Year-in-Review from a Student Perspective

Year-in-Review

from a Student Perspective

By Lucas Buu-hoan ’21

This conversation between seniors Lucas Buu-hoan and Dylan Hunt compares their perspectives of the 2020-2021 school year. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

So Dylan, how has this year been for you?

It’s been frustrating at times, but I don’t think I could have asked for much better. Although schoolwork has been a lot more burdensome, I’m actually grateful for what this time has allowed – or sometimes forced – me to do.

I agree. I think schoolwork has stayed the same, maybe even gotten easier, but it’s so much harder for me to do work. I can’t focus at home, sitting on my computer, right after five hours of doing the exact same thing. Since I struggle with ADD, it was tough to be motivated and get my work done. Even so, I’ve accomplished a lot, and I wouldn’t take it back if I had the chance.

That’s a good point. The teachers obviously haven’t made their course material more difficult. Maintaining focus and retaining information becomes next to impossible.

I feel bad for them. They put a ton of work into teaching their classes and when everyone’s muted and or their cameras are off, it really doesn’t help. I also think it was tough for them to be on campus, and they definitely put in the effort to make sure we were well taught.

I definitely felt sorry for teachers this year. They’ve been extremely accommodating, flexible and understanding. Still, there’s just no way to make online learning as effective without major changes, the kind that can’t be made in just a year.

Things were radically different for students as well. Being at home with your family the entire day was tough. Even as we transitioned to a hybrid model, half of our days were on campus and half of our days were off. We got a tease of normalcy before we were hit with more online. But I treasured each and every moment.

Speaking of that, every year the football coaches harp, especially to the seniors, about cherishing your time in high school. It passes quickly for everyone, and you never know what wrench tomorrow will throw in your plans. The pandemic threatened to take our senior season away completely. I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience.

“Chicago” was a way for me to connect with my friends, and I’m thankful for everyone who made that possible. Our show was entirely outside, socially distanced and in masks. I think that’s a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience. I don’t think there’s going to be a show like that ever again. It felt great to be active and have a purpose. I really enjoyed that.

These kinds of activities are what keep kids balanced. We use them as an escape – a destressor to take your mind off the rest of the problems you have.

When the pandemic hit, and we had so much free time, I was so bored. I enjoyed having a busy schedule. Once that was all gone, I didn’t know what to do.

I didn’t enjoy having a busy schedule. But once there wasn’t a choice in the matter – everything was canceled, and you couldn’t do anything – that was a pretty terrible feeling. It was kind of deadening.

It’s what you made it. For us, we enjoy video editing and production and graphic design and cover art, and a lot of that stuff we can do at home. But a lot of people can’t do their hobbies at home. Even for us, that was a tough transition.

Even with the hobbies we can do at home, we already spend an entire school day on Zoom and then to do more hobbies on the computer, you could easily end up spending 12 hours looking at a screen. That’s probably not sustainable. It’s so nice to be on campus more, and I’m happy for the teachers that they don’t have to deal with hybrid learning as much. I’m looking forward to things being back to normal. A lot is still restricted.

COVID gave me an excuse to be less social and to tell other people it was because of the pandemic. That’s why I’ve gone to every on-campus session that’s been available. I missed talking to people, being more social, making friends and stuff like that. I don’t hang out with Bishop’s kids outside of school. Coming to campus was a way for me to escape and be more social.

Not being on campus and seeing my typical friend group for weeks at a time led me to hang out with other people than I would have normally. We went on bike rides around La Jolla and San Diego which was a nice way to kill the time.

Once we were back on campus there was only a small group of us, and we bonded more. As we saw more and more people come, it was interesting. When we’d see kids come on campus for the first time after not seeing them for a while, it was pretty cool.

Social media is obviously prevalent but when the pandemic hit, it was a tidal wave. It was the only way you had human interaction. I don’t know whether that was good or bad, but I ended up talking to people through social media that I never thought I would and that was a cool experience. That obviously led to some not great stuff – if you posted a picture of yourself without a mask or at a party, you’d get backlash – so that was pretty tough.

It’s been unfortunate to see how differing opinions on the virus or how it should be handled led to animosity and a lack of understanding and empathy. With us coming to campus more, I’m kind of nervous in terms of my school and course work. I felt like learning was pretty tough online, and I know we have some preparation but if things start ramping up, I don’t know how prepared I am. What if I’ve forgotten everything?

Yeah, it’s going to be hard. I think a lot of people haven’t loved their high school experience. The first three years, I’d spend so much time at school. I love Bishop’s. But people who have mixed feelings may not want to come back.

Seniors got hit the hardest. The fact that college applications were test-optional made it harder to separate yourself from the rest academically. APs and SATs were a mess, things were canceled or blocked, so there’s been a lot more random luck for our class in terms of applying to colleges, and we’re seeing the effect of that right now.

Multiple schools said this was a record year for application numbers. I think more kids are applying to more places, and it’s not like the schools can admit more kids. A bunch of people were waitlisted – I was waitlisted from so many schools – but I think in the next month or so, a lot of people are going to be getting in. It definitely feels like there’s no rhyme or reason to this college admissions process.

As our time at Bishop’s comes to a close, it’s nice to look back and enjoy more of our senior year. I’m very appreciative of Mr. Pierce and the School’s efforts to host events highlighting the senior class. Recently, we had food trucks come to campus, and we’ve been playing games on the Quad, and we’re bonding more as a class. In 50 years, we’ll look upon the once-ina-lifetime senior year we’ve had. Isn’t that something that makes us unique? It’s made me thankful for attending a nice school that is willing to pour tons of money and effort to add a sense of normalcy to our campus. That is something I will never forget.

There are some positives to come out of this. It made me examine my beliefs and strengthened them. It gave me the time to pursue what I was genuinely interested in.

Hopefully there won’t be another year like this one.

Yeah! We’re the Class of 2021.

The COVID class!