Recently at Aspen High School, it seems like students have almost forgotten the basic acts and actions that they must have in school. It has become difficult to follow basic rules and habits that were present prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it seems hard to find the root of the problem.
The last time students had a normal school year was three years ago. For seniors, freshman year was their last normal year. For juniors, it was eighth grade. For sophomores, it was their seventh grade year, and for freshmen it was sixth grade.
For this reason, it’s been difficult for students to remember what a normal school year looks like from before COVID hit, causing them to act differently towards each other, as well as teachers.
It’s been hard for seniors especially, to get through their high school years. Everything since freshman year has been different between school and social lives, which has upset some of them. Laurel Yule, a senior at AHS, feels the effects of the abnormal years.
“It makes me feel sad. I feel like we missed out on a lot of things because of this. It almost feels like we didn’t have high school,” Yule said.
Younger students don’t necessarily have a lot of high school experience to look back on, but it’s still something that has become a challenge for them as well. They came into high school in the midst of this pandemic, so it’s been difficult for them to come into a completely new environment with minimal help. Tanner Benson, a sophomore, believes the way the past few years have panned out is unnecessary.
“I feel that we should completely disregard COVID in the school. I don’t necessarily think it matters if people feel unsafe in school, they shouldn’t come in that case,” Benson said. “I’m upset about how people want to go back online because of people being scared, and I just want school to go back to normal again.”
Freshmen have had it better coming into high school, as this year has become more normal than the past years, but still with masks and restrictions it’s not necessarily easy. The extent that COVID has impacted students has caused the past few years to be more difficult in different ways. Deena Tehrani, a freshman, explains how some hard years were still better than this.
“Even though sixth grade was not the best year for me, I very much enjoyed not having masks and I miss seeing everyone’s faces,” Tehrani said.
The actions and attitudes of students towards school and such things involved have changed from three years ago, and that is clearly shown daily at AHS. As COVID begins to slow down, things have been getting better and continuing to get better as we reach the halfway point of the year.