Over the past year and a half, there have been many schedule changes – from strictly Zooming, to a hybrid model and eventually to making a choice to come back five days a week or still stay online – that have impacted all of Roseville High School staff and students in many ways.

Earlier this fall, students got to return to campus full time and at full capacity without any Zooming option. For seniors like Sergio Vences, the progression of years has been a surreal experience for him.

“Man, it feels really weird because I still kinda feel like I’m a sophomore, as I’m standing here it doesn’t feel like I’m a senior at all,” Vences said.

According to Vences, being in person has just been an overall better experience rather than doing high school online and over Zoom.

“Honestly, I feel like being on campus is a lot better,” Vences said. “For me I like to be around people and around my friends and being in person, asking questions to teachers is really beneficial for me.”

Sophomore, Anna Bolshaw, believes that though she hasn’t been on campus for a long time, COVID still has changed her perspective on high school.

“COVID definitely has changed a lot of things,” Bolshaw said. “I think it has definitely changed my familiarity with the campus.”

After being out for a year, AVID and English Teacher, Scott Brink, prefers the daily engagement and interaction with students being back on campus rather than having no interaction at all.

“I’m glad to be back on campus with students. That’s part of what I love about being a teacher, the day to day interaction with students,” Brink said. “Being in Zoom was all the hardest parts of what it means to be a teacher.”

According to Brink, Zoom wasn’t a very engaging or interactive source for him to effectively interact with his student’s on a daily basis like he hoped for.

“It was all content, content, content, here’s an English curriculum without any of the day to day, hey how’s it going? it’s good to see you, I’m glad you’re here, like that sort of thing,” Brink said. “Interacting with students, that’s what I missed. I missed just being able to be with students really.”

Though this year has been different than past years, Vences still finds the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Being able to joke around and just being there with my friends and mostly just being able to see my friends faces instead of having a mask all day,” Vences said.

According to sophomore, Carli Lomsted, this year has been a lot more weird, interesting, and a little more difficult than past years she’s been in school.

“I think it’s just made it kind of hard for us because as a sophomore it’s like I’m a freshman right now,” Lomsted said.

Although Lomsted didn’t get to start high school in person, she’s glad to see it get more normal as the year progresses.

“I do like it this year because we’re trying to get back to normal,” Lomsted said. “Last year was online and eighth grade was online, so it’s nice to be back.”