Hi, my name is Abigail Maoz and I really want to go back to in-person school, at least hybrid. By now we all have received the news that the school will probably be reopening in March for the first time in almost a year. I know there’s a wide variety of feelings about going back to school. I for one have been ready to go back for a long time. 

Honestly, I feel like I have been robbed of my senior year. Everyone knows that seniors have everything to look forward to like their last homecoming, last prom, and last sports season.  But I understand that with COVID-19 it’s not safe at all to be holding events like that. What I really feel is that my education has really taken a hit this year. I know I’m a senior who knows what I’m doing after high school (fortunately I made those plans as a junior). My goal for senior year was to build on my academic strengths for college, which has been nearly impossible to do from home. 

It’s important for us to go back to school as soon as possible. I feel that I have not gone as far academically as I should have as a second-semester senior. I am seeing major gaps in my learning due to a crunched class time. An example being taking an AP science course in 20 weeks when during a normal school year I would be getting roughly 40 weeks of that class. It’s difficult to cover AP material in the regular school year, impossible when it’s almost less than half. 

Finally, I feel that students are really lacking the social aspect of the school. Just physically being in a classroom with your peers has a tremendous impact on your learning. Everyone is more engaged with in-person lessons. As an example, lab work is vital to most science classes and online lab work is very limiting. Even with social distancing and extreme safety measures to attend school safely, it is worth it to be in a more enriching learning environment with others.