It’s safe to say that everyone has been affected by the lifestyle that COVID-19 brought upon us in 2020. But how did it affect LuHi students, who knew no pre-covid school and began the journey of high school in a year full of unknowns, quarantine, and social distancing?  The senior class of 2024 was surveyed and their responses varied from not feeling affected to a strained mental health to difficult social lives but people also saw positives to this experience.

Some people said they were not affected much by the COVID restrictions in school during 2020 and 2021. This was due to not minding the masks and space but also because LuHi did a great job retaining normalcy compared to most schools. Other students who attended different schools freshman year noticed this and it influenced their decision to transfer due to hard times socializing and learning. 

Some students described how the COVID restrictions affected their mental health. Many seniors feel like they never graduated 8th grade and had a hard time transitioning into high school because they never got a stable goodbye to their middle school and elementary years. On top of this, their freshman year felt harder than it should’ve been. Study habits were difficult to retain due to mixed in-person and online classes as well as teachers having to change their activities. Many people also mentioned the difficulty of understanding teachers and classmates through a mask. 

Students’ social lives were affected as well in a way that stayed with them well after everything went back to normal. With all the six-foot-apart rules and times people were quarantined, and forced to learn at home, it was difficult for students to engage with each other. Not to mention missing freshman year dances, many seniors explained the weird feeling of going to their first homecoming dance sophomore year. Though many students saw all these restrictions as stunting their social lives and initial connections to peers, some saw them as a shared experience that brought the class together in a special way and even enjoyed the extra time at home.

Through all this, there were many positives as well. Seniors discussed how they became more grateful for being active and seeing their friends every day. They grew in their relationship with family while they could finally all be home together. Finally, many gained a new perspective, a strange freshman year brought them gratitude for all the years that followed. 

Now as seniors, the class of 2024 looks back at their crazy freshman year as a closing chapter that will forever be a unique part of an experience full of challenge and growth.