Freshman year of high school is one of the most anticipated times in a young person’s life. A new beginning at a brand new school with all new people. The transition from middle school to high school is a big jump that is nerve-racking and exciting all at once. Knowing that you will be spending the next four years of your life learning, growing and blossoming into an adult. Now, add in a pandemic, causing school to be completely online and you have got yourself the class of 2024. Their start to high school was unlike any other before. 

Freshman Zora Yap knows all about this and more. She moved to Winston Salem from Durham just 2 weeks before the first day of school. So, not only did she not know anyone from Reynolds but she did not even know anyone in the city. 

However, she remained positive and was still looking forward to her first year of high school. 

“I was still very excited despite being online,” Yap said. “I picked classes I would enjoy and ones I liked.”

It was difficult and confusing in the beginning trying to navigate an online freshman year. The hardest part was the fact that she did not have the luxury of meeting new people the same way she would have if school was in-person. In addition, unlike others in her class, her friends from middle school were 80 miles away, not quite close enough to meet up with for lunch.

“It [has been] hard not getting to know people, especially because I’m a very social person,” Yap said. “I have made some friends in breakout rooms, but not that many.”

Although, she has been able to at least keep in touch with her friends from Durham. 

“I try to talk to them [friends from Durham] whenever I have free time.”

Fortunately for Yap, in November, a couple of months after school started she was able to meet a group of girls from Reynolds by playing volleyball. This gave her a way to regularly socialize with people from Reynolds outside of zoom. 

Yap said she had a lot of fun playing volleyball and she loved being able to make new friends.

“I was so happy to meet people and get to know them,” Yap said.

As far as classes themselves go, Yap’s teachers have been very helpful in making her transition smooth. She also feels like her classes have not been too difficult.  

“I think the amount of classwork was good and it was easy,” Yap said.

With having half a year under her belt, Yap has pretty much adjusted.

“I understand what’s going on now and how things work,” Yap said. 

She, like many others, thought at the beginning of the year that we all might be back to school normally by January. 

“I thought we would be in school by second semester… I really thought we would,” Yap said.

Although we are not all back in school normally, many freshmen who opted to go back to in-person learning including Yap, have now been back in school since early February on the hybrid schedule. Upperclassmen are looking to return on February 22nd as it stands. 

If there is one thing that this pandemic has taught us, it is resilience. Despite having to sacrifice their freshman year, the class of 2024 has certainly stood strong through these difficult times. They should know that the future is looking brighter and we hope to be back to normal for the start of their sophomore year.