By Veronica Leon '24
(The ground floor of ICA's main building. Photo: ICA Cristo Rey)
As the COVID-19 vaccine makes its way to millions of people around the world, there is a possibility that schools will have the ability to reopen soon. We have been in distance learning for almost a year now, and the possibility of schools reopening is exciting news but also brings concerns to many students. We reached out to one student from each class regarding the school’s reopening; here is what they had to say:
What are your hopes when it comes to reopening the school?
“Our school being cleaner than usual… I really do hope to see my friends because I feel like I lost touch with a lot of them. I just want to see my friends one last time during senior year.”
-Amelia Alvarado ‘21
“My hopes are for the school to open up safely, also for the teachers to understand that we are just going back to school, to not be too tough on us but also not too lenient at the same time.”
-Sheryl Torres ‘22
“My hope for reopening the school is that we can open the school where it's still safe. I don’t want to open it and then we have to shut it back down because we are not being safe about it.”
-Tae'Aurie Bennett ‘23
“My hopes are to actually connect with others since I haven't gotten to, and to get to know my teachers.”
-Cyenna Amina ‘24
Is there something that you would like to take from online learning and continue it when we go back to school in-person? (Example: four longer classes a day instead of seven shorter periods.)
“Four classes and then three classes another day: I would love that. That’s a good schedule... and I want breaks. I want a twenty-minute break before class. But yes, I would like a longer break from classes.”
-Amelia Alvarado ‘21
“Yeah, I used to procrastinate a lot and online school taught me ‘OK, you need to sit down and do these things right now so that later you don’t have to do them.’”
-Sheryl Torres ‘22
“Something I would like to take from online school is our mental-health breaks [from] classes.”
-Tae'Aurie Bennett ‘23
“I think something I would take from online would be the online assignments because I know we do a lot of stuff on paper but I like to type.”
-Cyenna Amina ‘24
What are you looking forward to once we go back to school?
“Once [if] we go back to school I’m looking forward to the practice ceremonies for graduation. It’d be nice to see everyone laughing and getting annoyed at how we have to sing. Seeing this would give me a feeling of at least something seems back to normal.”
-Amelia Alvarado ‘21
“Having a teacher in front of me, being able to interact with my classmates without needing to unmute myself, being with my friends everyday since I spend more time with them than I do with my family.”
-Sheryl Torres ‘22
“Something I’m looking forward to is getting to know my teachers better in-person and also seeing friends.”
-Tae'Aurie Bennett ‘23
“Meeting my friends and my teachers, and being able to be motivated. It's hard on online classes to be motivated so I think in person would be better.”
-Cyenna Amina ‘24
When you hear the phrase “back to normal” when it comes to schools reopening, what do you think of?
“No masks, not having to worry about the six feet, all those protocols. Back to normal is me and my friends sharing food, stuff like that.”
-Amelia Alvarado ‘21
“No facemasks, being able to really go to school and back without needing to take extra precautions.”
-Sheryl Torres ‘22
“I think of in-person contact because right now, since we are in the pandemic and we haven’t been to in-person school in almost a year, we haven’t had human interaction since we have to keep a lot of distance.”
-Tae'Aurie Bennett ‘23
“I think of just a regular school day with masks... because that's the new normal, and social distancing and a lot of hand sanitizer.”
-Cyenna Amina ‘24
Is there anything you will miss once we go back to school in-person?
“There will be one thing I miss which is the opportunity to just sit in my bed and not worry about if the heaters are on or off at school. Also, being able to have a 15-minute break between class and the schedule we have now.”
-Amelia Alvarado ‘21
“I would miss being able to finish my homework easily since I feel like when you are in-person, they give you a little bit more homework than when you are online.”
-Sheryl Torres ‘22
“I would say staying at home and still being able to do work because I get to be more comfortable when I’m at home.”
-Tae'Aurie Bennett ‘23
“Staying in my bed while in class, not having to change... or having to get up earlier than expected just to get to school”
-Cyenna Amina ‘24
What do you miss the most about campus life?
“I miss [that] every turn I take in school, I see a familiar face. Other than that, I just miss my friends. That’s what I miss from campus life. And I miss... being able to tease my teacher and he’ll know that I’m teasing him through my facial expressions. I miss that body language communication.”
-Amelia Alvarado ‘21
“Being able to just chill with other people and hang out and being able to do random things.”
-Sheryl Torres ‘22
“Something I miss about campus life again is hanging out with my friends, just being around the school, in the yard, in the cafeteria, or in the hallway.”
-Tae'Aurie Bennett ‘23
“I miss just being outside of my house the most because being inside I feel kind of trapped.”
-Cyenna Amina ‘24
Do you have any worries about going back to school in-person?
“Worries, obviously our school is smaller than a lot of public schools and private schools so my worry is that we are not going to be able to fit a lot of people in our class.”
-Amelia Alvarado ‘21
“Yeah, COVID. I think spreading the virus and being safe is mainly what I’m worried about. Also my concern is [what] the schedule [will] look like or [what] it [will] look like being back in-person again”
-Sheryl Torres ‘22
“The only worry or concern that I have about going back to school is safety and health issues because I know it is a really big risk opening back up schools.”
-Tae'Aurie Bennett ‘23
“Just COVID, that's it. I don’t want to bring COVID home to my family and especially don’t want anyone at the school to get it.”
-Cyenna Amina ‘24
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