Since COVID-19 spread throughout the world, our daily lives have changed drastically. One of the biggest changes students have dealt with is learning, an essential part of life. While this virus certainly created various challenges, teachers and students have successfully overcome them by coming together virtually, even during the time we had to spend apart. Thankfully, all of my Greater Johnstown High School (GJHS) teachers banded together, collaborated, and worked diligently to continue to be there for students and provide the feedback we needed to continue to learn despite being separated.
The transition to virtual learning was certainly abrupt, and I knew that communication was going to be one of the most helpful tools during this time. Both teachers and students used the features of the Summit Learning platform to our full advantage. For example, my teachers set weekly reminders on the platform, they continued to implement the comment feature as a way to provide us with feedback, and most importantly, they explained in-depth the cognitive skills included in order for us to achieve the highest score possible.
While many might have been frustrated with schools shutting down unexpectedly, I am grateful for the opportunity it provided to allow my peers and me to implement our self-directed learning skills in an extreme test. As a freshman new to Summit Learning this year, I can say that I have grown even more independent and responsible. I understand myself better as a learner and the way I can utilize resources, which genuinely helped me with the transition to at-home learning.
Moving forward into the 2020-2021 school year, I am excited to continue my learning journey as a 10th grader in our GJHS Summit Academy, alongside my teachers and peers. Even if our schooling situation continues to be different, though, I am confident that we will continue to learn and succeed. We will come out of this pandemic stronger, more united, and even more eager to show what we can do on our own, together.
We may have finished the year differently from how we started, but together through Summit Learning, we persevered, continued to learn, and exceeded expectations.