By Griffin Winter ’21
THE ROUNDUP
We all miss a normal lunch. We all miss break. This new schedule is weird. But, it is a necessary evil for the members of our community who are at risk.
If you don’t know me, my name is Griffin Winter and I am a senior. I also have Type 1 Diabetes.
This means that I am at risk far more than the average person due to COVID-19 because I am immunocompromised. I, like many others on campus, am put at a greater risk.
While the A/B schedule is necessary for the safety of everyone in the community, that doesn’t mean it’s a great thing for students as a whole.
To make this schedule work, we have to give up seeing friends in the hallways, and students engaging in distance learning can no longer interact with teachers during passing periods.
We have to give up lunch with most of our friends and adjust to not having a break.
Overall, this is bad for the mental health of students because there isn’t as much room to relax from a stressful day and hang out with your friends. “The Covid-19 pandemic may worsen existing mental health problems and lead to more cases among children and adolescents because of the unique combination of the public health crisis, social isolation, and economic recession,” said the authors of a recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
However, the benefits of the split A/B schedule far outweigh the negatives with Brophy leading the way in the state with a responsible return to school.
With fewer students in high traffic areas, fewer people will get sick than a normal schedule.
Another possible positive might be fewer distractions for more students so work can be accomplished. We all like seeing your friends in passing periods but this might give students the opportunity to focus more on the school work and not outside distractions.
We have to tough it out for a while so we get to go back to the way things used to be. If the community as a whole follows the advice from health officials and keeps up a good spirit, we will see the end to this sooner rather than later.
