With the creation of a new vaccine and the start of winter, there have been many questions circulating about going back to school in person or not. A lot of students have their own preferences as well; although many say it’s harder to learn online, most agree that they feel that it’s safer to be online for some of the week if not everyday. 

     High school senior, Lauryn Whynott, states, “I think when the vaccines start coming out and people get vaccinated, we will be able to go fully back to school.”

However, another Senior, Lydia Comproski, expresses her concern: “I don’t even feel safe when walking in the hallway because it gets so crowded. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like with the whole school going through the hallways.” Currently, there are many ideas about what’s going to happen floating around the students of Ipswich High School.

     According to The New York Times, when it comes to going back to school, “much will depend on the course the virus takes over the next few months, as colder weather forces people indoors, where the virus spreads more easily.” Students of Ipswich seem to agree that the cold weather coming will have a big impact on classes. This is especially evident as recently the cases of COVID have been rising. When asked if she thought that winter would affect going back to school full time, Lydia said, “Yes, because it’s flu season and that on top of COVID will not be fun.” A lot of students hope that after getting through the winter, that we will be able to have a close to normal school in the spring. 

     Although many are not hopeful for a full return of school this school year, with the new use of the vaccine, there’s more of a chance of going back to normal sooner than later. In a CNN article Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says, “My hope and my projection is that if we get people vaccinated en masse so that we get that large percentage of the population, as we get into the fall, we can get real comfort about people being in schools, safe in school — be that K-12, or college.” 

     Currently, there’s a lot of back and forth over the topic, but Keigan Iwanicki, another high school student, sums up what a lot of her peers are thinking pretty well when she says, “There is no chance that we will be able to go to school fully without any risks of getting COVID-19, but in my opinion, Ipswich High School is capable of stretching safety precautions for the sake of children’s education and participation.”