9th Grade | Traditional High School

I had just come back from my gap year, and I was still readjusting back to American high school. Because COVID was still a major pandemic at the time, my classes were virtual. I really did not envision that my first year in high school would be on a computer, but unfortunately, it had ended up that way. Regardless, learning online was definitely a new experience for me because there was a disconnect between my teacher and I. Usually, I remain in close contact with the teacher because I need help a lot, but this was definitely harder as there was also no after school clinics.

Gym
(Alternate Day Course)

Because Gym was virtual, there was not much exercise actually involved. I would just go on a morning run and track it on Strava because that was the app we were using. The amount of exercise was very minimal because walks were allowed and we only had to do it 2-3 times a week.

Accelerated Essentials of Art
(Alternate Day Course)

Although art was virtual, it was easier to manage because I had art materials at home. If I need materials, I would just hop over to school with a mask on and get the paper and the drawing/painting tools I need. One of the last projects that I did not get to see in fruition was the 3-D mask because it was virtual.

Honors Algebra II
(Full Year Course)

Because I enjoy math, having virtual math was not a big deal for me. Even though many people said that our teacher was not the best, I felt that the way my teacher organized each day made sense. Also, my teacher was trying her best to make the most out of the situation, and she was getting used to the technology.

Honors English 9
(Full Year Course)

This course was an interesting one because we had a big final project. With no one allowed to be near each other, Google Meet was the major mode of communication for that project and for the year. Because I was stuck in the mindset that "my English is bad" as I have struggled in previous classes, I struggled all throughout the year especially on my essays. I think the major problem was that the teacher did not know who I was, so there was a major disconnection between me and the teacher.

Honors German II
(Full Year Course)

I love to learn languages, but because it was virtual. The workload was much lighter than I would expect from an honors German course. I worked hard in this class to learn as much as possible because I actually want to learn german for once. This class was different in that we used zoom instead of google meet which all my other teachers used. Because this class tended to end early, I usually would have lunch earlier because I have lunch later in the day and I get hungry pretty early.

Honors American Civilization 9
(Full Year Course)

I was not very much of a "history nerd," but our teacher's interesting talking points about how Americans took the lands from the Native Americans is one key point that I took from that year. The teacher was also adapting to the virtual environment and removed many different things that would be in a normal class. For instance, our teacher had a currency in the class for participation, but our teacher removed it during this year.

Honors Biology
(Full Year Course)

This class was at the end of the day, so after being on screen for a couple hours, science class was last. Having it online was terrible because it meant that other students and I could not perform actual labs. There were so many fun disections that we missed because of this virtual year. Regardless, we still had virtual labs which were interesting to say the least, but they are not as meaningful as physical labs for sure.