“Ring, ring, ring”, the alarm clock sounds. It is 7:34 a.m.. You have one minute to log onto class. You grab your computer, log on, and then begin to wake up and get ready. Before you know it it is now 8:05 a.m. and you have missed half of class either on your phone or finishing up last night’s homework. Although this isn’t the story for all people, I know it is for some, and it was for me. It was always a constant struggle to stay focused in class with a phone and an entire room full of distractions.

I have never been one who liked going to school. I always thought of it as just part of life, something you had to do on your track to becoming an adult. But over the pandemic, my viewpoints on the matter have changed tremendously and I can now say that I am very happy to be back at school full time.

Over this past school year, I have experienced what it is like to be a student part of the hybrid model, the RLA model, and now the full return.

I started the year off in the hybrid model. It was nice to be able to come to school and see people. For those three hours a day every other week, it seemed as if there was some normalcy in life. But then the bell would ring at 10:50 A.M., and it would all come back that this is far from normal. Now we would go home to have asynchronous work for the rest of the afternoon with no one pestering us to do it. The lack of sheer class time made it very difficult to learn and retain the knowledge at the beginning of this year.

In December, I went fully remote. Being remote was the most stressful of them all. For some students, it worked out well. But for myself, someone who struggles to stay focused on school work, I found it very challenging. I was always avoiding assignments in the early morning saying, “it’s okay I’ll have time later”, which led to being extremely backed up on assignments, and stressed out over when I was going to be able to accomplish them.

I also hit a new level of procrastination to the point where I would begin my homework in the early hours of the morning the day it was due. This caused a massive conflict because I would be so tired in the morning it became incredibly challenging just to stay awake in class never, mind be productive and get things done. Also, with rooms in my house becoming “school”, it was hard to actually get away from school and have free time. Although there were some benefits like having an hour-long lunch period, the lack of structure and accountability made it nearly impossible to stay up to date in classes and homework.

Now being back in school for a week full time, it is a relief. The initial concerns like waking up earlier and the amount of homework I would have quickly left my mind. With a need to get up in the morning, I am going to bed much earlier and prioritizing my time better. I have less open space in the day and am holding myself accountable to et work done My early concerns about having a massive amount of homework were false and with more time in the day focusing on school, while at school I am able to get the majority of the work done before leaving for the day. Due to this, I am able to focus on things besides school as soon as I leave the building, instead of taking work home. Leaving this experience to be a breath of fresh air and extremely less stress than the RLA model. Although I know there are still things that are a bit confusing, like the bells and the lunch period, I think it is great that students are back in the building for full-time learning.