ATHABASCA - After nearly six months at home due to COVID-19, students are finally returning to school on Monday, August 31, though it won’t be the same school life they left behind in March.
Many are excited by the return to regular classes, like Owen Cormier, a Gr. 10 student at Edwin Parr Composite, who said he could not wait to return to school.
“I’m really excited to see my friends again. I’ve missed them a lot,” he said.
Grade 7 student Ronan Dosenberg, on the other hand, was a little more concerned about what going back to school could mean, saying he was “definitely nervous.”
“Even though I know that kids generally know what’s going on, I still am kind of nervous about the ones that don’t really care,” said Dosenberg.
Some anxieties were reduced when the policies to ensure students’ safety were announced, namely masks.
“I think that masks should be worn at school,” said Gr. 11 student Edward Carbert in reference to the requirement for students Gr. 4 and up to wear masks in school set out by Alberta Education.
Another Gr. 10 student at EPC, Mya Bennett, said she also appreciates the measures put in place to keep staff and students safe.
“I do think that wearing masks, proper sanitization, social distancing should be absolutely necessary; the only reason that it is in place is to keep us safe,” said Bennett.
For some classes the changes to their year won’t be as big, but Gr. 12 student Keenan Sikora is facing many more drawbacks and is concerned about graduation next year.
“I want to be able to have a decent graduation with my peers and my family,” he said. “I have worked hard for 12 years just to walk across that stage and get my diploma.”
Rather than having to complete his last year of high school during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dosenberg is starting his Grade 7 year in a brand-new place, moving on from Gr. 6 at Landing Trail Intermediate School to EPC.
When asked how he felt about being uprooted from LTIS, Dosenberg said, “(It’s) kind of upsetting. I was really looking forward to my Provincial Achievement Tests. I was also upset that my time with my amazing teachers got cut short.”
Considering students had to carry out the remainder of their previous school year online, it was no surprise that there was the question of whether or not that would continue on for the 2020-21 school year. Asked how they felt if they had to do had their classes online again, students had many different answers.
“I would personally prefer to be in the classroom because when I need help from a teacher, I can get their help right away rather than (having to) wait a few minutes or sometimes hours for a response,” Sikora said.
Bennett, on the other hand, felt very differently, saying, “I think I would do well if online classes were to take place,” proving that some students have found better ways that work for them to learn through this pandemic.
There were also some who believed it would be better to keep schools closed considering how high risk the opening is.
“I would probably not open schools, but if I had to, I would open them at half-capacity and alternate days,” Dosenberg said. “The days you’re not at school you would go on to learning sites ... I think it would be safer because there would be less interactions and we can space out classes more.”
The biggest debate between students seems to be whether or not sports and other extracurricular activities should come back in the fall. Cormier, who plays hockey for the Hawks, hopes that minor hockey will make a comeback like in the big leagues.
“Just use safety precautions like how the professional level is and we should be okay,” Cormier said.
Though the practices themselves could likely be arranged to limit exposure to COVID-19, there is still the matter of how games would be played.
“I don’t think school sports should start again in the fall,” Bennett said. “Students travelling to other schools would have a greater risk of contracting COVID-19.”
