By: Samantha Bonifas
Although handling COVID-19 is by no means easy, Silver Lake hopes to give their students an excellent school experience as the 2020-2021 school year starts. Students and staff at Silver Lake are all excited and eager for the year, as there was much uncertainty after ending school very abruptly on March 16 last year. School cannot go back to “normal” as most would like it to, but the district is trying their best to keep students in school. Principal Joshua Drake commented, “The biggest and most noticeable difference is that masks are required on all transportation and when entering the school. Also, the number of times students and staff get their temperature checked is a big change. I think the biggest change will be the inability to travel outside the district for field trips. A lot of our hands on activities have had to go virtual.” The district has been very cooperative with the change, and willing to deal with the difficulties that COVID has brought.
School has become a blessing for some. Juniors, Katelyn Karr, Amanda Ehrman, and Trista Hanson all agreed on one thing: they are very thankful to be in the building. The pandemic has made students realize how short and sweet high school can be, and how important it is to hold on to little moments. “This biggest difficulty thus far has been the uncertainty of how things are going to look week to week or even day to day”, Drake says. It is well known that the school situation could change at any time, but the attitudes throughout the school remain positive. Drake has said that he wants to keep the same goals this year as he would for any other year. “I want to follow our school mission which is to promote each student’s academic and personal success: Every Student, Every Day, Every Opportunity. If we can meet our mission then we will have had a successful school year.”
