by Morgan Pierret, GHS Blue Ink
Because of the uncertainty of everything going on, some of the Garretson students made the choice to go to school online. There are seven students that went online in high school and three students in middle school.
High school students Jacob Facile, Ian Doppenberg, and Paul Cordie are the three boys that are taking their senior year online. The only junior that decided to go online is Sami Kruger. There are two sophomores, Logan Facile and Autumn Gaspar, and one freshman, Lacey Lumpkin.
Madison Lumpkin, Cody Facile, and Reece Connelly are the three middle schoolers doing online learning.
They all started the same day as the in-person students. The online students jump on a Zoom sent out by their teacher, and the teachers try to make online students feel like they are a part of the class just as much as the rest of the students.
They do this by calling on them, putting them in groups to read stories, looking at the computer when explaining lectures, making sure they do all the activities the rest of the students do, and answering all their questions frequently.
The online learners keep themselves motivated by telling themselves they are on the same schedule and have the same deadlines as their classmates, knowing their day is done when their homework is done, and striving to be successful. When interviewed about how online learning was going all the online, learners had mainly positive feedback. Kruger, Facile, and Lumpkin generously answered a few questions on how it was going.
Q: What made you decide to go online?
Kruger: I have people in my life that are at high risk to the virus and because I don’t want to be the one to spread it or bring it home to my family. Lumpkin: The mandatory mask policy.
Q: Was going online your choice or your parents’ choice?
Facile: My parents, they really wanted me to stay home for this year. It was mostly a mutual decision between us.
Q: Do you think you’re going to come back to school? This year or next year?
Kruger: I hope that it’ll be safe enough to come back this year, but I’m still unsure. It just depends on how I’m doing with grades and also the virus.
Facile: No, I don't think I will be coming back this school year at all unless there is a very good vaccine. There is just too much risk for me to even give it a chance this year.
Q: What’s the hardest thing about online learning?
Kruger: Learning math since it's a bit harder to ask for help to get a great understanding. Otherwise, I’m doing everything easily.
Facile: Tech problems, number one, and learning math and doing group work for classes has been tough.
Q: If you could change one thing about online learning what would it be?
Facile: The format of how assignments are posted to the different sites we use.
Kruger: I would probably want to change the format of the online assignments.
Lumpkin: I wish the online learning had the same flexibility as homeschooling.
