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New Marketing Course Explores Social Media In-Depth

November 22, 2022

Angela Mac and Anusha Sambangi
LAYOUT EDITORS

A new course at Andover High School, Advertising & Social Media, offers insight into lesser-known aspects of social media—marketing and branding.

The course is taught by Ashley Kinsman and Karen Stevens. In Advertising & Social Media, students learn how to use various marketing strategies, brand themselves, and other different business tools. With Generation Z being one of the first to grow up alongside technology, a course about social media may seem obsolete; however, Advertising & Social Media is a course that offers skills and concepts that students can take with them into the real world. This includes how social media can be used to market brands, celebrities, and ourselves and possibly make an income.

“Some of the fun things about the class are just exploring how to market to more modern-day technology… and how you can use marketing as a tool,” said Kinsman. “I think they’re very real-world skills,” she continued, “[the class] allows you to explore real-world concepts and how we can relate them to a classroom.”

This semester, Kinsman and Stevens run two half-credit sections of the class, each with 24 students. Both teachers look forward to running the course this year and are happy with how it has been going.

There are a variety of reasons why students enroll in Advertising & Social Media. AHS junior Amelie Pinard runs the Cheering on Children club at AHS and stated that she “wanted to know more about… what [she could] do to promote [her] club on social media, and…what effects that would have on the club itself.” Pinard recommended the course to any interested students, explaining that “we’re going to have to learn more on social media for advertising [in the future]” and that these skills could lead to better networking and countless new professions.

This year, students started by researching different types of blogs ranging from food to politics, then they compared them and noted the specific blog components that caught their attention.

Pinard “chose a cooking blog, and what [she] really liked [was] the organization and [the] different recipes you could choose from.” Students, after researching their blogs, started to create their own. In addition to learning about blogs, students looked into negative and immoral marketing.

In the course, students can gain a new perspective on current events that connect to the material they explore in class. In light of the controversy regarding Adidas’ former partnership with Kanye “Ye” West, Pinard commented that West “said some things on his behalf that [gained] them publicity, but it wasn’t necessarily moral. It was interesting to see how big brands were using that.”

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The Mystery of the Dirt Room

November 22, 2022

Its Place in the History and Culture of AHS

Naomi Bloom
MANAGING EDITOR

Rows of desks along a dirt floor. Cement pillars and ceilings. The names of former students litter the walls, and there are scattered cans of shaving cream in the dust, with the occasional rat scurrying past. When one thinks of Andover High School, they would never conjure up that image. But it exists in the school.

For as long as AHS has been around, so have stories of the Dirt Room. While the majority of those stories and rumors are not true, many still believe that the Dirt Room is a large part of AHS history and culture.

For those who don’t know, the Dirt Room is a room that lives up to its name. It is full of dirt in a tucked-away area of the school. It does not have much use, aside from being a storage space, and it is off-limits to students.

“It has no real purpose,” said media specialist and librarian John Berube. “On the original plans it is described as ‘unexcavated space’.”

An AHS alumni from the class of 2021, Noct Caruso, recalled their first time going to the Dirt Room: “I remember it just being kind of unreal to be in. It didn’t feel man made, like nature had just summoned itself in that room.”

Berube added that across a small hill of dirt where the floor dips, there is even a door with a room number. However, the lights are not in an easily-accessible spot, according to AHS science teacher Ralph Bledsoe. “All it is is a dark room if you don’t get the lights on,” he said.

Bledsoe was surprised that so many students are aware of the Dirt Room. “I don’t even know how kids found out about the place,” he said. “The first time I went looking was because people were talking about it. It’s not on your walking path, it’s way out of the way, so you literally have to go searching and have someone show you how to get there.” Despite that, the Dirt Room has continued to draw in students, year after year, through its stories, or simply the appeal of going somewhere that is not supposed to be explored.

“Actually, I’m surprised that it’s gone on as long as it has,” said Scott Worthley, the manager of the Collins Center. “Every year, students come up to me and ask me about the Dirt Room.”

Students often become curious about it due to the various rumors that circulate. All of those interviewed mentioned the story about the Dirt Room being an unfinished pool, and some recalled even taller tales. “One of the wildest things [I’ve heard] is that someone was buried in there and they couldn’t replace it because the process of getting the body exhumed, identified, and moved was too expensive,” said Caruso. “I first heard part of it in eighth grade from seniors who had given us tours of the building.”

Due to these mysteries behind the Dirt Room, it has become a large part of AHS’s history and culture. “Those rumors that come out of them make the spirit of the school more inviting,” said Caruso. “[They] make the culture of any school, because most teenagers live on some variation of rumors, mythos, and drama in their environment.” Bobby Hawes, AHS Technical Theater teacher, agreed and said that it was a significant part of AHS in his high school experience as well, having graduated in 2012.

But, students typically are not allowed to go to the Dirt Room unsupervised. Bledsoe and Worthley explained that this is partially due to the fact that it is used as a storage space, as well as because to get there, one would have to pass through more storage areas. “We don’t want any of it to go missing… all the extra vacuums, lightbulbs, batteries, anything,” said Bledsoe. Worthley added that the TV studio uses it for storage as well, leaving an assortment of their old supplies there.

Along with that issue, the Dirt Room is not the safest. “It’s dirt and it has random stuff; you don’t know who’s gonna trip and fall,” said Bledsoe. Hawes also said that the Dirt Room has some “treacherous footfalls,” but thinks that with permission and staff supervision, it is safer.

Due to the potential injury that the Dirt Room could result in, its entrances are locked. Worthley said that because students have still tried to sneak in, the administration has been “cracking down” on securing the Dirt Room more than they did so in prior years.

Bledsoe said that it made sense why the administration would want to keep students out. However, he understood the draw of it to students: “Everybody wants to search every nook and cranny of every place they go,” he noted. “That’s just what you do.”

Where Did ALICE Go?

November 14, 2022

Ethan Zabar and Pippa Konow
LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER/STAFF WRITER

Due to COVID-19, Andover High School has not experienced an ALICE drill since the 2018-2019 school year.

While AHS has experienced several fire drills since quarantine ended, many students are concerned about the underuse of ALICE drills, which may leave them unprepared in the event of an emergency.

“[An] ALICE drill is a flowchart—a lot of if/then reactions need to be taken into account,” said AHS senior Fenyx Klock. Klock said that, unfortunately, “a lot of practice is necessary and not having had a drill since eighth grade is concerning.”

Despite student concern over the lack of ALICE drills in past years, Assistant Principal Scott Darlington has maintained a positive outlook on the impact of safety-related drills and procedures at AHS.

“Any time there is a drill, it is always a learning situation,” Darlington stated. “I don’t think that a gap between training and a drill will cause problems. It will result in areas of growth, however, when we do have an ALICE drill. We can always get better in response to drills of emergency situations.”

Darlington also expressed that each member of the AHS faculty has a role to play in creating a safe environment for students during drills, and stated that AHS faculty and staff are instructed to do all they can to make students feel as protected as possible during drills. He explained that outside of ALICE drills, “faculty is given training at faculty meetings on fire evacuations and given additional emergency information at faculty meetings and in staff communications.” This training helps equip every member of the AHS faculty to individually serve beneficial roles in drills when they occur.

There has been a severe increase in gun-related violence in the past couple years, especially after coming out of quarantine. In reaction to this, a group of Andover High School students created the group Andover Students Against Injustice (ASAI) shortly after the Uvalde School shooting last May. On May 26, 2022, a walk out was organized by ASAI at the front of the school, holding a collective moment of silence, speeches, and motivational words, reminding students and staff of the fight for the safety of all persons.

“Even if we do get practice, it’s all self-preservation if an event like this happens,” said Pantazi. “I don’t think we can formulate students’ reactions around an event like this.”

COURTESY PHOTO / **Ethan Zabar**
New SRO, Officer Paolera, enforces stronger ALICE preparations.

“The aim of [ASAI] is to speak about issues and injustices in our community and our country,” stated Emma Pantazi, an AHS senior and co-leader of ASAI. “[While] we’ve seen videos and been educated on what ALICE is, I feel like we are wholly unprepared for a drill, real or fake.” These are all things that should be avoided during a life-or-death situation.

ASAI is also addressing other issues. “It’s not just gun violence,” said Andrew Magner, AHS senior and co-leader of ASAI. “Even though that’s one of the main things we started… we’re trying to spread it to several different causes.”

During the summer, ASAI met up and discussed the news of Roe v Wade being overturned, allowing Andover residents a place to ask questions, discuss what is happening, and a place allowing comfort for those affected.

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Student-Athletes Visit Elementary Schools

May 23, 2022

Jacqueline Zhu
COPY EDITOR

Andover High School students participating in the Warrior Way program visited Andover’s elementary schools on Friday, April 15.

According to physical education teacher Brittany McNally, who advises the Warrior Way program along with Assistant Athletic Director Kerry Cashman, Warrior Way is a student leadership, community service, and mentoring program designed to promote positive values in Andover Public Schools. Founded in 2009 by AHS physical education teacher Carol Martini, it aims to foster leadership among AHS students while encouraging students of all grades to demonstrate the ideals of the program.

COURTESY PHOTO / Brittany McNally
Warrior Way participants teaching a lesson to South Elementary School students

Every year, Warrior Way participants visit the elementary school that they went to. If there are too many students at one school, the upperclassmen will be prioritized and the underclassmen will be assigned to a different school. If students did not attend elementary school at a public school in Andover, they will be assigned to a school that needs more students.

During the April 15 visits, Warrior Way members performed a variety of activities with the elementary students and accompanied them during their classes, lunch, and recess. “We showed [the students] a video filled with clips from different clubs, sports, and activities at the high school,” stated Emma Reilly, a junior and Warrior Way participant.

The elementary students were also given lessons which varied based on their grade. Each grade level focused on a specific theme — “Friendship and Caring” for kindergarten, “Enthusiasm and Effort” for first grade, “Teamwork” for second grade, “Cooperation” for third grade, “Sportsmanship” for fourth grade, and “Character” for fifth grade. Fifth grade students also completed a self-assessment reviewing the positive character traits they’ve learned throughout their years of being a part of the Warrior Way program.

“For fifth grade specifically, [students] played a directions game to illustrate the importance of listening to others and cooperating with peers,” said Reilly.

“The third graders that I was with [gave] us examples of respecting/cooperating with others,” stated Nasha Palsetia, junior. The students later drew their examples out on a piece of paper.

McNally and Cashman worked with elementary school administrators and student leaders to organize the visits. “We communicate with the elementary school administrators to schedule the visit and get lists of how many classrooms, students, etc. there are at each school,” explained McNally. “Our leadership team prepares a folder for each individual elementary classroom. The folders contain all materials necessary for the grade-level lessons that will be taught during the visit.”

COURTESY PHOTO / Brittany McNally
Warrior Way participants performing activities with South Elementary School students

“As a Warrior Way chairman, we organized the whole event and selected all of the participants,” said senior Charles Higgins. Students are selected based on a variety of factors, including attendance, character, leadership, and extracurricular activities.

This year’s visits were the first in-person visits since before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our last in-person visit was in 2019,” stated McNally. Virtual Warrior Way programs were created in 2020 and 2021.

When asked what their favorite aspects of the visits were, Warrior Way participants gave a variety of responses. “One of my favorite parts of the visit was recess,” said Palsetia. “Many of the students wanted their leaders to play several activities with them, and my class’s favorite was duck duck goose. The game had become so popular that third graders from other classes joined in!”

Reilly’s favorite part of the visit was giving back to the community. “I went to South Elementary myself, so being able to go back to the place that fostered my love for learning and the town of Andover was really special,” she said. “All the elementary school teachers told us over and over again that Warrior Way was the students’ favorite day of the year, and being part of that was amazing.”

Some Classes to Change Focus After Seniors Depart

May 23, 2022

Ethan Zabar
STAFF WRITER

After the Andover High School senior class departs from the school, teachers of upperclassmen and mixed grade classes have all sorts of plans for their remaining students.

After the AHS senior class graduation on June 6, AP Psychology teacher Katy Vives thinks the rest of the year will be relaxed but engaging. “It’s hard to hold a ‘formal’ class with only a handful of students,” Vives said. “It’s a great opportunity to connect with the remaining students and get to know more about their interests in or out of school. Some nature walks are also a great way to hold class discussions.” Vives also stated that students left over after seniors graduate will have more of an opportunity to speak up and be heard in class.

Vives stated that in order to keep her AP Psychology class productive but enjoyable, she will give her students some elbow room to look forward to. “As I’ll only have a handful of students left, I’m going to allow them to pursue a topic of their choosing to investigate further or perhaps to create their own psychological experiment within the school,” Vives said. “An activity that could be fun for students, and myself, would be to conduct a film study that looks at movies that include psychological concepts, but not overtly so. Choosing a topic from the class that held interest for them, students could find a film that highlights or shows an application of that concept woven throughout the movie.”

AP classes aren’t the only classes where leftover students should be excited, though. Physics teacher Michael Wall spoke on his plans for the final weeks of school after the seniors graduate. “Once the seniors have finished with their academics there will still be several juniors in my physics classes,” Wall stated. “At this time of the year, we will focus on one or two topics in a bit more detail and I tend to take a more hands-off approach, and I don’t want to give too much away yet, but I do have a project in mind. There is also the potential for some bonus points, so the juniors that do a good, thorough job, should have a nice way to end the year with a high grade in physics.”

Wall also seemed confident that classes would still end on a high note when summer vacation comes around, even with the seniors gone. “The end of the year is a good time for being in school and it goes by very quickly for both students and teachers,” he said. “There is an expectation of summer vacation, but because the days are longer and warmer, and life has again bloomed all around us, the mood is cheerier. The juniors are now the oldest students in the building and the notion of being the school leaders is beginning to settle in for them. Even though it’s the end of the school year it’s really the time of new beginnings for them…a perfect theme for spring!”

As both Wall and Vives said, there’s plenty of room for fun in the last few weeks of school, even with the seniors off and graduating. AHS junior Joey Martellucci spoke on his experiences in his mixed grade class from last year. “I took Music Production last semester of last year, and I barely even noticed the seniors were gone, to be honest,” Martellucci said. “That class was always very fun, so our teacher made sure we were busy and engaged even once the seniors graduated. The class was also more relaxed, although the topics we covered in class stayed the same.” Martellucci went on to express his excitement for the last few weeks of school in his Music Theory class this year.

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The New Standard: Importance of Community Service Today

March 14, 2022

Jocelyn Barton
STAFF WRITER

Standardized tests and scores are now becoming optional in college applications. With this, colleges are becoming more dependable on a student’s personal values and accomplishments. What better way to offer this insight than presenting your interests and offerings to helping your community through community service?

Anne-Marie Fortier, a guidance counselor at Andover High School, explained that community service is extremely valuable to colleges. She stressed the importance of finding a service where you get something in return as well. “You want to be connected to the community service that you’re involved in,” said Fortier. “You want to get value from it.” Finding something that you enjoy doing is just as important as donating your time and effort.

Mary Testa, also a guidance counselor, said that she volunteered at a hospital when she was in high school. Not knowing if medicine may be a possible future career, community service helped her to explore this interest. “It was really nice helping people and seeing what people did for a living,” said Testa.

Volunteering offers real-world experience and builds career prospects, which is especially important to students finding themselves. Testa explained, “[Community service] can be something that builds your character and builds your reputation, which is really important when you’re going through life and asking, ‘Who do you want to be?’”

COURTESY PHOTO / Mara Durán-Clark
AHS’s Key Club and the Kiwanis Group participate in the annual George Street Bridge cleanup

Community service also aids in bringing you closer to the needs of your community. Organizations in need of help take to heart the energy you put into making an impact on those in need. “It makes you appreciate what you have and you get to see the difference you can make in a short amount of time with sometimes minimal effort,” said Testa. It can empower you to make a difference even if it is only affecting one person.

Now, more than ever, organizations are in need of help due to COVID. Whether it be signing up to volunteer at an organized facility or doing kind deeds throughout the day, every act counts. “Any gesture of kindness, giving back, or putting other people’s needs first can really give you that same feeling of helping others,” said Testa.

Interestingly enough, AHS does not require community service to be completed. Letting students find their own ways of giving back to their community shows an individual’s initiative.

AHS also directly offers some community service opportunities that are led by students and provide local help to Andover’s community. Clubs such as Key Club, Interact Club, Neuroscience Club, and countless more offer opportunities to support the Andover community through a student lead organization.

On a much broader scale, the town of Andover prides itself on its Community Services Department, which is composed of the Andover DIVERSE, Elder, Recreation, Veteran, and Youth Services. These divisions are focused on building a better Andover with the benefit of community initiative.

To begin your search for community service opportunities, take a look at some provided sources that would welcome your help below! (Be aware: Some organizations may not be taking volunteers at this time due to COVID.)

Community Service Opportunities Download

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COVID-19’s Impact on Extracurriculars

February 28, 2022

Naomi Bloom
STAFF WRITER

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many extracurricular activities throughout the year. However, due to the surge in cases after winter break, several extracurriculars have had to take extra precautions.

Since many families and friends gathered over winter break, COVID-19 cases spiked again, almost twice as many as the surge last winter. This is most likely due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. The rise in cases combined with the prior accommodations made for the pandemic forced many extracurriculars to do more to keep students safe.

The Athletic Director of the Andover Public Schools district, Bill Martin, spoke on the impact that the surge in cases had on the district’s sports teams and their fans. “We have had most of our teams affected by the number of athletes and coaches that have been out due to COVID,” he said. To ensure that their teams wouldn’t have to miss any competitions, a few games were postponed.

Additionally, the number of fans allowed at games has decreased. However, Martin said that he was hoping that by the end of the winter season, there will be fewer COVID cases and that the regular amount of fans will be able to return to the games.

In some instances, extracurricular activities have had to withdraw from their programs. For example, the AHS Model United Nations club is no longer attending this year’s Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) conference. The conference was set to take place in person near the end of January, so the school’s delegates withdrew. Out of the thirty to fifty students at AHS that attend the HMUN meetings, fifteen delegates would have gone to the conference. Other delegates would have been coming from all around the world. Michael McCarthy, the teacher advisor for the program at AHS, said that he was worried about the possible spread of COVID there. “I had a lot of concerns about the delegates’ safety, so we withdrew our participation,” he said. “I was concerned that students would contract [COVID] and would be absent from school and would miss out… it’s a very large organization, and so with some kids out, they would miss out on a fun extracurricular opportunity.”

COURTESY PHOTO / Andover Robotics
What a normal in-person robotics meet in the AHS cafeteria looks like

The school’s robotics teams have also had to accommodate for the pandemic. Round one of the robotics tournament was going to be held in the AHS cafeteria in January, but because of the surge in cases, it was postponed. The competition in Canton was also postponed. “We’ll have ‘Practice Judging Days’ instead, which would be done remotely,” said Canyu Li, a freshman on team Thunder. Minda Reidy, the teacher advisor for the robotics program, said that was done “as a general cautionary.” She also noted that the schools of some other teams in the state were not allowed to travel, so several teams would have missed the meet. “We also put into consideration that we were asking a lot of people to be in tighter [quarters] than we should really with a big Omicron concern,” she added. Thankfully, though, the teams will still be able to take part in their Practice Judging Days and were able to host the tournament round in February.

In addition, the AHS math team was also impacted by the pandemic. While the school’s team was able to attend the meet that took place after winter break, some other teams were not able to. Dorothy Power, the teacher advisor for the team, was glad that the team could still make it to the competitions. “We were really fortunate that Mr. Darlington helped us find a way to travel beginning in January, and that all of our mathletes were healthy and could attend,” she said. These teachers and students are hoping that the pandemic will come to an end and their activities will be able to return to normal. “I’m hoping that this is the beginning of the end and that we can eventually—and probably soon—say goodbye to COVID in some way,” said McCarthy.

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Graphs of COVID-19 Updates

February 14, 2022

Naomi Bloom

STAFF WRITER

Last updated Feb. 7, 2022

The graphs show the number of new cases reported by day, week, month, and overall in Andover High School and the Andover Public School district since the return to school after winter break on January 3, 2022.

After winter break, there was a surge in COVID-19 cases, but the numbers are gradually decreasing. According to the Andover Public Schools COVID-19 Dashboard, shown on the Weekly Cases graph, the number of cases in the school has tended to spike after the weekends, then go down over the week. This pattern has been repeating each week since the break, but the spikes have been becoming smaller.

The Dashboard resets on Saturdays, but as of February 7th, as shown in the Total Cases graph, over 317 students at Andover High School and nearly 100 students and staff in the district had tested positive for COVID since after winter break. This is about 17.6% and 14.7%, respectively, of students and staff. While the number of cases is at a steady decline, it is still important to follow the COVID-19 guidelines and be careful to not catch it.

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Drama Guild Returns to Competing

February 14, 2022

Eva Liss

STAFF WRITER

After a year and a half break due to the pandemic, Andover High School is returning in person to the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival this spring.

The Drama Festival, also known as Fest, is a competition stretching over multiple rounds. The 2020 season was cut short by the pandemic, and the 2021 season was held virtually. However, this year, Andover is back to participating fully in-person. There will be accommodations made for the pandemic, including fewer host sites than usual and mandatory masks and vaccinations. Every participating school competes with a 40 minute long, one-act play and is judged on acting, tech, and general presentation skills.

COURTESY PHOTO / Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild
The Drama Festival’s 2022 logo

“The way [Fest] got cut off my sophomore year… for my grade and the grade below me, [going back to competition this year is] like a comeback,” said senior Gray DiNino. “I think [it’s] going to be great this year, because even though it’s not the same as normal, it’s better than nothing.”

Due to COVID, instead of the usual three rounds of Preliminaries, Semi-Finals, and Finals, there will be two rounds this year: Preliminaries and Regionals. The preliminary rounds are scheduled for March 19 and 20, and regionals will be held April 2 and 3. All audience members, staff, and performing members of high school companies will be required to provide proof of vaccination and wear masks for the entirety of the competition. Additionally, while AHS would host at least one round in a normal year, AHS Show Choir is holding a competition taking place on those days, so Fest taking place at AHS is not possible.

Although this year’s modifications may seem major, there are benefits to a toned-down competition. “[This year] is a good way to introduce Fest at a less intense level for anyone who’s never done it before,” said DiNino. Susan Choquette, director of Theatre Arts, had the same opinion. She said, “Until you experience Fest, you don’t really know what to expect or what you might be missing… but I can tell you—and if you ask one of the upperclassmen they can tell you—that it’s just one of the very best experiences.”

This year, AHS’s play is Portraiture by Katherine Budinger. Budinger is a freshman at Johns Hopkins and graduated from AHS last year.

The AHS Tech Crew is very excited to be a part of the production. DiNino and sophomore Anat Briskin are set designers, sophomore Hannah Lehmann is the costume designer, and senior Alex Worthley is the stage manager. On the acting side, auditions were held on January 19 and January 20, with callbacks on January 21. The first rehearsal was held January 27.

Briskin expressed that she’s been looking forward to Fest since her freshman year, when she first learned of the intensity of AHS theater. Freshman Jonathan Oatman had the same opinion, expressing a feeling of anticipation towards the production.

“I almost didn’t do [Fest] because I’d heard it was super stressful,” said Oatman, “because we have a short time to put together something we’re competing with, but I talked to [an upperclassman] and here I am… I’ve always loved the feeling of being that close with a group of people because of a performance.”

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OPINION: Should Schools Be In-Person with COVID Surge?

February 14, 2022

Philippa Konow

STAFF WRITER

COVID-19, the modern-day plague, has ravaged this world for almost three years now. Schools across the country have repeatedly opened and closed throughout these years in an attempt to battle the virus. New mask mandates and lockdown policies are still being created every day to protect students and staff. This time of high anxiety and mental decline has caused many to question what the right steps are to get the pandemic under control, especially with the new variants evading almost everything we have.

With the most recent surge of COVID-19 popping up after this year’s winter break and sending hundreds of students and staff in the Andover Public Schools district into quarantine, many are wondering if being in school in person is safe. I recall friends, classmates, and myself asking a very common question: “Why are we still in school?” This was a question I continued to hear in every class and H-Block for weeks after the break. Why are schools still open?

The pandemic has been a big struggle for the science community. There have been so many questions and so few answers due to the ever-changing state of the virus. Alan Kalf, a science teacher at Andover High School, said that “as our knowledge of epidemiology and biology develops, it can be frustrating for people to see health and safety expectations change”—referring to the changing quarantine guidelines. “No solution is a perfect solution; all involve compromises, and the government and society have decided that the risks of spreading COVID-19 are worth the benefits of being in school,” Kalf stated.

While I am worried about the current pandemic surge, the idea of going back to remote schooling is one I strongly dislike. The emotional and mental toll it can take on both students and teachers is severe. “There are studies out there that have said depression rates are higher due to [COVID-19] and the isolation while at home,” stated AHS health teacher Holly Breen.

“I have already been isolated away from other people enough through the pandemic, and I don’t know if I could necessarily go through another hiatus without it taking a major toll on my school work and my mental health,” said one student. They aren’t the only ones who struggled during remote classes. “Keeping students isolated seems to have impeded some students’ emotional and social maturity,” said Kalf.

There are some solutions that could be implemented. One shared by many students is to better reinforce the rules in place. “It would [probably] be nice to start requiring the vaccine unless you can’t get it for medical reasons,” suggested Gabriel Lima, a senior at AHS. “The virus seems to spread the most during this time of year.”

“I’ve heard that two lunchrooms were a pain last year, but I think that having the entire school packed into one cafeteria while eating is probably causing a lot of issues as well, given that there’s not enough space to safely social distance with the mask off,” suggested Diya Ganesh, a junior.

I definitely agree with having multiple lunchrooms because having one-quarter of the school in the cafeteria is extremely crowded, with not enough space to socially distance.

“Across the country, I wish that schools had better funding, classes were smaller, hallways less crowded, and buildings in better condition to be as safe as possible,” said Kalf. Having a school that isn’t big enough for all of the students definitely increases the number of cases.

The most important thing to remember is that staying safe is a group effort. Everyone needs to take their part in battling this virus by getting vaccinated, wearing masks properly, and obeying the safety protocols and quarantine guidelines.