Going to school is very important for the developing minds of children. Here at Holy Family, we are very lucky to be in person learning (knock on wood). Getting up, driving to school, sitting in a desk, seeing your friends, seeing your teachers, and having an in person learning environment in general is very important to actually understanding information. Thank you Holy Family for keeping us in school!

Masks are… well… not great. Having fabric covering everyone’s beautiful faces is definitely a negative to in person learning. However, I would much rather be able to see my friends and have a face covering than be stuck at home. Unfortunately with COVID-19 right now, these are the only two options: mask or home. I’ll go with the mask.

Dividers are… well… worse than masks. I do not personally love not being able to hear my classmates or see the board because the dividers are blocking everyone. However, they are not in every classroom, and they limit the amount of people who have to be in quarantine when cases rise up.

Rolling in to school is not always easy (because who likes waking up in the morning) but it definitely gives people more motivation than laying on the couch and trying to do math problems or type papers. In the parking lot we have to go inside the building before and leave pretty fast after school, but even with that little amount of time with friends walking in and out of the school is precious. I think it is easy take even the small amount of contact we have with everyone for granted, but we really should do our best not to because we are one of the only schools open full time. Plus, we still have lunch to talk to our friends!

After walking into the building you are immediately greeted with a monster temperature scanner from Duthermex that alerts everyone if someone walks past and has a fever. Mr. Montgomery, the head of security at Holy Family, states, “This system allows us to check every student and staff member daily, while keeping us from placing staff in danger by forcing them to break distancing barriers to get temperatures or causing huge backups.” It can take the temperature of 30 people per second, between 96 and 100.1 degrees. It actually measures the temperature from tear ducts instead of temporal scanning, making it much more accurate. If someone has a temperature higher than 100.1, red lights and alerts flash. Kind of intimidating, but very, very cool.

There is also a new ventilation system, or bi polar GPS ionization system, keeping the air in the school clean in two ways. “First the ionized particles are larger which makes it easier for the passive filtration to remove the particles. This increases the effectiveness of our passive filtration. Secondly, the outer layer of COVID and other viruses have a lipid layer. This lipid layer  protects the virus and allows it to live in the air and on surfaces for a period of time. The ionized particles in essence destroy this barrier rendering the virus unharmful,” Mr. Montgomery explains. The best part: 99% of all active COVID particles are useless after only 30 minutes. To keep the system moving and the air COVID free, doors stay open in classrooms, and for lunch we eat in the huge main gym. A very generous anonymous donor gave this system to Holy Family, and we are very grateful.

Everyone has heard of the occasional case from Holy Family students. With the new protocols and steps taken by Holy Family, only a few people have to actually be quarantined, based on the close contact between them and the person with the case. This minimal quarantining has kept the school in action and everyone sane because we can stay here and learn. Even the people that do have to quarantine in these small groups know that it will actually be for only two weeks, unlike the last time school shut down and two weeks turned into months.

Holy Family is doing everything in its power to keep us open. Dividers, masks, staggered dismissal, fancy technology, etc. are all small sacrifices for keeping our education and social lives intact. Even if it kind of stinks, stay positive! I am very thankful for the opportunity to stay in school, real school, this long, and I think we will be able to continue to last.