Only three days before Hampton was supposed to be going back to school for 4-day in-person weeks, the news was announced that this would no longer be the plan. Instead, Hampton decided to remain with the hybrid schedule of 2 in-person days for grades 10-12, and freshmen would continue going to school for 4 days. Then, yet again, our school schedule changed. Now, after Thanksgiving break, everyone will be completely virtual through December 10th. After hearing this news, I decided to go to those directly affected by the schedule our school chooses to have, the students, to see how they are reacting to this news.

My first question was the obvious, what’s their opinion on how our school schedule should look in the current state of our country? As a result, I got three different responses. Sophomore, Cassidy Kramer, had an answer that I was not expecting to receive from anyone. “I would prefer 5 days back in school.” However, she did have a good explanation for her opinion, going on to say, “In Hampton, we pride ourselves on our education, and without being completely in-school, we simply cannot uphold that tradition of excellence we strive for.” It is true, Hampton’s motto is “A Tradition of Excellence”, which can be seen all around the school, and on our school’s website. So, how is Hampton’s “tradition of excellence” being affected by our hybrid schedule? Based on my other interviews, it seems to be affected negatively. Both Garret Vasil, a freshman, and an anonymous sophomore, said that they learn much better in an in-person setting, rather than over Zoom. It was also stated by the anonymous sophomore that, “It does get a bit overwhelming to have all of your tests crammed into 2 days.” Speaking from my own experience, it does indeed get stressful when teachers have to cram tests into only 2 days, in order to have us in-person to take them. Though they agreed on learning better in-person, Vasil and the sophomore did disagree on what our school schedule should look like. “Personally I prefer the 4 day in-person. But, I’m still rather apprehensive when it comes to the whole COVID issue. Like that Monday 2 weeks ago when we got our first ‘outbreak’ I really didn’t want to come to school that day. I feel safer at home, but definitely learn better in school,” Vasil told me. Feeling a similar weariness about COVID, our anonymous sophomore disclosed to me that they have grown to appreciate the current hybrid schedule, and that they feel 

much safer with less students. Through these two interviews it is apparent that students are a bit apprehensive to be around so many people at school. This was also apparent through a poll I conducted on the Hamptonian Twitter page. When asked how they would prefer our schedule would look, the majority of the people who voted said that they want Hampton to be all online. This only helps to portray student’s sense of insecurity when it comes to their health.

My second question that I asked the three students I interviewed was what their opinion was on how Hampton is handling COVID. In the end I got some very similar responses. Students seem to be mostly on the same page when they say that they think Hampton in handling COVID pretty well. All three students interviewed said something along the lines of how they think that Hampton is doing a good job in these unprecedented times. It was also mentioned that students are being pretty cooperative, as well as teachers who are enforcing the rules given by the district. One student however, also had an opinion on something new that the school should do. Cassidy Kramer shared with me, “I feel as if a safer method to the mask systems we have now is making every student receive a new surgical one every day, as wearing the same mask over and over again is even worse than not wearing one, as bacteria builds up throughout the day.” Personally, I completely agree with this. How come we are not allowed to take desk shields home, however we are allowed to take masks back and forth and wear the same ones every single day? According to an article I found from the CDC, you are supposed to, “Wash your cloth mask whenever it gets dirty or at least daily. If you have a disposable face mask, throw it away after wearing it once.” This just goes to show the flaw that Hampton has with its mask system. How come students are not being told to use new masks or to clean their masks every day? 

2020 has been quite the unprecedented year that no one could have been 100%  prepared for. Students are some of the people that are being impacted the most by the current pandemic. All in all, the students of Hampton seem to be doing pretty well under the current circumstances. However, if you are still confused about what the next few weeks will look like, you can go to this link to clarify what is happening. Our new school life does have its ups and downs and I would be interested in seeing how even more students feel, so, how do you think Hampton is handling COVID?