Virtual vs In Person Learning- Abbie Blochinger

Last year, due to the pandemic we were split into two cohorts with the choice of being virtual, and I of course chose virtual learning to be safe. I didn't know, however, that being virtual would be one of the terrible things to ever happen to me because of everything it ruined for me. For starters, I felt like I was completely isolated from the rest of my grade, and I felt like since I wasn't seeing people, that I was a loner with no friends. Virtual learning made it easier to leave the meets but it cost me my mental health. It cost me my mental health because I started questioning everything that I was doing, and I was feeling depressed that I wasn't seeing anyone, and instead, I was staring at a blank computer screen. As the months moved on, I couldn't wait for my 9th-grade year to be over, and so far this year, my mental health is so much better since I'm around people, and I'm actually learning. The moral of the story, don't take in-person learning for granted or you'll really miss out.