For many members of the class of 2024, the excitement that typically comes with the beginning of a new year in a new school was quickly diminished when Lick-Wilmerding’s administration announced that school would continue to be online throughout the first quarter.
Despite this, Frosh resilience is evident in their adapting to connect in an entirely virtual setting and make the best of their situation. As reality settled in, the Frosh confronted the challenge they were presented with.
Without the ability to see classmates in person or meet people through sports or passing in the halls, Ben Chung ’24 feared he would not be able to make new friends or connect with the community. “It’s tough,” he said, “going to a new place and not knowing anything and then continuously not really knowing anything. There are a lot of things that we have that we can read about Lick, but there’s not anything we can actually really experience about it.”
School administration — along with the Student Council — helped to plan numerous online events, including Frosh Orientation, Frosh Rotations, Advising, Class Meetings and Halloween Week Contests.
However, some Frosh mentioned that participating in ice breakers and breakout room sessions felt mind-numbing and awkward. Chung said, “At a certain point, a thousand icebreakers and a thousand Kahoots doesn’t really help very much.” Few are reaching out to others after events like these.
Frosh Representative Sophie Lee ’24 said that “there’s certain things that work and certain things that don’t work. One of the highlights for me was in one of our frosh rotations, we had a mixed group. It was a group of random kids, so you got to meet people who weren’t necessarily in your classes or in your advisory. And we played a game, which was really fun.”
Nisu Fletes-Berkowitz ’24 also emphasizes the importance of casual events like these. “Go straight into something more interactive like a game,” he said. “I feel like people can connect and learn more about their fellow students with something more interactive and something they enjoy.”
Frosh/Soph Dean Christine Yin believes that one of the biggest challenges has been trying to find new ways for students to meet each other while still following all of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) guidelines. “We knew that if kids gather in big groups, there’s a danger of COVID spreading and then not being able to open up campus,” said Yin.
Despite these SFDPH policies, other Bay Area schools, such as University High School, have held in-person events for Frosh and have plans to reopen their campus in early 2021. However, whether this follows the rules or not is unclear.
LWHS opened for the first time in eight months on November 9. Aside from the two days each student has spent back on campus, when only half the freshman class was on campus at a time (those in Cohort A or Cohort B), LWHS has not held any other live events. Many Frosh have organized small meetups to connect with each other through WhatsApp group chats and a Discord server, despite SFDPH’s constraints on the school.
For Frosh Class Representative Coco Tao ’24, these gatherings have been the key to her making new connections. “I’ve met some people in person and those are the people that I stayed friends with,” she said. “The people that I’ve met virtually I haven’t really stayed in contact with.” However, this doesn’t mean such friendships are impossible.
When Fletes-Berkowitz and Maxwell Webb ’24 first heard about Flight Club, an LWHS club building an ultralight plane, they instantly became involved. “The second I heard about it, I was hooked,” said Fletes-Berkowitz. “I’m also able to meet a lot of people that I share interests with, especially upperclassmen which is nice, because at this point there’s no other way to really get to know a lot of upperclassmen.”
Cross Country has been another area where students connect to others beyond the virtual world. Participating in small practices run by team captains has been the main way that Chung feels connected to others in the LWHS community. It serves as a way to meet other Frosh as well as other upperclassmen in a way that feels more normal in an abnormal time.
Tao and other Frosh co-representatives Lee and Senai Wilks ’24 saw that many people were going through the same things that they were and wanted to help others feel more connected. They chose to do so through running for Student Council.
One area that the administration has not prioritized has been connecting the Frosh with upperclassmen and the greater community in general. Right now, the only ways that other students can connect with Frosh has been through voluntary programs such as Peer Connect. Spirit Coordinator Elodie Griffin-Schmidt ’22 advised all students but especially Frosh to “jump out, take the extra step and contact people you’re not sure about. I think everyone is so willing to engage right now and you can make really incredible connections,” she said. “I know for me, the pandemic has actually allowed me to strengthen my friendships in surprising ways.”
Yin is enthusiastic about the Class of 2024. She said the faculty say the Frosh “are enthusiastic, engaged, thoughtful, kind and fun.” They have been described as showing a kind of wonderful positive energy despite being a group of students who have never met each other before. “Every ninth grade teacher who has talked about the Frosh has said they love this class.”
As students begin to trickle back into the hallways of LWHS, the many Frosh have now been given an opportunity to see each other together for the first time. “We’re actually meeting people,” said Chung. “Because online, no one really has to be the new kid.”
According to the LWHS November Update for Students and Families, due to rising COVID-19 cases in the Bay Area, as well as holiday gatherings and travel, LWHS has decided to switch the plans for post-Thanksgiving break. All Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors will stay remote throughout December to allow for just Frosh and students who need to be on campus to get four days at school and the school will continue at 25% capacity.
This will allow LWHS to “help Frosh connect with one another and the school as they are the least familiar with campus and each other,” according to a November update sent out to the school community. Along with allowing the entire Frosh class to be together, the school has also announced that they are working on social programming for the rest of the school, limited to 12 students outdoors.
