After closing out the previous school year with nine weeks of remote learning and an extended summer break, Linsly students started the 2020-21 school year under a new normal amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Students Supasinee Siripun and Maddie Hennen shared some of the positive and negative impacts that the adjustments due to the coronavirus have brought to their lives this school year.
Siripun, a sophomore, completes her schoolwork from Thailand. With her first year at Linsly as a boarding student being cut short and being unable to return to Wheeling for the start of her second, she has modified her academic schedule to work between cities with an 11-12 hour time difference. In relation to online learning, Siripun appreciates the freedoms but struggles some, saying “Doing everything virtually does give me more room to work with and to set my own schedule, but I also feel like it’s harder to get caught up sometimes.”
Like many other international students, especially those in Asia, she meets with her teachers over Zoom between seven and nine o’clock in the evening, a time when students might otherwise be eating dinner or be out and about. Remote students this year also miss out on campus life and face-to-face interactions with their peers.
Yet, “online learning hasn’t been the worst…” according to Siripun. Linsly teachers are working harder than ever this year, “flipping” their classrooms and in some cases teaching almost entirely different classes for online and in-person students. With smaller class sizes, an extra period, and the virus-driven possibility of going to complete online learning any week, many adjustments have been made to help Linsly students. Juniors and seniors are enjoying the privilege of coming early or late due to study hall times and the cancellation of formal exams have been a reprieve for many students.
Another perspective on the changes comes from junior Maddie Hennen, who has attended Linsly as a day student since fifth grade. She mostly enjoys the new schedule, appreciating a late start to classes that allows work to be completed in the mornings and the wider separations between the meetings for each class. While missing some of the social interaction lost due to smaller class sizes, Hennen says “I think the school did everything they could to make it a safer environment for everyone.”
With a daily wellness survey and a temperature reading required to start the day, Linsly has taken COVID-19 safety seriously. Face masks are a new addition of the Linsly uniform and teachers make sure to carefully sanitize desks between each period. Having a common goal of staying open and continuing in-person instruction, teachers and students are striving to remain healthy and prevent any spread of the virus.
Whether attending school from across the world or adapting to changes in their seventh year at the school, Cadets are continuing to work hard and succeed. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly changed daily lives and routines, but Linsly students and teachers are rapidly adjusting and finding benefits in the changes.
