Editor’s note:  This article was written in Mrs. Hebert’s first quarter Journalism class.

According to Newsela, “High school students face all kinds of stressors, including making friends, understanding schoolwork and taking tests. In 2020, they’re also dealing with COVID-19 and its effects, which has included school closures, social separation, and online instruction.”

At Bellows Free Academy, St. Albans, hybrid learning has been adopted due to COVID-19.   According to Dr. Kevin Dirth, Maple Run Unified School District’s Superintendent, “Students and staff attending in-person will wear masks and practice physical distancing.” This is all to keep students and staff safe.

For students, this means that they will learn in school two days a week and online the other three.  Darla Tedford (‘22) and Emily Draper (‘22) both gave a little insight into what it’s like for them to learn with these changes.

Draper said, “I miss seeing my friends all day, and I miss using my locker.” 

For some students, such as Tedford, hybrid learning has a positive impact. “I actually don’t mind the way that school year is set up this year.  I like doing the online school cause I’m not a very social person, and I would rather do my work from home where I don’t really have to interact with others,” Tedford said.

Hybrid learning has also helped the mental health of students, such as Tedford and Draper. “I’m not as stressed, and I have a lot of stress around public speaking and only being in school two days a week has made it so I don’t have to speak out as much, so it makes my school day much less stressful. The workload when being in school five days a week has also put a lot of stress on me, and now I have more time to work on my workload because I’m only in school two days a week and the workload is less,” said Draper.

Draper likes being on campus only two days a week. “I like it. Being in school only two days a week gives me a chance to see my friends a little and have human interaction, and I don’t have as much anxiety when going to school,” Draper said. 

 Hybrid learning has positively impacted Tedford and Draper. “It feels relieving. I like that I can just do my work from home and get things done around my house while I’m doing school. Like I said before, I don’t really enjoy being around other people so working from home just feels like a huge weight off my chest,” Tedford said.  Hybrid learning is great for some students and has had a positive impact on them and their mental health.