By: Amy Lu

I’ve never been one to count down the days, but recently, I seem to find myself repeatedly checking my calendar. For what, you ask? Well, for school of course!

Although I can’t say that I’m particularly excited to return to school, I am just a little bit eager to see what the new term will bring – things like attending new classes, returning to clubs, and reuniting with friends.

Class Conduct

I’m sure many students are wondering how COVID-19 will continue to impact their school year. Of course, there are the basic guidelines like wearing a mask, regularly sanitizing your hands, and limiting physical contact, but now with the mass vaccination, I’m wondering if we’ll be granted more freedom with our actions. On a similar note, how will teachers be able to monitor who’s gotten their vaccine and who hasn’t in any given situation? Considering how difficult it would be to do that, the vaccinated students and non-vaccinated students will most likely need to follow the same procedures.

There’s also the question of how will school balance in-person and online teaching? Last semester, we switched between full online learning and full in-person learning multiple times, which I desperately hope won’t happen this year. Luckily, it seems most schools will be returning with in-person learning to kick it off.

While the COVID situation hasn’t gotten much worse, it hasn’t gotten any better either, so I expect most things to be the same as how they were previously: temperature checks every morning, cleaning our desks after class, eating separate lunches, the works. But perhaps with the majority of students already being familiar with COVID regulations, we’ll be given slightly more leeway.

Club Activities

From the start of the last school year until the end, all of my club activities and meetings were online. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of times when I took advantage of being able to relax and slacked off during activity time just because I could. However, by now, I’m feeling pretty anxious and eager to begin actual club activities.

Things like field trips, in-person debates, and having fun together as a group are all things myself and many others had to miss out on last year, but hopefully, some of those in-person experiences will be available this year.

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Although I massively enjoyed summer break, I’m also excited to see what the new school year will bring. Hopefully, the pandemic’s threat will decrease, and all these rules and regulations will be removed so that everyone in and outside of school can have ameliorated memories. And there’s always the anticipation of making new friends, meeting new classmates, and learning new things in new classes. All in all, I’m sure next year won’t be too much of a letdown, and better than its predecessor.

What are you thinking of this back to school season? Let us know in the comments below!