Hailey Braun, junior

The Catalyst (TC): What do you think about the announcement to continued online distance learning through December?

Hailey Braun (HB): It doesn’t bother me that I have to keep doing online school. 

TC: Do you prefer online school or in person school? 

HB: I mean, I guess I prefer in person school only because I like to see my friends. And like interacting with people, but the actual  learning isn’t harder online really. 

TC: How are you doing with school right now academically, socially or personally compared to a year that would be in person?

HB: Socially, I definitely do less outside of school now. Academically, it’s just hard to stay organized, so I have a lot of missing assignments that I end up turning in late just because they like get lost in my computer, or like in my papers on my desk, but actually understanding content or like tests and stuff, it’s been the same. 

TC: How is your class tried to build community?

HB: In a lot of classes, for the first 10 minutes of a class, we’ll just talk or ask questions, but it’s hard to do online. So it’s hard to have like group conversations over zoom. 

TC: How would you feel about coming to school on campus with others who might not have been not careful with hand washing, mask wearing, social distancing, etc.?

HB: I would feel bad. I get super anxious, like when I first went back to soccer practice I had a panic attack and curled up on the grass and just laid there for 20 minutes because I was freaking out. But my parents really want me to go back to normal school because they say that sitting in my room all day is not good for me, because after school is over I just stay in my room. They say that I need to go outside. So I would not want to do it, but I probably would just go back to school.