Story by Irina Bazan

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Geometry and algebra teacher, Cheryl Bishop, loves her job. She enjoys seeing the faces of students who walk into her classroom each day and hearing their chatter fill the room. With the unexpected Corona Virus that hit the United States this year, her favorite part of teaching was taken away from her. 

Bishop is not the only one affected by the repercussions Corona has imposed; after school clubs and extracurricular activities have also taken a turn with new policies put in place in order to ensure safety and well-being. Due to the lack of students coming back to school and strict rules, these changes have definitely created a new environment that neither teachers nor students are used to. 

“It is lonely, especially the first couple of weeks when there was nobody but me in my classroom,” Bishop said. “I’d sit there and hope every once in a while a teacher would walk by or something.” 

Even with faces showing up to school, it is still lacking compared to the number of students that would attend pre-corona days. Classrooms and hallways are a lot quieter than one would expect according to senior Kyndra Ramirez.

 “It is really weird to not have full classrooms and not being able to sit next to people,” Ramirez said. “Even though there are students, the school still feels kind of empty.”

Junior Ian Howard claims that averagely there are 2-3 students in his classes, including himself. 

“The most number of classmates I have in a class would be four, haven’t seen anything more than that,” Howard said.   

Normally students would eat their lunch almost anywhere, but with the new rules put in place, the majority of students can only eat their lunch in the cafeteria, while other students eat at the tables at the courtyard.  

“Usually during lunch, I would goof around with some friends at the tennis courts or just walk around the school”, retracted said. “But obviously I can’t do that now which kind of sucks but it’s understandable.”

The school’s new lunch policies include no more than two at a table, no leaving the cafeteria until told so by administrators, and of course social distance. The school has also implicated “one-way” signs across the school in order to separate students coming from different directions. 

“The one-way signs are pretty smart,” senior Sarah Roberts said. “They’ve also restricted the students to walking up only on one set of stairs and walking down on the other set of stairs, they have signs for those too.”

Along with new policies and strict rules, after school clubs and extracurricular activities have also changed. Clubs as of now are temporarily disbanded and extracurricular activities like theater and dance, which are known to put on a lot of performances, have been put on hold until further notice. 

“I miss when school was normal, though I struggle to admit it, school can be kind of relieving at some times,” Ramirez said. “I miss seeing friends and looking forward to the school plays, it’s pretty sad.” 

With the split of online and in person students, the school is adjusting to ensure safety for all. Even if that means to change the traditional ways our school would do things.  

“Though it is devastating, it is for the best,” Bishop said. “We all need to do our part to assure everyone’s safety.