Students wait for details, anticipate issues

Although excited by the possibility of seeing their friends, many students remain mostly apprehensive waiting for plans to finalize until deciding whether to return to in-person school.

“I think it really depends on the guidelines and how they’re gonna structure it,” ninth grader Santana Romero said, “but it would be a plus to be able to have that experience of seeing other people.” 

Most of Santana’s friends are returning and she plans on as well but she’s waiting to see what hybrid learning will look like.

Santana said another factor she is considering in her decision is that her mom has received a COVID-19 vaccine.

For senior Sanaa Imami, whether her friends return to school will be a determining factor in her decision and, like Santana, she is waiting for more information about hybrid learning to be released.

In the case students will only be on campus for a few hours each day, Sanaa said she would be more reluctant to return as her commute totals around three to four hours every day

Sanaa anticipates that May Project will leave seniors with even fewer weeks on campus, perhaps making the adjustment to in-person less worthwhile.

On the other hand, senior Stella Heon can’t wait to return to campus even though she realizes many of her classmates aren’t as enthusiastic.

“I’ve honestly been kind of disappointed by the responses I’m getting because everybody’s just like, ‘Yeah I don’t know. I don’t really want to go back to school,’” Stella said. “I don’t understand why people aren’t excited about the fact that life is slowly going back to normal.”

Just the idea of being back on campus is exciting for Stella who is less concerned about the social aspect of returning.

“I absolutely want to go back, even if I’m sitting alone, every single day. I don’t care,” Stella said. “It’ll boost my spirits so much, just to see a moving community in person, in action.”

Stella said she wants to salvage what she can of her last year in high school and hopes to be able to participate in some senior traditions.

“I just desperately want to have that high school movie experience,” Stella said. “Think of the classes and classes of seniors before us, who graduated like it was a promise made to them, went to prom like everybody was gonna go to prom and now it seems like even getting to walk the hallways one more time is just like a fragile promise.”