As we end off the 2020-2021 school year, we look back on a year filled with a plethora of challenges. Academically and socially, students this year struggled tremendously in ways absolutely unforeseen. Learning throughout the year off-campus, online, and at home took a hard turn on every student, and missing out on high school experiences, events, etc made it an even harder blow. However, even throughout this year filled with different, new, and challenging adversities, there were still moments where finding that silver lining was possible.

To be a student this year, meant being able to find courage, determination and perseverance in places that you may have thought never existed. It meant being able to climb the mountain of challenges without falling off or giving up. It meant being able to overall accept the fate of the school year and make it as positive as possible. Learning through a virtual medium this year, in the midst of a global pandemic and political war is certainly not for the weak. Being able to separate these issues from your personal life takes even more expertise.

Drifting away from the norm of traditional in person classes and activities definitely created a sense of boredom and disinterest for me. Most days I spent cooped up in my room working on assignments, just to finish those assignments and still be cooped up in that same room. There was no motivation or visible goal, and this led me to a long hiatus of missing classes, not doing work and being overall unhappy. And even when times got better, there was still a definite and clear detachment between many students and their teachers, classmates and learning abilities.

However, despite these hardships this year. There are a few differences I wouldn’t mind taking into consideration for the next upcoming year. For example, I think that providing online learning options to students who thrive better on the online platform should be implemented. Although I am not one of these people, there are many who found this year to be much easier and believed remote learning provided a more comfortable learning environment for them. I also think that keeping a version of this year’s schedule, maybe not exactly the same, would be very beneficial for all students.

Being a student this year undoubtedly changed this year’s outlook on education and academics, and with that gave students the opportunity to assess and review the traditional standpoint of education, in comparison to online. Overall, the 2020-2021 year in general definitely was a year of self reflection, overcoming challenges, and persevering. I learned so much about myself as did many others, and I wouldn’t change that aspect at all.