During the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year the future was unknown. Many parents chose to have their children enlist in distance learning to ease their minds with the Coronavirus pandemic being fairly new to everyone. Viviana Cabrera, a junior a Don Lugo states, “My parents weren’t comfortable with the possibility of going back to school with the pandemic still going on and becoming worse.” This adhering that distance learning is the safest option to choose from for some parents.

As the months progressed and the first semester came to an end, many parents and students  realized that the platform for blended learning was not much different from distance learning. This resulted in many Don Lugo students switching from distance learning to blended learning in the second semester after feeling a sense of disconnectivity to their high school. 

Distance learning consists of a mixture of all high schools in the Chino Valley Unified School District, the possibility of staying connected is more difficult for some students. Distance learning does not allow students to take part in extracurricular activities, an example being the school dance team. 

Students new to high school don’t know what’s its like to have the opportunities of doing extracurricular activities and having the opportunity of talking to their new teachers and classmates resulting in making harder for freshmen to get to take in the high school experience. Biray Sanchez Mona, a freshman at Don Lugo mentions, “The main reason I switched from distance to blended learning was because I wanted to get to know my real teacher and classmates before my freshman year is over.”

47 students have made the switch to blended learning, like Biray, the only sense of familiarity with her teachers and her peers is through blended learning. For some students this is their first year in high school, while others are returning students. Although this school year has been very different, these students hope to once again feel connected through blended learning. Viviana Cabrera comments, “There was no easy way to stay connected to people from my own school so I’m hoping I am able to feel connected again in the second semester.”