feel like I do not really care about missing classes anymore, when I would care so much about that before. I would never have late work, but now I always have late work it seems like.”
Ten months into a pandemic and a semester of learning online has left an indisputable ache in the bones of many high schoolers. From spending seven hours at school surrounded by peers, plus possibly a few more after school at sports or clubs, many students face almost all 24 at home. Learning, once gathering data in labs or nervously presenting in front of the class, now consists of dragging cursors in Gizmos simulations and endless Kami annotations. Teachers are often presenting to initials rather than faces of students.
“It’s so hard to make a connection with everybody, like the teachers and classmates,” Roussin said. “It just feels robotic. There’s definitely a huge disconnect between everybody.”
The ease of this transition has varied from student to student, due to a myriad of factors including socioeconomic status, mental health and parental support. Roussin has four siblings, and says “it’s never quiet in [her] house.”
“Even being at home is more of a challenge, and I think some teachers might see that, ‘Oh, you’re home, what more do you have to do?’” senior Immaculate Wanjiku said. “But in reality, you don’t know what the living condition is like for the students.”
For freshmen, their introduction to East is entirely through virtual learning, and many have possibly never set foot in the school. Some say they feel disconnected from other freshmen, never having interactions with others beyond the few with their cameras on.
“I honestly feel like I’ve been able to connect more with upperclassmen, which is odd because I’ve still never been to the building or anything,” freshman Maleah Nelson said. “But just because there’s more upperclassmen in the clubs and the a cappella group I’m in.”
Seniors are ending their four long years at East on an inconclusive note, apart from the peers they thought they’d be sharing the highs and lows of college applications and graduation with.
“In the beginning, I was so hurt. I was like, ‘I’m not going to be able to end senior year the way I imagined it to be,’” Wanjiku said. “But honestly, I’ve just accepted it. Because I have no choice, me disliking it is not going to do me any good. Even though this might not be the way I wanted it to end, there are always new beginnings somewhere else in the future.”
And for those in grades between, one of the things they say they miss the most is “the ordinary stuff, like mundane interactions with people,” junior Ben Esther said.
Many students find the hour-long breaks between classes to be a highlight of virtual learning, pursuing hobbies or self-care during that time. However, with the virtual learning schedule also comes an increased sense of routine.
“It’s kind of monotonous, when it used to be exciting. We would have teacher workdays and delayed openings where you would go get breakfast with your friends, but now the schedule is the same every week. I go to school, do homework and then be on TikTok for seven hours. That’s my daily routine. So it’s hard to switch it up and keep engaged with life,” Roussin said.
Another effect of virtual learning and the pandemic at large has been a decline in mental wellness. A survey by Harris Poll found that seven out of 10 teenagers said they were struggling with their mental health in some way, 61 percent reported increased loneliness, and 45 percent said they’d felt excess stress. The school has been providing additional resources for student wellness, recognizing its larger role in student life.
One of these supports includes East’s mental health specialist (MHS) Laura Dellicker. During the 2018-2019 school year, a MHS was introduced at each of the three CHCCS high schools. Last spring, Dellicker briefly launched an Instagram account (@eastmh) as a mental health resource for East students. This fall, she shifted to email for students to meet with her and has also reached out to some students, such as Wanjiku, who was initially surprised but found talking to Dellicker very helpful.
“We’ve just been talking back and forth like a regular conversation,” Wanjiku said. “I was able to just open up about the stress that I’m dealing with in school easily. I’d rather not complain about the workload to [my teachers directly] when they’re the ones giving it to me.”
But not every student shared Wanjiku’s positive experience. Roussin said that while she was contacted by the school after missing many classes, she did not quickly receive support.
“I’m really concerned with how East is handling mental illness with COVID. I don’t think they’re doing as much as they should. I know we have a mental health specialist… but I don’t think they’re doing enough preemptively to make sure students are healthy and I don’t think they are showing that they care enough. I’m really, really mad about that. They also need to not leave it up to one person,” Roussin said.
As the pandemic continues into 2021, plans to return to in-person learning have been delayed. A form sent on Nov. 30 had parents select whether or not their student would remain virtual for the coming semester, with high schoolers potentially returning in March. However, the Board of Education decided to delay voting on the plan to reopen East under Plan B until a Jan. 21 meeting.
While Wanjiku has struggled like many students to adjust, she’s found some solace in her mindset and some ways to stay level-headed in the peculiar situation.
“Do not give up. Always find the good in things and communicate with your peers. There’s so much going on, and they can be emotionally draining, but know that you are not alone in this process.”
Photo by Katie Clark/The ECHO
Great article! Love all the different perspectives, very relatable & insightful- thank you Katie! 🙂