With the advent of the 2021-2022 school year, teachers and students returned to Steinbrenner from eLearning. For some students, this is their first time entering the physical school building. Virtual learning provided an experience radically different from what was considered “normal”. Not all students performed well using this method of learning. Some, such as sophomore Carolyn Hoekstra, expressed feelings of dissatisfaction.
“My grades plummeted during eLearning,” she said. “I went from straight A’s to having A’s, B’s, and C’s.”
Hoekstra was among the roughly 800 eLearning students who learned remotely up until the end of the 2020-2021 school year. Many of them expressed mixed or negative reactions about their grades and social skills.
“I was really upset about it,” she shared. “There wasn’t much I enjoyed except for being able to cheat, but that didn’t help my grades at all.”
All the eLearning students were presented with a choice near the end of last year: either return to school in-person or enroll in a virtual learning program such as Hillsborough or Florida Virtual school. Many, including Hoekstra, chose the first option.
“I was really excited to return to school because I had been waiting for two years to go to high school, and then I got here, and it sucked. It was not as fun as I thought it would be, but it’s a lot easier than doing eLearning, even though I have harder classes this year,” said Hoekstra.
Teachers who taught eLearning last year were also excited to return to teaching students in the same room as them.
“I was ready to come back because I had been home for a full year and a quarter, so I was excited to come back and work with everybody face-to-face and work with my coworkers,” said Yearbook advisor Courtney Nickel.
Now that teachers like Mrs. Nickel are teaching a physical audience, they are facing challenges that they have not ever experienced before, mostly related to COVID-19.
“I think the classes are overcrowded at the moment, so it’s difficult to social distance, and kids aren’t necessarily staying home if they’re not feeling well,” she mentioned.
Even with the restrictions and protocols, many teachers are looking forward to doing the things that they have been unable to do for over a year.
“I’m looking forward to hopefully transitioning back to a new normal, and I’m happy to work with Yearbook again in-person. I worked with them online last year, and that was challenging. It is nice, being able to work with them and see them go out and interview, talk to kids, and put the book together.”
Anthony Menold // Staff Writer
