Millions of high school students across America are experiencing school during COVID-19, and it’s a completely different experience than normal. Virtual learning and going back to school with less students is not how any high school student, including me, wants their high school experience to be like. From being stuck inside for months to learning from home 5 days a week, high school students have had an especially tough year, and experiencing their 4 years of high school through a pandemic is quite the change.

Students can’t see their friends as much as they normally would because they are now worrying about getting sick. It is much harder to see your friends and actually have a good time, considering nothing is open and social distancing is always required. Everyone’s main concern is staying healthy. With that being top priority, no one should be seeing anyone besides their immediate family. School is also a lot harder and many other students feel the same way. There are so many distractions when learning at home, such as the TV, the kitchen down the hall, your phone, which is accessible at all times, and fighting the urge to lay in bed. Online school can be extremely stressful and frustrating. Students have to sit in front of a computer screen for 5 hours a day or longer and pay attention to everything going on while trying not to get distracted. But even if the student manages to focus in, with a computer comes  a whole other set of issues. Some students are missing class or parts of the lesson due to a slow device or wi-fi connectivity problems. This can make it hard to catch up on missed work because the teachers are moving on without you, not stopping to reteach the whole lesson. Working alone can become boring when it’s all you do in school. Group work really helps students learn better but with everyone home, group work isn’t the easiest thing to arrange. Students don’t really have the motivation to do their work anymore because they are home all the time and just want to lay in bed. Online school is not easy to get through and high school students should get huge props for trying to make the best out of this poor situation we are living through.

Going to school a few days a week helps because I actually pay more attention than at home, but school is a completely different experience than normal. Everyone is wearing a mask and teachers aren’t allowed to leave their desks to help you with any questions. Students must stay 6 feet apart in class, and in most of my classes there are only 3-4 students. If students are attending school, they just do their work on the computer all day, the old pen-and-paper has become obsolete.

Although there are many negatives to being a high school student during COVID-19, it has really helped many people, including myself, get closer with their family, since we all are together all the time. My family and I are way closer than we have ever been before and it really makes me happy to know that I am a lot closer with my family. The world looks a lot different now than it ever has before. 2020 will be a year that myself, and every other high school student will remember for the rest of our lives.