Now that school is starting up again around the state of Massachusetts, the first step of getting elementary students back has been set in motion starting on Monday April 5. We reached out to younger siblings of some current EHS students to find out their thoughts about in-person learning starting up over the past couple of weeks.

One family heavily affected by this change is the Alonzo family.  Amanda Alonzo is a junior at EHS and spoke with her younger siblings.  They all have different thoughts on returning to school, but some of the family’s main reasons to go back to school including learning better because online learning is hard to learn.

“I really wanted to go back to school so that I could be able to sit at my desk again because I can’t learn when I’m at home,” Emmanuel Alonzo said. “I get too distracted.”

Emmanuel’s brother David wanted to go to school because they have Legos and wanted to be able to learn with the teacher and sing.  “I don’t like masks though,” David said.

The Alonzos also wanted to talk to their friends again and to meet people. Ismael Alonzo wanted to have recess, lunch, and gym class again. 

Jessica Alonzo said that going back to school could cause a lot of people to get infected by Covid so she didn’t want to go back. But she still wanted to have lunch and talk to people again.  “I’m not learning much from home,” Jessica said.

Overall the Alonzo family has different reasons on why they want to go back to school as well as different reasons on why going back to school might be a bit difficult.

Another family impacted were the Guzmans.  Anthony Guzman is a junior here at EHS who reached out to his older sister Yovanna, whose daughter is an elementary student in Everett.

“I feel like it’s better for the students because they should have in-person education, especially if they are younger students,” Yovanna Guzman said. “Students are able to also make new friends and also interact with them unlike on Zoom. They also should be able to see other students and their teacher in person so they get along.” 

“It will be challenging though, because I work in the morning,” Yovanna added. “It’s hard going to drop off my daughter at school and also making it to work on time.”

Yovanna’s daughter Arianna likes that students are returning to school because she’s able to meet other students and her teacher and learn new things at school. She doesn’t like Zoom. 

“I get to meet my classmates and make new friends and meet my teacher and that’s what I mostly wanted to do,” Arianna said.  

EHS freshman Ansley Jean’s younger sibling Kerbson was excited to return. “I like it,” Kerbson said. “It’s fun in the class and we get to have recess and it’s so fun.” 

“I like school because I can be friends with everybody,” Sdaleche Jean said. “But sometimes the teacher says we have to separate and don’t be next to each other.”

Sixth grader Ashleigh Parlee is the younger sister of EHS junior Zachary Parlee. “I think it’s good because I think that’s how school should be,” Ashleigh said. “I like it because I’ll be able to see my friends again after not being able to see them in person for about a year and a half.”

 “A challenging thing is going to be staying three feet apart during the whole day,” Ashleigh said.  “I have a feeling others will struggle with it as much as I will though.”

Fifth grader Jake Parlee admits it may be harder to do in-person school now that a lot of people are used to learning at home.  “It might be hard to transition back to in-person learning,” Jake said. “Also, having to wear a mask all day is a killer. It’s a real struggle.”

“But,” added Jake, “I like that I am with friends again in person and not just having to look at a black screen or a picture of them.”

Regardless of the challenges, most elementary students feel excited to go back to school and they are ready for it. It’s a great sign for everyone that we all might be next in line to go back too.