As the inaugural year at Crofton High School comes to a close a lot of people are taking the time to look back on what has been a most unprecedented school year. For decades the Crofton community had been advocating for a high school in Crofton and as we are finishing out the first year everyone is thinking back on all the amazing things we have accomplished despite the challenges we faced.

Freshman Caleb Leight shared that he loved the school year. He said that “fully virtual was fun because there was so much time to hang out with friends outside. And in person it was fun to see all of them back in school. It was an awesome year.” Freshman Jocelyn Keib shared that her favorite thing that she did this year was “meeting new people and becoming friends with them even with a virtual environment.” 

Leight and Keib agree that the hardest part of the school year was online learning. “Adapting to eLearning wasn’t good for me and took time to get used to,” shared Leight. Keib agreed that it was hard “trying to learn with distractions around me like my sister in the same room as me or my not being able to hear my teacher.”

Even outside of the classroom there were challenges as many extracurricular activities had to adapt to a virtual environment. Freshman Madi Knoppel is a part of the chorus at Crofton High School and she shared that “we had to figure out how to sing online and make things work in a virtual setting. It was hard at first but once we got to start doing things in person it was almost like we were a whole new choir.” This past Monday, Crofton High had their first ever in person chorus, band and orchestra concert and Knoppel feels like the concert was, “a really great way to round out the school year.”

Sports also faced many challenges this year. Freshman soccer player Arya Shah said, “During the beginning of the school year we were all disappointed because we thought we wouldn’t have a soccer season. When we found out we would be able to play in the Spring everyone was super excited and we all worked hard to be the best team we could be.” She feels like “we created a really great team community even in this challenging year.”

When students were able to return in person this spring, many were happy for a more normal school year and to enjoy their brand new high school. Sophomore Caitlin Fish “felt excited to meet some of my favorite teachers. I was a bit nervous about how I would adjust to going back two days a week but it wasn’t that bad.” Ben Surlis who is a freshman shared that, “It was cool to actually see my friends and teachers face to face, because I was actually interacting with a real person and not just a screen. Freshman Eden Vance shared that she felt like “the teachers put their hearts and minds into finding some resemblance of our pre-covid schooling and I could not have appreciated it more.” 

Many students are looking forward to next year and hoping that everything will return to being as normal as possible. Sophomore Samantha Odom is looking forward to “having a normal junior year.” She feels as though “this year was really draining but I’m just glad it’s over and I think that Crofton will be better next year and have a better environment.” 

Keib is excited for next year and to “be in the new high school, see my old teachers, and go to clubs.” Leight shared that he is excited to “see everybody in person. Lots of my friends didn’t come to school this year, but I think it’ll be fun to have school back like it was last year.”

While this year has not been what anyone imagined it would be, everyone made the best out of the situation that they were given and really worked hard to make this first year at Crofton High the best that it could be.