TIGARD, Ore. — This week, many of Oregon's older students stepped into a school building for the first time in over a year.
While some school districts started hybrid learning for high school students earlier, like Salem-Keizer Public Schools which started in mid-April, a number of school districts began in-person hybrid learning for middle and high school students this week, from the state’s largest school district Portland Public Schools, to Beaverton Schools, to the Tigard-Tualatin School District.
We spoke with a few Tigard-Tualatin high school students to see how the first week of hybrid learning went.
“First impressions, I didn't want to go back. I was like senior year, I should probably end it on some sort of high note,” said Abdirahim Mohamoud, a senior at Tigard High School.
“It's a lot better than I thought it would be,” he said.
In the Tigard-Tualatin School District, students are in two groups. One attends school in person on Monday and Tuesday while the other attends on Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
“My first class we actually had a chemistry lab which of course we couldn't do that for the past year. So, that was a really fun way to start it off,” said Rowan Kelleher, a senior at Tigard High School.
Other students, like Emily Phuong Tran who is a junior at Tualatin High School, chose to stay home to continue distance learning.
They're adjusting to teachers splitting their attention between students online and in person.
“It's been a little bit awkward because sometimes they'll be talking to the students in hybrid and they're like joking with them and we [students online] still hear them. We don't really know what they're talking about,” said Tran.
“In my first period class there's just three other people in the room with me and you kind of forget that there's other people in the class,” Kelleher said.
Mohamoud said he’s noticed teachers making other adjustments.
“With hybrid, teachers really have to slow down to make sure everybody's learning at the same pace,” he said.
Still, both Mohamoud and Kelleher say they’re glad to be back in-person at school. They and Tran are all looking forward to the fall, hoping for a more normal school year whether in high school, or college.
“How much has changed in a year is really crazy. But you know, at least we're in the building and now we can see each other and that's all you can hope for,” said Mohamoud.