It’s the first day of school. You wake up 10 minutes before class starts and log onto your computer. The teacher is trying to figure out how to unmute their mic. This is your life now. Welcome to high school. 

For many high schoolers around the world this is what their first day of school looked like. One of these high schoolers is Greta Wuttig, a freshman at Lincoln High School. 

“I guess I didn’t really have any first impressions of high school,” says Wuttig. “My Google meet link wasn’t working, so we kind of skipped a lot of stuff.” 

Online school, combined with the stress of being a freshman in a new school, is difficult.

“I wasn’t looking forward to high school in the first place,” So far it’s been underwhelming, she says. “It was the build up and the let down.”

Technical difficulties were a common occurrence on the first day of school. New technology was a cause of that.

“I think Canvas is a really big change from Google Classroom. Sometimes it’s confusing to find stuff,” Wuttig said. “But I think if I learn Canvas more it’ll be easier.”

One of the cons of online learning, she says, is that “We only meet once a week. In some classes we spend the entire time talking about things we already did. Then in some classes they assign too much work over the week and it feels really overwhelming.”

However, it’s not all bad. There are some positive parts, she says.

“All things considered, I think it’s going pretty well,” Wuttig told me. 

She acknowledges that there are things teachers are doing to make it easier. 

“Teachers posting on the calendar really helps me,” She said, “Sometimes I’ll take notecards and write stuff down for them. I’ll just have stacks of notecards for each class because I always forget things.”

Even with all the different things, there are still things to look forward to this year. 

“I guess I’m looking forward to clubs,” she says, “Because they’re distracting.”

Most importantly, she says, she’s looking forward to going back to in person school. 

“I’m looking forward to when this is over. I’m looking forward to not being trapped in my house,” Wuttig told me. “I think in person school is a lot easier and a lot less stressful.”

She says online school isn’t a perfect solution, but it could be a lot worse. 

“I hate all of it,” she says. “But it’s good that we’re doing it. I’d definitely rather have online school than no school at all.”