Junior Natalie Meers chose to go back to in-person school this year, adjusting to the changes the school has decided to make for safety reasons. Waking up at 5 a.m. to get ready, then heading out to start the day.

“I wake up, I lay in bed for a little while. I call my mom, I start doing my makeup, then I get changed, I do my hair and then off to school,” Meers said

Meers drives herself to school arriving at around 7 a.m., then stops by the bathrooms to see friends for a moment before school officially starts. As the school day gets started it also starts to change from the normal. Meers goes to all her classes which have assigned and social distanced seats, some classes have extra steps to keep everything clean.

“A lot of my classes are kind of normal, or at least as normal as they can be,” Meers said. “Like in English, if we use the laptops we have to sanitize them after.”

Meers then goes to lunch after third hour which has definitely changed a lot while trying to keep everyone as safe as possible. Going from three lunch hours previously to now having five and being able to sit anywhere to now having assigned seats where everyone sits one seat away from each other.

“They do take attendance during lunch and make sure we’re sitting in the correct spot, otherwise we get in trouble,” Meers said. “I’m not a fan of having lunch at 10 a.m.,. but I guess that’s what five lunches do to your lunch.”

Walking in between classes has become less of a struggle due to there being less people inside of the school. This year there are 1654 people attending FHN and 497 people doing online school meaning theres around 1157 people inside the school, making it so hallways are less crowded and are easier to get through.

“I feel like the hallways are a little less crowded, like the butterfly hallway, you can actually decently easily get through which is so cool,” Meers said

As the school day ends, Meers goes back to her car to start heading home. With less people in school, the parking lot is less packed, so it’s also easier to leave the school and takes a lot less time.

“I didn’t drive last year so I don’t really know what it’s like,” Meers said. “I’m out of the school parking lot within like 10 minutes and I know people who have been stuck in the parking lot for like an hour.”

Even though people have to wear their masks inside the school that doesn’t always mean people will wear them outside of school. If someone gets COVID-19 they and the people they’ve been around had to quarantine for at least two weeks – though now they’re allowed to attend school. Before the new policy, Meers got sent home to quarantine on Sept. 28 and got to go back on Oct. 12.

“I’m happy with the choice I made,” Meers said. “I do get to see at least some of my friends, and I feel like it’s a much easier learning experience.”

Many people chose to go back to in person school and didn’t know what to expect, but many students are also happy with their choice of continuing in person learning even with all the restrictions. 

“There was so much speculation,” Meers said. “There were a lot of rumors about what was going to happen, like I know at one point I heard they were going to completely redirect the staircases and halls but that obviously didn’t happen.”