Most popular songs: Kindergarten through senior year

In March of 2020, WHS was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

All classes were moved online and students were taught through virtual lessons. The class of 2023 is the last class to have gone through high school during the pandemic. The pandemic disrupted the normal way of learning. No one knew what to expect from the new hybrid learning set up, it was a learning curve for everyone.

Caleb Singer-Holden (12) reflects on his freshman year by noting, “COVID affected my schooling by making it turn into something no one expected. Everyone was trying to navigate how to handle the situation and there weren’t many answers. It made school for those last couple months confusing and stressful and I didn’t get as much out of it as I would want.” This situation was a struggle for many. WHS adopted Edgenuity, which is an online learning platform that was already being used in Generals Academy.

Stella Powers (12) talked about her experience when school stopped by noting, “Because of the pandemic, our school experience was almost exclusively online. Everything was modified for the health and safety of everyone, including the way our classes worked, AP exams, extracurricular, and pretty much every aspect. School just stopped abruptly and everything changed.” Everybody was required to wear a mask at sporting events and social distance to keep everyone safe.

For most, it was a sigh of relief when the pandemic slowed down and we could resume some form of normalcy. The pandemic causesd a lack of motivation not only because of being out of the classroom, but also because everyone’s social lives came to an abrupt halt

Brittany Wachtel (12) notes the frustration with that lack of social gathering, by stating, “It was very odd to come back to real life after being secluded for so long. I lost a lot of academic motivation and resorted to online sources to help me complete a majority of my work. The best part about being back in school was 100 percent being back around my friends and having a social life again.”

The pandemic was also a time where people did a lot of self reflection since we were quarantined at home for such a long time. Wachtel shares what she would do differently if she could get that year back. “ I wish I would have worried less about what people thought of freshman year me. I think that if I would have known about COVID , I would have put myself out there a lot more without fear of judgment.”