Cam High has officially announced that all students will be returning to school during the 2021-2022 school year. The high school has not had full time, in-person learning since March of 2020. 

This is going to be an extreme transition for many students. There is no option at all to do online or hybrid learning. During the 2020-2021 school year, students have the option of going to school, but if they didn’t want to, they could stay home, which most students ended up doing.

Students with mental health issues are going to struggle, especially. For some kids, it will trigger separation anxiety, in addition to the anxiety they may feel about leaving their home after the pandemic.

“Kids are just really used to being home with their parents now,” notes Jennifer Louie, PhD, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute.

“I think it’s a good idea for students to go back to school because at some point in time we’re going to have to go back to normalcy. It has also been over a year since we have been in school so it’s definitely needed,” said Cam High senior, Anika Shah. Shah will be attending in person school at University of California at Riverside. 

Many universities will be going back to in-person learning as well for the first time in over a year. Anxiety still occurs in young adults, in many cases it can even be worse. Students are used to doing their work in the comfort of their own home, not in classrooms that can have hundreds and hundreds of students in them. 

“I feel like everyone should be very excited to go back and be social again,” said Allison Maultun, a senior at Cam High. “We have been in quarantine for too long and people are just so anxious to be back, and so am I. I know things will be very different with mandates but I would just be so happy to be back because I miss seeing everyone. It’s way easier to collaborate in a classroom environment. I also miss meeting my teachers in person.” Maultun will be attending in-person learning next year at Moorpark College. 

Despite feelings of apprehension regarding the fall, many students are very excited to be returning back to school.