With the start of the new year and new semester, students who opted for a switch in learning environment are adjusting to their new normality this week.

Stepping foot on school grounds for the first time, many freshmen found Monday as their first day on campus. 

“It’s been pretty nerve wracking, but I’m getting used to it,” first year student Aditi * said. “I chose to come back to school because it was really hard to focus online and my grades were slipping, but it was a difficult decision in regards to safety.” 

For freshman Anushka Dwivedi, entering into a new atmosphere halfway through the year certainly posed its challenges. 

“It was a bit difficult finding my way around and figuring out my schedule, but there were signs around school that helped,” Dwivedi said. “Virtual learning is a lot more self-reliant, so you get to decide how and when to do your work. With face to face, it’s easier to focus and you can make more connections with other students.”

As her final semester in high school, senior Rachel Wilson also considered this the last opportunity to regularly see her friends and spend time on campus before graduating. 

“It is nice to have a change of environment,” she said. “It was very difficult to learn with AP classes online, it was difficult to ask questions and get that one on one help that you can get in person, so I’m really glad I switched to in-person.”

In total twenty two new students decided to make the transition into face-to-face instruction, however, safety remains a large concern. 

“I definitely felt safer at home, especially with everyone traveling over winter break before this semester,” Wilson said. “But one of the only reasons why I changed to in-person was purely for socialization and the fact that I want to have my last semester of school in person.” 

This was the opposite for senior Sara Aldana, who began the year in-person and switched to virtual this semester.

“I was very hopeful of going back in person in August, but quickly realized that we were still learning mostly virtually with the only difference that we were going to school to essentially be in a learning lab,” Aldana said. “So because of rising cases, there was no real reason or advantages for me to stay in person.”