Freedom. Fun. Back to normal.

By Jia Bao Zhou

     I felt excited when the school announced that we didn’t have to wear a mask anymore and that we could go to whatever place inside the campus to have our break and lunch. During the pandemic, there were Plexiglass divisions between the tables and at one table there could only be four students which was a problem because our group is made up often people or more and one table wasn’t enough for us. Therefore,  when this rule was canceled, I was happy about it. In addition to these exciting changes, we no longer have the two dismissal groups, except for the 112 and 12 graders who still leave at 2:45 pm. When I get home I have to do a lot of things, so getting rid of the dismissal groups has allowed me to do more during my afternoons. Furthermore, since we can take off our masks now, and this is a breath of fresh air as well as sight to see, as we can finally fill in the gaps of the faces we could not see except for the eyes and foreheads. Some people even have a hard time recognizing me as Sofia because I came to school during the Pandemic. 

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By Alexandra Aroche

     Returning to campus after announcing that we no longer needed masks was exciting. It felt like we were breaking the protocol and it felt like I was missing something. Seeing people’s faces felt like we went back to normal. When they announced that they were going to get rid of the Plexiglass divisions,  we were all relieved because we were tired of not being able to listen to each other, especially with the masks. In addition, we could now fit more people on the tables, and I remember the first time it felt very unusual. I remember the day when the school said that they eliminated the lunch areas, and my friends and I didn't know where to eat because we had the whole school to choose from. I asked myself: Where did I used to eat? Because at that moment I had no idea. Furthermore, what was really hard for me was to keep my distance from my friends because we always had to be 1.8 meters distance from each other and I'm pretty sure we broke it at least by 80 centimeters. All of those changes made me realize how much the pandemic had taken from us, and today there are some things  that are in the process of returning in full, like the library. The school with the protocols had become the new normal for us, so when they were taken away we had to get used to what normal was before the pandemic. I am glad that school is becoming like before because I know for a fact that we all missed it.