The East Ridge Community Reflects on 2021
Written by Sydney Weber
Photo by Zehrah Ali
Redundant and uncertain. Full of struggle, mania, and change. A year of growth and a year of fatigue. Hectic yet enlightening. These are all words the students, staff, and teachers of East Ridge High School chose to describe the year 2021.
2021 was full of noteworthy events. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to rage on, a vaccine was released and administered around the world, new variants emerged, President Joe Biden entered office, the US pulled troops out of Afghanistan, and the world continued to fight climate change.
Meanwhile, East Ridge returned to hybrid learning in the spring, football games were open to students in the fall, homecoming was back again, and the 2021-2022 school year returned to full in-person learning.
In over 20 student and staff responses, an overwhelming majority viewed 2021 in a negative way. Many used the words terrible, hard, or challenging to describe the previous year.
“I think there was just a lot of stress and frustration in 2021,” ERHS junior Avery Wallen states. “I struggled with motivation, especially while school was online or hybrid.”
During the winter of 2020-2021, East Ridge High School, along with thousands of other schools, was forced to turn to online learning due to high rates of COVID. The United States Census Bureau reports that nearly 93% of households with school-age children had some form of distance learning during the pandemic.
In the spring of 2021, East Ridge students were able to come back to the school for hybrid learning, which consisted of a block schedule, hexmesters, and alternating A/B days for in-person instruction and online work.
ERHS teacher Beth Carle used the word challenging to describe 2021 as “there were a lot of changing guidelines and it was challenging to flow with those changes.”
While many students and teachers alike struggled to overcome the challenges of 2021, some believe that there were many positive aspects of the year.
“To be honest, I kind of finessed the year,” states junior Hosanna Yonatan, “And I got vaccinated.”
In April of 2021, the White House announced that everyone 16 and over was eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Leading companies Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna developed the majority of vaccines, while other companies like Johnson & Johnson soon followed.
Climate change continued to be an issue, but progress was made as the United States re-entered the Paris Climate Agreement in February, and president Joe Biden proposed a goal for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
East Ridge also introduced more resources for student mental health, with a large team of counselors and psychologists ready and able to support students. Flex Fridays were reintroduced, which gave students the time and opportunity to catch up on work and with teachers.
Asked why she chose the word “enlightening” to describe 2021, junior Aditi Venkatest reflected, “COVID allowed us to learn more about ourselves. I think a lot more people are prioritizing mental health and even science is advancing. But I also think that we are learning to appreciate what we have so much more, and that’s what’s important.”
