The year 2020 is finally coming to an end. The global pandemic was introduced, where to this day people are still fighting through it. 

This first semester at Hoover High School had to be done virtually, due to the rising numbers of Covid cases. Everyone had a different experience, some worse than others, but in all, this virtual semester was a huge change to everyone. 

Both students and teachers had been faced with some challenges throughout this semester. 

Cailey Mirzajanyan, a junior at Hoover, gave her insight on the difficulties that she has faced. 

“The hardest thing I went through was learning time management and self discipline to get all my work completed,” Mirzajanyan said. 

Distance learning has definitely made motivation harder to achieve, since students are now just in their homes everyday instead of being in the regular classroom setting. Assignments are starting to feel like they are not mandatory, which leads to procrastination. Students are pushing through, and learning how to teach themselves to finish their work. 

While students are going through hardships, teachers are too. 

David Huber, the Drama teacher, explained the troubles that he has had to go through. “It is very hard to connect with new students, to get them to trust me. This is not ideal for a theater class.”

Students and teachers do get to interact with each other through zoom classes, but it still isn’t the same as being together in real life. Students might turn off cameras, not speak at all, and yes they are physically attentive in the class, but barely interactive with the class. This can be very difficult for the teachers since their main goal is to be able to communicate with their students, instead of them feeling as if they’re talking to themselves. 

Even though there have been many difficulties this semester, there have also been some positives. 

Nairi Atamian, a senior at Hoover, stated some beneficial things that came out of this semester.

“Yeah there are some positives, like sleeping in an extra hour or so, more time for my mental health, and more time to do difficult assignments that in person probably would’ve been due sooner,” she said.

Starting the mornings at 9 A.M has definitely helped students pay attention more to what the teachers are presenting, and this especially can benefit people who aren’t morning people. Starting more later has let both students and teachers sleep in a little more, which can be really helpful since classes are now held through zoom classes, which is harder to get through since both are looking through their computer screens all day. Having the ability to have more hours of sleep is very pleasant and important especially when the screens are tiring eyes everyday.

Besides this, some teachers are teaching slower or changing their curriculum for the students.  They understand what their students are going through, for everyone is going through this drastic pandemic. Being back at school, things would be moving at a much faster pace, but teachers understand that it’s not a normal year, for anyone, and have been thoughtful towards the students because of this.

This first semester has come with both negative and positive sides to it, but hopefully next semester will be better for everyone.

Homa Javidan, an English teacher, explained what she hopes for the upcoming semester.

 “I hope this pandemic will soon be over and we can go back to our normal lives so that I can see my friendly colleagues and my wonderful students…or in other words, my ‘OHANA,’” Javidan said.

No one knows what will change when the next semester comes, and if we go back or not. All we can do is hope for the best in these times of uncertainty. At the end, we will get through this together and eventually get to see each other in person. 

“This is not what I signed up for…BUT, neither did my students, so we are doing the best we can. It’s going okay. Not great, but okay,” Huber said.