Rapid City students may not be coming to school each day, but they are still facing plenty of academic challenges.
As students navigate distance learning, they are finding that this break from school is not as easy as it may seem. Gracie Lemer, a junior at Central explains that at home learning brings a set of challenges students may have not been ready for: “The hardest thing about distance learning is the fact that I don’t have to stick to a schedule. I can do all of my schoolwork whenever and that has been stressful.” Central High School senior Nora Nelson has similar input. “The hardest part is trying to stay focused because it’s super nice outside and I want to be outside all day and not stuck inside on the computer,” she said.
Gracie has also found that not all classes are created equal. She explains that her classes were not ready to take the jump from the classroom to online. “I think the classes that were previously set up for online learning like pre-calc and history are the ones that are working best for me.” Gracie adds that AP chemistry is the most challenging, however, not for the reasons you may think. It’s “not that the material is extremely hard, it is just very hard to learn the content without Dr. Farrar teaching,” she said.
Sophie Schmid, a freshman at Stevens, shares similar issues to those at Central High School. “I think the hardest part is trying to find out what homework assignments we have because each teacher is using a different platform,” she said. The three high school students can all agree on one thing: they are ready to be back in the classroom.
Photo: 366 • 133 • Cram time (spring) by Svein Halvor Halvorsen on Flickr
The Pine Needle 