By: Nicholas Murphy
Following the statewide shutdown, all schools have been converted to online learning.
Many students are finding it hard to adjust to this new reality and Academy of the Canyons (AOC) high school student Matthew Reyes is finding it especially hard to hit the ground running.
School at home for the entire Hart District seems like a dream, but for Reyes it is more of a nightmare.
“One thing this quarantine has taught me is that I can’t be productive at home… being at home is hard. There are so many incentives to not do my work, that’s why I appreciate being at school in real life”
Learning on campus allows students to stay away from distractions like television,
computers, and phones while staying under the supervision of teachers.
“Everything is basically self-taught now” said Reyes. “Lectures aren’t as engaging and a lot of people are skipping out.”
With the implementation of social distancing, AOC senior Kimberly Orellana finds that socialization with other students was crucial to her success as a student.
“I’m an introvert but it was nice doing work in person with other people and helped give structure and meaning to class” explained Orellana.
Academy of the Canyons has responded to the needs of students by providing online outlets for safe social interaction through Google Classroom and Discord.
After parents pressured the administration for answers, AOC Principal Dr. Pete Getz responded through a YouTube vlog amidst questions on graduation and academics.
“Graduation has not been canceled and nor has it been postponed yet but we will start planning as a group in the event that we do have to postpone that event or host it through a digital media” explained Getz. “Students must still complete the work since we are seeing a significant decrease in students logging into the courses, participating in online activities, and even work completion.”
With seniors anxiously waiting to cross the finish line of graduation, another AOC senior Edward Han admits that schoolwork is a problem.
“With Zoom calls having the option to turn off the camera, I’m just playing Minecraft all day through classes” said Han.
Reyes still has hope for the future and understands that the class of 2020’s seniors are going to have to dig deep and hold out for the final stretch.
“It’s better than nothing, though. I mean, it’d be pretty iconic to be in the first and only class at AOC to have an online graduation”
Mark Singzon, Ryan Gutierrez, and Inderjeet Gawra also contributed to this story.
