Remote learning is agreed upon by most to be more than just strange, it feels unnatural and goes against the quota of what we’ve been doing for the entirety of our lives already. The entire concept of out of class learning just seems absurd, but inevitably we’ve done it and as the year draws closer to an end for us Seniors it’s nice to look back behind us and see that we’ve crested that challenge and persevered. Regardless of the hardships, strangeness, and confusion, it’s over now for myself so all I can do is enjoy that it’s done. My personal experience this year was an interesting one, well- more so dull than anything, but definitely different. Here’s, in my own opinion, how it was to stay remote for the entirety of both semesters.

Starting out last year after an elongated summer was a hard wake up call, the idea of being remote ultimately just confusing. That first day was extremely hard to grasp, moving class to class being a tedious process as we the students try to learn this new environment alongside the teachers. Staring at a screen for upwards of five hours each morning takes a while to get used to, and as time draws on I could feel my motivation to actually pay attention dwindle. It’s just too easy not to, especially when you don’t have a camera on your main computer. Half the time at the start of the semester I didn’t take much of anything seriously and found myself playing on my phone half the time as the lesson was taught. Surprisingly my grades remained fine, though that may have been from mercy the teachers had during the height of the pandemic. First semester finished in a breeze frankly, as when I look back all I see is just a mess of days to which I woke up, hopped on the computer, finished school, did homework, and went to sleep. A repeating process, but one in which we all just had to deal with regardless. School was never hard this year, more so just extremely dull, to which is something that it’ll end as as well. That’s just how the cookie crumbles though, yet in light of this all through the second semester I learned a lot more about self management and how to spend my time. Half days meant I had a lot of time on my hands, and in this I learned how to finish homework quickly and well. I asked a few students how they felt on the year, and a resounding answer came out as simply, “Meh.”, yet one stood out from a friend and fellow Senior, Harrison Freeman, who stated, “It is what it is, can’t really do anything about it, just gotta buckle down and push through even if it is sad.” I couldn’t agree with this statement anymore, and as we Seniors approach the final days of our last full week that’s just how it’s going to be.

As much as it was dull, I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t say it wasn’t memorable. This time away from school allowed me to focus more so on myself rather than how I was doing with others socially, and for that I am thankful as I have improved tremendously. Regardless of whether or not we went out with a bang or whimper, this is just one year of our lives and soon life will get back on track one way or the other.