As Vanguards venture back to in-person learning at El Modena high school, Vanguards can’t help but feel a little weird. But that’s ok! How else could high school be during a pandemic?  What adds to this weird feeling are the plethora of masks dotted all over the El Modena campus.

   When was the last time you saw students wearing medical masks to school? Regardless of opinions about the mask mandate at school, masks are required and they will accompany us into this bizarre school year.

   Masks aren’t the only thing that is causing a wave of weirdness to wash all over Vanguards. The in-person factor has caused high schoolers everywhere to feel unorthodox about returning to school, including many Vanguards as they spent their previous school year(s) from home learning remotely.

   As a result, students not only feel disoriented from the all-day mask-wearing, but also feel disoriented from the reintroduction to classroom-based teaching. Factors such as being in a public space, socializing, and/or being away from a screen has caused students all over the world to feel abnormal and a little uneasy about returning to school.

    It can all feel very overwhelming to some students or it may feel like a walk in the park for others.

   But regardless, whatever degree of strangeness we feel about returning (or entering) El Modena is totally fine. It may be a hard year for some, but as Vanguards we have to remember to have each other’s backs and respect each other’s comfortability levels in this period of incalculable bizarreness.

   Collectively readjusting to in-person education won’t be a quick fix, but it will be a welcome period of communal growth. Vanguards, dust off those study skills, readjust those masks, take breaks from looking at the screen, and stock up on hand sanitizer; it’s going to be an interesting school year.

   (If you feel as if you may need to speak to a professional about your emotions, contact your counselor for more information.)