CLASS OF 2020 VS. CLASS OF 2025: When people in Englewood refer to the global Covid-19 pandemic and how it has impacted students, they often think of the Class of 2020 that was most adversely affected. However, I think that the Class of 2025, current freshmen, is the class that has encountered the greatest challenges. Due to the sudden transition of in-person to remote learning at the outbreak of the pandemic, these students were thrust into a new environment without any of the necessary social and academic growth and development they should have experienced during middle school, thus, preventing them from fully integrating into high school “society.”

Unlike any other freshman class before, this year’s freshmen at Dwight Morrow High School were not able to immerse themselves into the school’s culture and community. I can only imagine how isolating it must have felt to be a freshman at the start of this school year. In fact, prior to the pandemic, it was almost a tradition for the upperclassmen at Dwight Morrow High School to help out with the incoming freshmen.

I remember my freshman year when the seniors were more than willing to show me to my classes or to give me advice on how to deal with certain teachers. But this year I saw freshmen struggling to find their classes and no one there to help. With both Covid restrictions and guidelines in place as well as students and teachers dealing with an adjustment back to in-person learning, the freshmen at our school are forced to assimilate on their own.

POSITIVE OUTLOOK: However, perhaps there is a silver lining. While the issue of freshmen not being comfortable with the DMHS campus is prevalent, they also have some advantages. They may have the opportunity that no other class in any high school before will be able to afford: a “normal” four years. If everyone masks up and gets vaccinated, the coronavirus might be manageable despite Omicron.

Now that students are back in school, local officials and administrators would be reluctant to send us all back to virtual school. This allows the freshmen to possibly have all four years of their high school experience within the physical walls of a high school! They also have a common experience that bonds them together once they start talking about it. From an outside perspective, it seems like the freshmen have a camaraderie that I didn’t have when I was a freshman. Although they seem more disconnected from the rest of the school at this point, these freshmen have the chance to cultivate a community amongst themselves unlike any other.