Issue link: https://trevordayschool.uberflip.com/i/1295455
Last Week of School: The clock, reading 8:28 am, stares back at me. If this were a normal day, I would be two minutes away from a "late" and, most likely, an absence. But this isn't a normal day. Not if you compare this G day in May to a G day back in December. Your class will start in TWO MINUTES, and you are still in bed. The ticking of impending doom; Ms. Ayala staring disapprovingly as you make your way into the building at a painful 8:53. But then you remember. Those two minutes aren't spent thinking of the way you will enter the classroom when class is halfway over—everyone turning to stare as you regret your messed-up sleep schedule. Instead, you have just enough time to hop out of bed, brush your teeth, and open your computer. Ah, right on time. Your teacher greets you as your classmates begin to virtually filter in. Class starts and it goes a bit like this: If it's math, you have your binder and graph paper next to you. Your eyes diligently follow the teacher's movements and your computer curser hovers above the "unmute" buon in case you have a question (which is most likely the case). If it's English or history, you prepare yourself for a conversation. You grab whichever book you are reading or pull up an online PDF, and try to form thoughtful responses and questions that will enhance discussion, always mindful of when to jump in or when to let others speak. Science, language, and art classes complete the rest of the day—their being either the most relaxing classes or the most intense. Then the day wraps up, and you leave your computer and migrate to your phone to take a well-deserved break. At first, it was difficult. Staring at a screen for the majority of the day is not the easiest thing to do. Homework and classwork blended into one another, and tests felt almost alien. But I was glad to have some normalcy back, some sense of time, some structure. Seeing my classmates' faces on the screen is beer than not seeing them at all. The good thing about online school is knowing that we are participating in responsible learning: We can't meet physically; it's simply not fair to our essential workers. By adapting to this new circumstance, we teach each other to be mindful of the wider community in which we live—the one that needs us to stay inside and, for the time being, remain online. n Right on Time by Yara S. '21 Yara S. has just completed her junior year. 4 1 T R E V O R D AY S C H O O L n S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 – 2 0 2 0