If you are a senior or junior, you most likely remember the vivid chaos that was March 12, 2020. The infamous day that Rosary’s 50th Red and Gold was ‘postponed.’ It was raining, students were crying, and people left school early from all of the distress.

At the time, most students understood this day as a four day weekend break, where they would soon return to campus and the beloved tradition would see another year. However, March 12 marked a long journey of online school as Covid-19 cases continued to rise. Rosary Academy shifted to full virtual learning with Zoom sessions.

For many students, this meant drastic schedule changes with sports cancellations, less social time, and becoming accustomed to a new way of learning.

Throughout 2020 and the beginning of 2021, Rosary Academy tried different schedules like full virtual, hybrid learning, and later full in-person with the option for Cohort E (fully virtual). Now, for the new school year, Royals have fully returned to campus.

Many students shared their opinions on whether they preferred online school or in person school and their experience with both. For example, senior Liana Hanz shared why she prefers in person school: “In person school allows students to better connect and ask for help with teachers, creating a more interactive rather than digital classroom.” With in person school, students can easily ask questions and can receive help quickly. School on Zoom often had its own technological issues, so in person allows face to face connection without as many difficulties.

However, online school has its own benefits that Royals might have loved. For example, online school can be pretty convenient. While Liana prefers school completely in person, she also said: “Often there were times where I had to stay at my cousin’s house in San Diego, and being online didn’t force me to miss school.” With students’ scheduling conflicts, they could still attend their classes through Zoom even if they

were in another city or state.

Royal senior Sophia Suarez preferred online school. She shared: “Online school was a lot less physically exhausting. Having to attend school in person was very draining from the commute to just having to be present there.” Suarez also said, “Being online left me with so much energy for so much else. The extra energy I had in the day actually allowed me to focus on understanding the material while studying.”

Online school allows for more flexibility. Sophia continued: “Not having to pay attention to all the information on the spot and being able to go back later to the lecture and go over what I may have missed in the time I took a break was a lot more beneficial than trying to just power through and mindlessly listen to the lecture.” Online school has its own advantages from being able to attend classes anywhere to being able to look over a detailed video lecture afterwards.

With online school and changing schedules like hybrid learning, freshmen had an unusual first year of high school. Many new students faced the difficulty of not being able to make friends in person or even meet their teachers face-to-face. Last year, sophomore Cicleri Lopez had to simultaneously adjust to entering high school and being in Cohort E (full online). Cicleri shared: “I was filled with excitement as to what high school would be like because I was told high school would be the most exciting years of my life but entering my freshmen year as well as transitioning from dealing with the chaos of in person into online school really affected me negatively.” Lopez also gave insight on how online school could affect a student’s social life: “It was overwhelming and much more difficult to meet my classmates and form the first friendships at a new school.”

Both online school and in-person school have their own perks. With a full return to campus, both students and teachers can reflect more on the interesting experience of a Zoom classroom while also learning how to make improvements in their learning.