After being in the in-person learning environment since February, many people can safely say that the decision to go in person was the right one. It was a hard and difficult decision to make, but in the end, it worked out for the better. 

When the school board announced that students would begin fully in-person learning, many families thought this was the first step for things to go back to normal. But for other families, it couldn’t have been more of a worse decision. 

“When I had heard that we would be going back to fully in-person school, I was excited but when I thought about it more, I didn’t know if it would be a good decision.” junior Zander Barkemeyer said

Countless families and students had the same reaction when it came to in-person schooling, including junior Logan Boehm. 

“I wanted to stay hybrid, I thought it was the best and safest way to prevent any COVID-19 outbreaks as well as making sure students went to some in-person schooling,” Boehm said. 

Looking back at it now, numerous families and students think that the in-person learning environment was a good decision and helped improve the quality of the bland school year. 

“At first I was a little disappointed and upset that they chose to put us back into the in-person learning environment,” Boehm said. “I thought that we would be in-person for a few weeks and then go right back to the hybrid schedule, or even fully online if it got really bad.”

Barkemeyer had the same thought and believed that the in-person environment wouldn’t last more than a couple of weeks. 

“Even though I wanted to go into in-person schooling, I thought that it wouldn’t last that long and we would be in a new learning model in a matter of weeks,” Barkmeyer said. 

Now, being at the start of May and still participating in the in-person learning model, many students and families could agree that the decision felt rushed at the start. However, as students are getting ready to finish the school year in person, many could say that it was the right decision. 

“I thought it was the right decision, to begin with, and I still think that now,” Barkemyer said.  

With the crazy 2020-21 school year wrapping up, it is safe to say that things are starting to get back to normal, and hopefully

 the 2021-22 school year will look a lot different.