Following the daily life of three different highschool students could give us a lot of clues on what is happening with school systems during the pandemic, and what is helping students do well in school while having to stray away from a normal school year schedule. The story will be following the daily life of three different students from three different schools, and it may give us answers as to what triton could do to improve daily life of students at triton. 

Emily, Kat, and Mia are three girls with the one thing  in common; they are high school students trying to figure out how to get used to going to school during a global pandemic.

The Triton Voice follwed each of these girls around to get a picture of what each day looks like and to  help other students and schools see what makes students stressed out, and possibly find ways to solve this stress,. 

Katerina Yelsits is a junior at North Andover high school, and has a pretty different schedule from the students at triton. Kat takes AP and honors classes, and has been doing  very well in school during this time. But according to her, the teachers at her school have been easing up on all of the school work to give students a break and time to get other things done during. 

“My AP U.S. history teacher doesn’t believe in failing, the worst grade we can get is a C-,” said Yeltsis. North Andover also does hybrid days just like triton does, They Have a cohort A, and cohort B. For online days, Kat says she has to do little to no work. “I don’t even have to sign onto zoom or google meet for online classes,  I only have to attend classes that are in school.” These classes are only 3 times a week for Kat. 

Being a hockey player, Yeltsits still has time to go to hockey games and practices while keeping up with her school work during this time. Yeltsis says “I think my school is doing a good job keeping the workload down, it helps a lot because it is really hard to focus at home with online classes.”

Mia Koutoulas is a senior at  Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield. She, also does hybrid at her school. According to Mia, the school has required students to take 7 classes instead of 6 this year, and students go into school every other day. Along with triton, Masconomet  has two cohorts. When one cohort is in school, the other is online. “Every week is different, being online one day and in school the next makes it hard to get into a routine.”

According to Koutoulas, the hybrid system throws her off of a regular schedule. Also being a field hockey player, she finds it hard to find time for everything. “Usually it’s a lot easier to get things done when i have a set schedule, but It feels like everyday is different.” A common day for mia starts with waking up, signing onto her classes, or going into school. She then tries to get all of her work done, and goes straight to field hockey every day after school. “I barely get to see my family during this, I spend all day working, then I have to go home and finish all of the work that I have due.”

Mia being a senior, has to also worry about applying to college and keeping her grades up to get into her dream college. “Being a senior and applying for college is so hard because it feels like I get no help when applying.” Like many others during this time, Mia had a hard time getting in touch with the counselors at her school for help with her college essay, and with applying. “The biggest help was getting advice from my parents, If i didn’t have them I don’t think I would have figured it out on my own,” 

Here at Triton, Emily Johnson is a senior, and following her everyday school life showed what  seniors at triton are losing. Emily’s schedule is also a hybrid system. At Triton there is a cohort A, and Cohort B. Emily spends Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday’s online, and spends Tuesdays and Thursdays in school.. Emily is part of many school clubs such as the yearbook committee, DECA, and she is also a class officer. 

“Being a class officer for the seniors this year is very hard because we have to plan everything around COVID guidelines,” said Johnson. “Wwe are trying the best we can to make this senior year as special as possible.” Being so involved in the triton community, Emily does the she can to make a difference at the school during the pandemic, but there is only so much we can do.

As for school work, Johnson feels that it is very hard to get things done during online school. “I find myself almost falling asleep during class, and procrastinating work that the teachers give us during class.” On a common online day, Johnson wakes up, signs onto classes and tries to focus and do her work from home until the school day is over, “I don’t do much on online days, I mostly just sign onto class, and try And get my homework done.” 

On online days of school, Johnson feels more involved and inclined to do school work. “Its much easier getting work done in school, i dont have the same distractions as i would at home, and I am fully awake and not tired as much in school.” The environment makes a huge difference in productivity for Johnson, being in school makes her much more productive. 

For all three of the students, t Hybrid seems to be the most common and effective way that schools are handling the coronavirus. With corona getting worse, So is the stress of many students. Things are soon changing even more as the virus continues its second wave. before we know it, we might not even be able to go into school at all, and hybrid will be something that is just a fond memory.