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When I received the news that I wouldn’t be able to attend my freshman year of highschool, I was heartbroken. I had been looking forward to high school for the past three years and now it was being ripped out from under my feet.
At the end of July, the district initially decided that there wouldn’t be a remote learning option. After a previous year of involuntary homeschooling, I was ready to go back to school. I missed my friends and the environment of being at school. After a couple weeks of deliberation with feedback from parents, the school board decided to organize a remote learning program, and I was excited…for about a millisecond. The following week was filled with Zoom meetings, emails and stress. After signing up for all my classes I was ready for my first week of school, only to find out I had been kicked out of four classes. After a week of sorting out schedules I was enrolled in 5/8 of them. I had no motivation–I had been thrown out of some of my favorite classes and I wasn’t going to be able to see my friends.
So far the school year has been extremely demanding. On average I spend over 4 hours daily doing schoolwork online – the recommended amount of homework for a healthy teen is two hours. This is the least of my worries. Many of my teachers have been unresponsive despite my need for additional instruction. I have missed multiple assignments due to being new to Canvas, where most of the assignments and due dates are posted. A majority of my lessons have been given by my dad – a professor at BYU with a PhD in mechanical engineering – and Google.
My stress levels have skyrocketed since the start of school. I am constantly worried that I have either missed an assignment, misunderstood the material or forgotten an important meeting. My sleep schedule has always been a little wonky but now it’s essentially collapsed
Although I can tell some of the teachers are making an adequate attempt, it seems obvious that the school is able to give a better effort for the remote learners. As far as I can see, the teachers and staff have all the resources they need to reach out to us. Even a small weekly email from each teacher would be a big help. In the end, it’s the small details that really count.
