Senior Year From Bed

Nico DeGrazia

Nico DeGrazia 

Multimedia Literacy 2

4.29.21

Senior Year from bed 

 

Last year, I was shocked to find out that we would be moving to online/virtual school. We were told that it would only be for a two week period, but that was anything but the case. I was very scared to transfer to virtual school due to the fact that I try to have positive and respectful relationships with my teachers, and this is hard to accomplish over a screen. I was also scared that I would not be able to grasp the information being taught to me over a screen. 

The first few months of virtual school and the last 3 months of my junior year went by much better than I anticipated. My teachers rose the occasion on multiple occasions and made virtual learning just as beneficial as in person learning. I was still able to form positive relationships with my teachers and I was able to grasp any and all new information given to me. 

At the start of the pandemic I had started a new job, and quickly rose to become an essential worker. Since I was an experienced worker, I was not let go at the start of the pandemic, but many of my colleagues were. This meant that I had many more responsibilities on top of the worry that I could catch coronavirus at work and spread it to my loved ones. Nevertheless, I had to work to be able to support myself and my family financially. Lucky for me, being able to go to school from my laptop was a blessing in disguise. Without the hassle of commuting thirty plus minutes before and after school, I was able to work more. Andres Rios ‘21 said, “no more wasted time traveling.” Without the commute,  I  started the day off feeling much more energized for my first class. There were a few times where I even attended a class while at work. Attending online school gave me much more free time. Instead of sitting in a classroom in division, I was able to go on walks, pick up breakfast, and relax more. Kimberly Vu-Smith ‘21 said, “I like having my own space and being able to do things in my free time.” Like Kimmy, I agree that asynchronous learning should definitely be used as we return to school. 

I feel that this year of virtual learning will be a great transition into college for students that are attending a higher education next year. I was able to manage my time myself, instead of listening to a bell. The use of asynchronous time was a great resource for me. In other years, I would not be able to work on any other homework in a class, but due to asynchronous time I was able to get ahead on math homework in my engineering class. I hope that we can merge a lot of the virtual learning rules back into our regular in person school, because virtual learning gave a lot of innovation and efficiency to students. Even though a lot of online learning tools should be merged into in person learning, there was still a studenwide struggle for social interaction. Chloe Kim ‘21 said, “I miss the chance of seeing my friends.” Like Chloe, I agree that virtual learning can only be used so much before it seriously starts to impact student’s mental health from lack of social interaction/stimulation.