This school year at John Burroughs has started out different than most due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These unprecedented circumstances of doing school virtually and having hybrid classes have caused an unusual way of learning. Speaking from my own experiences as a 7th grader, I believe it has been more difficult for us since we are new to the school. As newcomers, there are already challenges we face; combine that with not being physically present in school 100% of the time, our challenges are even greater.

Nevertheless, there are some advantages to virtual classes. Going to school every day and making sure you have all of your materials with you can be harder than learning from home and having everything you need right in front of you. For example, Noah Clark (‘26) voices his opinion saying, “It has been easier to manage everything and get to all of your classes online.”

Navigating a large school campus such as JBS can be a challenge for new students, so I can imagine it is easier when you can easily just click a ZOOM link and get to your classes instead. However, in terms of the social effects, Clark says, “It’s important to meet a lot of new people since this is the first year, and it’s been harder to do that.” Rafe Rosario-Blake (‘26) had a similar opinion about the social effect, saying, “In my head I had all of these visions of making new friends, and having a really active and fun school year, but being online or socially distanced, it has been harder to make new friends and be an active part of the community.” Despite this being one of the side effects of online school, the 7th graders seem to have a positive opinion on how John Burroughs has been handling things. When asked if he had any suggestions for Burroughs to improve online classes, Perez said, “Not really, I think John Burroughs has done a great job.”

I would say in terms of the social effects, online classes may have affected 7th graders the most. While hybrid learning will surely help, being online definitely slows down the process of getting to know people and making friends. However, it also seems it has been easier to manage things and keep things organized online versus being in a school environment. Given the unfortunate circumstance of the beginning of the school year, the classmates I have spoken to seem to agree that, overall, John Burroughs has done a good job balancing safety and education.