With one crazy year behind us, what will the next one bring? Indy staff and students make their predictions.
The year 2020 will be one no one ever forgets, but 2021 is proving to be better. With in-person school starting up again and vaccines becoming more accessible, change is on the rise.
On the other end of the spectrum, since people have become so used to wearing masks, online school and keeping that six foot distance, The Prowl was curious to know Indy Nation’s thoughts and predictions on how COVID-19 will be handled and what school will be like in a year.
Q: In a year’s time, do you think everyone will be vaccinated in Loudoun County?
Grace Hannah (9): I believe it will take over another year for everyone to be vaccinated because it could take a while for people to perfect it and make it safe and work for the majority. But, overall, students at Indy will definitely take a lot longer because people aren’t rushing to get kids vaccinated.
Q: Do you think we will have full in-person school next year?
Mrs. Lindsay Fitzgerald: I am very hesitant about answering this because if you had asked me a year ago, “where would I be a year ago now,” I thought that we were going to have a few weeks out of school and by last September everything would be normal again. But at this point, what I am assuming is that we’re going to start off the school year fairly unconventional. I don’t know if that’s going to look scaffolded. Like maybe I see part of my classes one day and another part of classes the other day. It’s all up in the air. It really depends on the vaccine rollout.
Q: With students and teachers being so used to online school, do you think people will want to come back?
Ms. Nicole Andriano: I think that both students and teachers are missing those connections, relationships and school experiences, and are really excited and looking forward to coming back into the building. But I can also understand people being cautious and still wanting to grab their masks.
Q: Due to losing so much in-person school, do you think we should have more pep rallies/fun school spirit activities that students and teachers missed out on at home?
Kennedy Gulick (10): Yes because everyone pretty much lost an entire year of being at school, and that includes dress-up spirit days, sports events and pep rallies, which I believe adds a lot of school spirit into the school body.
With Loudoun’s new vaccine efforts, opening eligibility for everyone 16 and up to have the option to get vaccinated, coming back to school and these predictions seem more likely to occur. Although, some Loudoun residents have expressed concerns about COVID-19 even with more vaccines available.
Gulick had an interesting take on Loudoun County residents being vaccinated: “No, I don’t think everyone will get vaccinated because some people don’t believe in the vaccine. I don’t know if it will ever be safe to say that every single person in Loudoun will have had the vaccine. Even if there is a vaccine and everyone gets it, I think I will still find myself being cautious around other people and in public. Overall, I do think that a lot of Loudoun County will be vaccinated.”
In this hard and unknowing time, vaccinated or not, stay safe and continue to abide by COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines to keep our community safe.
