Starting Sophomore
RAZA COTTEY | OCT. 24, 2021 | FEATURES
The start of the school year for students at Stanton College Preparatory School is a period filled with obstacles. These obstacles are important for both Brick-and-Mortar and Duval HomeRoom students. For current juniors and seniors who chose to learn online last year, adjusting to in-person school was no problem thanks to years of previous experience. However, for sophomores who were online last year this year will be their first time learning on Stanton’s campus. This presents new challenges for students and teachers, not only with the introduction of a new freshman class, but also with the addition of one-third of the rising sophomore class who previously attended school virtually through Duval HomeRoom.
Sophomores entering Stanton this year will be unfamiliar with the high school campus, students, and staff because they did not go to school in person last year. For students like sophomore Maahir Rahi, high school is a new experience.
“I'm going to have to get more engaged in the classroom,” said Rahi. “Last year I didn't feel like being engaged or influenced to participate in class online.”
Due to the low amounts of in-class participation and collaboration in online classes last year, students like Rahi may face obstacles because it has been over a year since they have participated in whole-group discussion or presented with a class in front of them.
On the other hand, sophomores at Stanton who went to school on campus last year have an edge compared to former online students. Sophomore Kush Patel, who is returning from in-person school last year at Stanton, thinks he will be better off at school this year.
“I have talked to people, I have made friends, known the teachers and known the school,” said Patel. “It's hard for me to pay attention in school while I am online. In-person classes help with that.”
According to Patel, he was given a more efficient way of learning. Choosing to be in-person last year gave him the opportunity to pay more attention and carry over the skills he has grasped to benefit him this school year. Students like Patel now know how to do their work on time and interact with students and teachers, whereas previous online students may have difficulty paying attention and finding motivation to do classwork and homework.
Sophomores who are new to the campus this year may also have trouble getting to know students and making new friends. Vikas Sankar, a current sophomore at Stanton, disagrees with this idea and said she does not see many challenges for her first year on campus.
“I think finding my classes is the only problem I have had this year,” said Sankar. “I feel like I know a lot of people and they made me feel comfortable by welcoming me.”
Sankar, already having friends at Stanton and teachers welcoming her to the school, knows she will face minimal issues in her sophomore year and will have an easy time adapting to the new school year. The sophomore teachers have helped students like Sankar adjust to their first year of high school on campus.
Teachers are trying to find new ways to resolve the problems of students coming back from online school. Since the online students did not participate as much in class last year compared to those who attended school in person, they can face problems in classes that involve communication. English 2 Honors, for example, is a demanding subject in terms of class participation. This causes challenges between students who did not participate as much last year. For English teacher Mrs. Vanessa Knight, expectations are the same as every year before the pandemic.
“Teachers have had problems with students not showing up to class on time or not participating,” said Mrs. Knight. “Because they are face-to-face this year I expect to get more participation out of them.”
The little social interaction before the start of this year makes it harder for teachers to communicate with students when trying to do school work or participating in whole class discussions. Being at home last year had online students used to waking up later than other students who would go to school in person getting longer sleep. Online students also did not have to worry about travel time and finding time to work, since school was online and they stayed at home instead of having travel time to and from Stanton.
This year at Stanton will be faced with conflicts such as communication between students and teachers, making friends, discussion, and class participation for new sophomores. With all students returning to on-campus learning, students and staff will have to adapt to the challenges being presented by the students that were online last year with new techniques of communication and ways of learning.