10 minute read
Mount Ellis Academy
Mount Ellis Academy Students Grapple with Returning to School During a Pandemic
By: Lauren Bongard Schwarz Mt. Ellis Academy Teacher
Last March, with the novel Coronavirus starting to appear in Bozeman, Mount Ellis Academy, a private Christian high school, let out early for spring break and then transitioned to an online learning model for the rest of the academic year. While teachers did their best to keep classes engaging and students shifted to a new learning format, school definitely wasn’t the same. Campus was quiet, experiential learning was nearly impossible, and the outdoor education program had to be halted.
But this is a new year. Even though the virus still exists, there’s hope that school can resume safely with certain precautions in place. So, Mount Ellis Academy is moving forward with full-time in-person learning beginning August 17th. With approximately 52 students in grades 9-12—about half of whom live in dormitories on campus—and a program that emphasizes outdoor education, that could be an easier task than larger schools face. Still, students and staff are gearing up for changes.
“While we’re planning to be all-in, we will be following the governor’s mandate for masks and other health recommendations,” says Principal Renae Young. “We’re figuring out how to do school and keep kids safe at the same time.” She says that’s possible because of the school’s smaller size and its unique program, adding, “Authorities are saying sunshine and fresh air are helpful in preventing virus transmission, and we do a lot of outdoor learning; we start the year with outdoor school and senior survival, and our teachers are exploring holding classes outdoors.”
Along with those precautions, the school will be cleaning even more frequently than usual, and janitors will be outfitted with personal protective equipment to keep them safer while they do their part to keep students and staff safe. Numerous hand sanitizing stations have been installed in campus buildings, and signage reminds students to socially distance when possible, keep their faces covered, and wash their hands often. Teachers can meet with their classes in outdoor spaces around the sprawling campus as weather permits, and fans, air filters, and open windows will increase fresh air circulation in classrooms when being outside isn’t possible.
Because the campus hosts resident students in dormitories, there are already isolation rooms for students who are sick. However, since COVID-19 is different than the common cold or flu, the school will work with the local health department to outline best practices for handling illness.
If there’s a mandated shutdown like last spring, the school is ready. All students are already outfitted with school-issued Chromebooks, and they’re used to turning in many assignments digitally. Although online education isn’t ideal, the daily class schedule will remain the same with students joining classes from home via an online platform. That way, they’ll have daily access to teachers and classmates, even if it has to be virtual.
Students Sound Off About Restarting School
As the nation and local schools debate masks and compares the benefits of in-person schooling with the relative safety of online education, students are left to navigate the realities of decisions made for them.
“I’m not sure whether it’s best to meet in-person in these circumstances, but I think that it’s very high risk, very high reward,” admits Sharra Durtka, a junior from
Bozeman. “I’m kind of nervous about the risks that schools pose for all of us, but the value of having an in-person connection with your teachers and classmates is important.”
She says she’s glad there are precautions and backup plans, and she wants to do her part to help lessen the risk for herself, her classmates, and teachers. “I’ll be definitely trying to limit my social circle outside of school,” she says. “My fear is that anyone bringing [the virus] into the school means everyone will likely catch it, but I am glad we get to start in person. The beginning of the year is the hardest,
and I think it would be hard to get used to what you’re learning and what classes you’re taking from an online perspective.”
Durtka says she surprisingly liked online classes last spring. “The teachers made it simple and it was easy to catch on, at least for me. But I do find it more valuable to have face-to-face contact because it’s easy to put online schoolwork aside in favor of things that are happening now.” She says her young nephews vied for her attention along with homework, admitting that it was hard to focus on school when family fun was happening in her household.
“I’m honestly happy to be going back to school, even with restrictions,” says Tavi Stuart, a ninth grader from Bozeman. “I don’t like wearing a mask, but I think it’s a smart idea, and I’d rather do that than online school.” She was taking an algebra class at Mount Ellis Academy as an eighth grader at Mount Ellis Elementary last spring when classes went online, and she recalls that it was harder to get questions answered in a remote forum than when she had daily inclass access to teachers.
For Stuart, the social aspect of inperson classes is paramount. “I like being around my friends, and you can’t interact with people as much during online school,” she says. “I’ve been waiting to be in high school for a long time; I hope it will be how I’ve been imagining it for so many years.”
For more introverted students like Ian Vinglas, a sophomore from Bozeman, online learning wasn’t as much of a social hardship. While he likes his classmates, he says that he’s not one to naturally want to be around other people for as much of the day as traditional classes require. His mother, Kebrina Vinglas, says she noticed online schooling really fed his inner self and that he had a lot more emotional energy left at the end of each day.
Vinglas concurs. “I personally liked online learning a little better than regular school,” he says. “It gave me a lot more time to do everything, and not just schoolwork. I was able to do my own things; with normal school, I have to go to class, do homework after class, and go to work. With online school, I could choose how I used my time.”
Sam DePaula, a senior from Washington, says his philosophy about coming back to school is simple: “I figure that we need to make as much of it as normal as we can, and then the stuff that we can’t make normal, we have to roll with it. I’m a pretty chill person, so something like wearing masks or social distancing in classes won’t affect me too hard. I adapt pretty quickly.”
Students say they do worry, though, about spreading the virus. DePaula says he isn’t as concerned for his own wellbeing since he’s young and healthy. “Coming back to school, the thing I’d be cautious about is to be aware of somebody else that might be at a higher risk than myself,” he says. “If I had it, I might put somebody else at risk. I think it’s all about being reasonable.”
And DePaula believes that trying to start the year in person is the reasonable thing to do. “Classroom learning is definitely more ideal, and it helps motivate me,” he says. “It’s easier to keep up with work when you’re in actual classes. Last semester was really hard, the hardest I’ve ever had school be, but I made it through.”
Sophomore Dylan Wonenberg, who lives in Bozeman, says he’s looking forward to coming back to school and seeing his teachers and classmates in person again. “I think
it will be a little weird to have to wear a mask, but I’m just not very good with changes,” he says. “It will work out, and it will be better than online classes. I like the idea of classes in person where I can see people [who are] talking.”
Shanie Crawford, a junior from Nevada, has heard about the plans her hometown school district is enacting— a later start, and students split into two groups that alternate between two days in school and two days distance learning. “It makes me feel pretty lucky to be coming back and starting school,” she says. “Online learning was a lot harder because it wasn’t as easy to talk to teachers one-on-one.”
While she did the bulk of her classes online last spring, Crawford was one of a handful of students who came back to Mount Ellis Academy in May to finish the year in person. “That was helpful because I was really struggling online,” she says. “I’m excited to come back and start this year.”
Senior Luke Wiegand, from Great Falls, says that he, too, is grateful for the chance to begin classes on campus. “I feel pretty lucky to be coming back to school for my senior year. Last year’s seniors had their year cut short, and I really didn’t want to do my senior year online.” For him, that’s mostly for social reasons, since he found some perks in online classes. “Online learning can be a nuisance, but it can also be a nice change of pace,” he says. “You could go to your classes while sitting in bed.”
He does say that while he’s “bummed” he and his classmates will have to wear masks, and he’ll miss giving high-fives and being physically close to his friends, “we should do whatever we have to do to help the pandemic.”
Sophomore Emily Biegler, a resident of Thompson Falls, says that she’s been disheartened by hearing extreme views of people across the country advocating purely political opinions about COVID-19. “I hope our school can find common ground where we all can have a safe environment to grow without politics.” Emily’s younger brother and sister will both be attending Mount Ellis Academy this fall, and she says she can’t wait to welcome them to campus even if things will look and feel different this year.
“I’m really excited that Mount Ellis Academy is opening back up. It’s such a great place for kids to grow, develop, and learn to serve,” she says. “I’m a little nervous about wearing a mask in school, but I know that the teachers really care, and everything will be OK.”
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