Lily Proulx-Scandone, Sophomore
“We’re all in this together,” is both a rallying cry of this year’s High School Musical! On Stage production at Palisades High School and the pandemic, now reaching into its first year since the beginning lockdowns in the United States. Despite the drastic changes, Palisades continues to thrive. It’s been a year since Palisades first made the call to close schools, since the pandemic slowly crept up on the world, since a new normal with social distancing, self-quarantine, and rigid safety measures came into place. One year later, from that Friday, March 13, 2020, the students of Palisades High School share their stories and experiences.
After the school made the call to close, classes eventually resumed—this time, online. Most classes ran asynchronous, with assignments sent through Canvas and pre-recorded video lessons. All afterschool activities stopped, seniors were deprived of a final spring sport season and a graduation. From a lively school to empty parking lots, the change was drastic.
Over the summer, activities slowly returned. Riley Haubert spoke on her experience in field hockey: “We had to social distance when we are able to. We wore masks on the bus and while sitting on the sidelines of the games.” Case frequency affected how she got to play her games, as people didn’t have to wear masks while actually playing.
Once fall arrived, students streamed lessons through Google Hangouts until October 5th. Then, about 75% of students returned to face-to-face learning. Upon walking through the doors, one-way halls, staggered lunch and dismissals, restricted lunch seats, and spaced out desks greeted everyone. Many teachers had computers, specifically set up to allow students to stream into class from home. Standard icebreaker activities, group projects, and discussions all changed or cut entirely from the curriculum to comply with COVID-19 measures. Some students honestly struggled with the new style of learning.
Collin Gallagher found completing his assignments difficult, complaining that they were “a lot less motivating” and that he found the alone-time to be boring and made the schoolwork less interesting. Others, however, did not struggle as much, finding the new style to be refreshing. Owen Brandes commented that he enjoyed the independence offered since he works better by himself, but also noted that his retention of the information severely suffered. Marco Campos summed up his experience here, echoing both Collin and Owen.
COVID-19 hasn’t just affected school and work. The strict safety measures and shutdowns of businesses killed social interaction, hobbies, and faith services. Even in-school, interaction is largely limited to classes and hall passings. Despite this, most students still kept close friendships and even strengthened their bonds. Riley Haubert still meets up with her friends in public spaces, socially distanced and careful of herself. She says: “I have had to make significant changes to my social life in order to ensure I am not seeing too many people to lower my risk of COVID. Although this means I am not able to hang out with all my friends all the time, I have become very close to a few of my friends who I have not been as close to in the past.”
Gen French moved her social life online for the most part, trying to stay connected with her peers. She spoke on her difficulties and successes here.
It’s been a long year. COVID-19 shut down schools, entertainment, work, and the ability to socialize at large. Graduations, proms, and spring extracurriculars all were cancelled en masse. Despite this, Palisades still stands strong and finds ways to enjoy life with the pandemic still ongoing. Many have a deeper appreciation for life and its connections, and how the pandemic is rapidly changing.
Students interviewed: Riley Haubert, Collin Gallagher, Owen Brandes, Gen French, Riley Mitchell, Marco Campos. All gave consent to be included in the article and for any audio recordings used.
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