In the past, the vast majority of high school students in the Francis Howell School District followed the bell schedule of 7:20 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. As some students transitioned from in-person schooling to virtual schooling the schedules were no longer as consistent. While FHN juniors Katie McNevin and Ana Remolina take many of the same courses, their days function very differently. 

Both Remolina and McNevin begin school at 7:20 AM, McNevin in-person and Remolina online with one class in-person. They both get ready in the morning, getting dressed and prepared for the day. McNevin gets her school bag ready and Remolina gathers her iPad for note taking. They don’t finish their days at the same time, though. 

“If I’m gonna be honest with you, I usually do biology like late at night, or on the weekends,” Remolina said. “And the last thing I do for school that day in class is usually at the end of the fifth hour. I get home around 12:45 ish.”

Neither of them start their schoolwork right after they get home. McNevin relaxes and takes some downtime before starting her homework around 5 p.m. She averages at least two hours of school work each night. Remolina also averages around two hours, but starts in the evening at around 8 p.m. 

“Normally I always have math homework,” McNevin said. “I generally have chem homework, which I fall so behind on and then I usually have some English sometimes. So it can get kind of a lot.”

With the changes in schedules both Remolina and McNevin have more time to complete their work. Remolina can take on 15-20 hours of work each week and McNevin has had less club meets allowing her time for herself and to hang out with friends. The extra time has brought less stress for both of them.

“It kind of fluctuates like if I have a big assignment due the next day I will get really stressed,” McNevin said. “Right now I don’t have that much going on in my classes, so I’m pretty calm at the moment.”  

While they both do classwork in class, the methods their teachers employ are different. McNevin’s classes follow the same tried and true methods as normal in-person classes have forever. Remolina’s classes experiment with not meeting some days and new programs like breakout rooms on Zoom. Remolina believes that her previous year’s workloads in class were easier to complete.

“I feel like we get more of our homework done during the day when we’re in person,” Remolina said. “Just because teachers utilize that time better. Online I always end up doing those assignments, way way way later.”

At the end of the day both Remolina and McNevin have a similar day to day function. They both work through classes, and go from hour to hour. Remolina feels calm, in her bedroom, and only going to two classes each day. However, for McNevin the atmosphere in class is not as relaxed. 

“It’s a lot more tense kind of,” McNevin said. “Everyone is a little more worried about getting contact traced. Every time the phone rings off in class everyone goes silent to see if anyone is being sent home. It’s kind of funny, but scary.”