Starting high school is often seen as major milestone, a rite of passage. But with the pandemic, the experience has looked different this year—to say the least.

Some freshmen here report that the pandemic has made the transition to high school more difficult. Of 34 freshmen polled, 63.6% felt that their high school experience is “somewhat different” from what they pictured before the pandemic.

“I never thought that we would have to go to school with masks, stay ‘physically distant,’ following arrows in the hallways, wiping down chairs and tables after using them, and frequent hand-washing to get into the building,” Evan Michaeli ’24 said.

Miles Richards ’24, who has been here since Lower School, noted changes to the daily schedule and after school sports activities.

“I think high school has changed a lot due to COVID-19,” Richards said. “One thing in specific is our schedules. Classes are now all one hour and in completely different rooms than normal. Another thing is sports. Soccer now has only two practices a week and no games.”

Jazzy Lang ’24 is enjoying the on-campus learning experience.

“Entering high school during the Covid pandemic, I thought school was going to be boring. Since we have to social distance ourselves, I imagined that my friends and I would have a hard time having fun and be our goofy selves, but from day one of school, we’ve been able to stay safe and have fun with each other, just in a safe way,” Lang said.

In another survey of the same 34 students, 69.3%  shared that their adjustment to the new way of school has been “somewhat” or “extremely easy” academically and socially.