Having the mindset that everything is going to be fine can often be a good thing. When it comes to studying, Sadie Barber, a CHS sophomore, has had to battle this mindset.

Barber has had to get creative when it comes to finding a study spot. Ever since she started school in-person in September, studying has been an adjustment.

Last year during online school, Barber struggled to find the motivation to study for classes and often never studied at all. Something that has helped her has been trying to be interested in the topics being taught, even if she hates the subject.

Barber now sees her room as a purely relaxation place now after having to do school there for so long. Having to do all her classes in her room severely affected her ability to do work from there now.

“I still am not able to do work at home so I have to go somewhere else to do work, which gets inconvenient sometimes,” Barber said.

Gaby Adams, a senior at CHS, agrees that her room is no longer an adequate study space.

Because last year’s tests were open-note and online, Adams did not feel the same stress level or need to study to maintain good grades as she does now. Being back in-person Adams still is not studying as much as she thinks she should but things have drastically improved. She credits this to the way that being back in person for school gives school meaning in the way that tests and quizzes matter and grades are harder to keep up with.

Like Barber, Adams has not been able to focus when doing school work from home either.

“It’s harder for me to study at home because there’s a lot of distractions, like my dog and everything,” Adams said. “I usually stay after school at Kerrytown to study or I’ll stay [at CHS] for a bit.”

For Adams, online school felt much more relaxed and self paced. Students seemed to have a choice of studying or not and either way they could come out with a good grade.

“Because online school was a little more self paced, people could study at their own times, or not study at all and then they’d be fine,” Adams said.

One thing Adams liked about online learning was how much time students were given to get homework done and ask questions during class time. She thinks that this could be beneficial to incorporate for in-person school so it is easier for students to get the help they need and are encouraged to get homework done in a place that is meant for studying.