By Ryan Sieh | Staff Writer
“I have a better understanding on how to handle school virtually, but I feel much less motivated going into this semester,” said Paige Dance, a junior.
When COVID-19 struck last year, the world was sent into a global pandemic and people were forced to quarantine themselves at home. For the entirety of the first semester, students had to get used to a new way of learning.
This meant daily alternating classes, with each period being 90 minutes long. For most students, this has become the ‘new normal’.
“I will be finishing my homework between periods and trying to finish as much as possible as quick as I can,” senior Tiffany Truong stated. “This is all so I don’t find myself procrastinating, especially with senior year here.”
While some students have chosen to complete as many assignments as quickly as possible, others have taken a different approach to their homework.
Senior Adelaide Esseln said, “I am giving myself permission to procrastinate. If the work will get done either way, I might as well do it whenever it makes me happiest. I just need to relax enough to make that possible. The ‘why’, I guess, is to be less stressed, and to take advantage of the benefits of online learning.”
Some students also planned a way for them to learn and work easier, learning from what they had experienced in the previous semester.
“Last semester was sort of a trial and error to see how things should go for school,” Junior Kai Rongavilla Cruz stated. “What I’m going to do differently is to try to space out how much work I do in one setting instead of getting it all done in one go. This is because last semester I would work hours non stop and wear myself out.”
Aside from a new work schedule, many students also want to do better than they did in the previous semester, and are planning ahead so they do well in their classes.
“I am going to try harder and be on top of my work,” sophomore Joanne Li stated, “because I have an AP test in May and I don’t want to fail it. I also want to finish 10th grade strong, if that makes sense.”
Having their first year of high school online and during a pandemic has given some freshmen new ideas to how they want to finish off the second half of the school year.
Freshman Mia Lim said, “I am planning to stay more on top of my work and get ahead. I’m not going to let it pile up and I’m going to pay better attention in class.”
Overall, students have plans ranging from purposefully procrastinating to not letting work accumulate so they do not end up having more work to do at once.
Another freshman, Emi Naito, said, “I am definitely handling Spring semester differently from Fall semester. I’m going to work a lot more on time management. Fall semester was a ton of new things, homework, and projects, so I will make sure to plan ahead of what needs to get done so I don’t fall behind.”
