Students First End-of-Year Experience Since Quarantine

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Photo by Jackie Buktaw

Freedom High School is located at 25450 Riding Center Dr. Chantilly, VA.

Jackie Buktaw, Staff Writer

For the first time in about two years, all students were able to experience the end of the school year. Many students believe that this year has been rough and hard to adjust to in person school. Others believe that this year was extremely laid back and easy. Starting the school year of 2021-2022 students went back to school in person learning. Now that the school year is ending, what are students thoughts of the first year back since quarantine?

“It was rough getting back into the swing of things, but overall I had a blast,” said sophomore Ryan Brown.

Brown continued by saying that in the beginning of this year, things were weird and surreal, however as the year went on school started to feel normal again. He also said the end of year workload has been difficult for many students due to procrastination and not realizing that the end of the year came so fast. Brown stated the end of this year has been the most stressful part of sophomore year.

“This year felt way different, especially in the beginning because the outdoor pep rally and outdoor homecoming was nothing like my freshman year’s homecoming week,” said junior Paige Steinberg.

Steinberg continued by saying that this year was different compared to previous years before COVID-19. She said that due to many COVID-19  protocols, students were not able to experience normal high school activities, however things started to become more normal towards the end of the year. 

After the abnormalities last year, all students are able to experience the end of the school year in person this year. How do students feel about the end of year workload and summer excitement?

“I was able to balance my personal life and school life pretty well because I’ve always been good at managing my time and making sure I would have time to do the school work I need to do before its due, since turning it late work stresses me out even more,” Steinberg said.

Managing time and balancing school work and personal life well is essential to students in school. 

“I think a lot of students are stressed out about their grades because of different reasons such as them turning in late work, their teachers not grading certain assignments, or new assignments being assigned right before grades have to be finalized.”

“Personally, I would say AP classes have had the most work, but since AP exams are finished now, the hardest class would probably be English for end of the year work,” said senior Mary Buktaw.

Buktaw continues by saying that her senior year was very laid back and one of the best years of high school she’s ever had. She also says that she is excited for college and meeting new people. She continues by saying that overall, the new school year has been an amazing experience for everyone in school.