Students Start Sophomore Year Without Experience
Sophomore students adjust to high school after having freshman year exclusively online.
By Ariella Just Milender
Sophomore students adjust to high school after having freshman year exclusively online.
By Ariella Just Milender
After starting their high school journey online, sophomores now have a chance to go through the high school experience in-person.
Current sophomores were deprived of being on campus last year as freshmen, making the transition from online to in-person for the first time in a high school setting even more challenging. Sophomores are the only grade to not be on campus for their freshman year, a pivotal year in adjusting to high school classes, which has made it tricky as they are held to the same standards and expectations as previous years, even though they did not get the chance to adjust last year.
Sophomore English teacher Chanel Sulc said that the adjustment for sophomores has been mentally challenging.
“There has been a lot more mental health issues this year, I think students are struggling a lot more with anxiety, especially social anxiety because this is, for our freshman and sophomores, an entirely new environment so I think more than anything it has been challenging to deal with students having to deal with panic attacks and depression and other mental health issues,” said Sulc. “A lot of students are struggling even more with their mental health than they are already would’ve because being a teenager is hard, so I think as teachers it’s our responsibility to be cognizant of that and try to be as flexible as we can to not only be thinking about our students academically needs but their mental health needs and personal needs too.”
Sulc has also made an effort to be as supportive and available as possible for her students to help aid in the transition.
“We’re in an unusual time in that school is always going to be a strain on our mental health, but especially right now, so (I have been) making myself available to talk to students, being flexible with due dates and extensions,” said Sulc.
Many students, such as Emerson Buchner, 10, agree that sophomore teachers have been working with students to aid in the transition back to campus.
“Teachers have been very flexible this year, with grades and regrading,” said Buchner. “Also with getting assignments done on time, they are able to be flexible and understand that some people might need more time to turn in assignments.”
Sophomore Sarayu Praturu said teachers have been helpful with the transition.
“I feel like in the earlier years it was harder and a lot of teachers were not as flexible and supportive to their students as my teachers are now,” said Praturu.
Kamran Farhang, 10, agreed.
“My teachers have helped me stay organized and have thoroughly explained the ways of our school and their teaching,” said Farhang.
With last year being online, math teacher Aruna Renduchintala is worried about how the gaps left in content from last year will affect the current sophomores in the future.
“I’m worried about them going to the college with a deficit of knowledge because we truncated one year, it is going to continue with them for the next four years, but I’m not quite sure if colleges will take that into account, so there will definitely be a gap in their continuation of what they are learning in the future as
well,” said Renduchintala.
Current sophomores were deprived of being on campus last year as freshmen, making the transition from online to in-person for the first time in a high school setting even more challenging. Sophomores are the only grade to not be on campus for their freshman year, a pivotal year in adjusting to high school classes, which has made it tricky as they are held to the same standards and expectations as previous years, even though they did not get the chance to adjust last year.
Sophomore English teacher Chanel Sulc said that the adjustment for sophomores has been mentally challenging.
“There has been a lot more mental health issues this year, I think students are struggling a lot more with anxiety, especially social anxiety because this is, for our freshman and sophomores, an entirely new environment so I think more than anything it has been challenging to deal with students having to deal with panic attacks and depression and other mental health issues,” said Sulc. “A lot of students are struggling even more with their mental health than they are already would’ve because being a teenager is hard, so I think as teachers it’s our responsibility to be cognizant of that and try to be as flexible as we can to not only be thinking about our students academically needs but their mental health needs and personal needs too.”
Sulc has also made an effort to be as supportive and available as possible for her students to help aid in the transition.
“We’re in an unusual time in that school is always going to be a strain on our mental health, but especially right now, so (I have been) making myself available to talk to students, being flexible with due dates and extensions,” said Sulc.
Many students, such as Emerson Buchner, 10, agree that sophomore teachers have been working with students to aid in the transition back to campus.
“Teachers have been very flexible this year, with grades and regrading,” said Buchner. “Also with getting assignments done on time, they are able to be flexible and understand that some people might need more time to turn in assignments.”
Sophomore Sarayu Praturu said teachers have been helpful with the transition.
“I feel like in the earlier years it was harder and a lot of teachers were not as flexible and supportive to their students as my teachers are now,” said Praturu.
Kamran Farhang, 10, agreed.
“My teachers have helped me stay organized and have thoroughly explained the ways of our school and their teaching,” said Farhang.
With last year being online, math teacher Aruna Renduchintala is worried about how the gaps left in content from last year will affect the current sophomores in the future.
“I’m worried about them going to the college with a deficit of knowledge because we truncated one year, it is going to continue with them for the next four years, but I’m not quite sure if colleges will take that into account, so there will definitely be a gap in their continuation of what they are learning in the future as
well,” said Renduchintala.