The inability to create a transition from middle to high school, due to COVID-19, has resulted in more freshmen struggling than in previous years, Principal Francis Rojas said in a Zoom interview. In addition to academic support, building a sense of school spirit is being prioritized in helping the freshmen transition, Rojas said.
“There are freshmen who are in class, but are failing,” Rojas said. “[They are in class] everyday but failing because things are different in high school. The system is different, the grading is different. It’s been a challenge not to be in-person for freshmen because freshmen don’t know the questions that they need to ask, and as a teacher, you wouldn’t be able to see what’s actually going on with the student. There’s more to just submitting assignments and attending a Zoom meeting in distance learning.”
MHS administrators have a system in place to evaluate the performance of students and help those who are struggling, Rojas said. The office secretaries and assistant principals evaluate reports on whether or not students are meeting the minimum state requirements for instruction, Rojas said. Students who do not meet the minimum requirements are contacted to see what support they need, Rojas added.
“If it’s academic support, sometimes counselors get involved,” Rojas said. “If it’s more support regarding technology issues, or maybe home environment issues, we have a team of family liaisons and social workers who go out and visit homes to see how we can support their student and family to be engaged in distance learning.”
One of the greatest challenges in a virtual learning environment has been forming authentic social connections, Activities Director Jerell Maneja said in an email interview. ASB and Leadership have been focusing on developing events and programs that facilitate social connections to create a smooth transition for freshmen, Maneja said.
“The MHS student leadership group has created a brand new program called the Mentor and Mentee (M&M) program,” Maneja said. “The program pairs each 9th grader with an upperclassman that has volunteered to become a mentor. The mentors reached out to their mentees via email to introduce themselves and connect with their 9th graders. Most mentors meet or check-in with their mentees every 1-2 weeks.”
According to M&M Committee liaison An Kieu, the program has received positive feedback from freshmen mentees. After every M&M meeting, mentors and mentees fill out a feedback form and the responses are used to assess the program, Kieu said in a Google Meet interview.
“We have [the freshmen] rate it, and they also provide comments about what they learned and how it went,” Kieu said. “On a scale of one to five, we were getting mostly fours and fives. They all say that they’re getting along well.”
Despite the fact that the M&M program exists to serve freshmen, not all freshmen utilize the program, Kieu said. Initially, the program was not mandatory but, for the sake of inclusivity, a mentor was assigned to all freshmen, which caused some confusion, Keiu added.
“Some of them were like, ‘Oh, I didn’t sign up for this,’ but I think it’s nice that they have that resource if they need it,” Kieu said. “I hope that it’s valuable for them and it continues year after year, even if we’re not in the distance learning environment.”
According to Freshman Nidhi Bhat, she does not actively participate in the M&M program because of scheduling conflicts; however, Bhat said she thought that the school and staff adequately support students.
“I feel definitely supported, just not connected,” Bhat said in a Google Meet interview. “I don’t really know any staff, other than my six teachers, and because we haven’t had any bonding, school events, rallies, or football games, I don’t really have any school spirit, so I don’t feel too connected this year.”
Social media was crucial to overcoming her initial loneliness, Bhat said. Although the actual school curriculum is still difficult, she feels better knowing that she is not alone in her struggles, Bhat added.
“In the beginning of the year, I wasn’t social,” Bhat said. “I didn’t really make any new friends or feel like I was having a support system of friends in the school. But recently, faces grew familiar [and] group chats [were] made for classes in order to bond with people. That was probably the biggest thing that made the social aspect a lot better.”
In his opinion, the transition to high school during COVID was challenging due to minimal interactions with classmates and an overwhelming workload, Freshman Allen Rodillas said in a Google Meet interview.
“For me personally, it was a bit challenging to transition into high school, especially with this online [learning], but some of my friends had an easier time,” Rodillas said. “I just didn’t really know how to handle the workload at first. It was hard because I usually like to go into contact with my classmates [and] with this online thing, I wasn’t really able to do that with the new people I’ve met.”
According to freshman CheyannaFlora Balauat, having understanding teachers made her transition to high school smooth and online classes more enjoyable than in-person classes. There are several ways for students to get help they need, Balauat said.
“I think at this point of the school year I know how and who to reach out for help,” Balauat said in an email interview. “There was a time where I just wanted to raise my grade up for each class, and I emailed all my teachers about it, and they were happy to put extra assignments in or tell me that future assignments were coming in to possibly raise my grade.”