{"id":8770,"date":"2020-09-28T12:25:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T17:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=8770"},"modified":"2020-10-20T08:28:46","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:28:46","slug":"a-crossroads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/?p=8770","title":{"rendered":"A Crossroads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophomores Cole Cameron and Sam Shroyer found themselves at a crossroads. They could either return to school or take online classes at home. With many factors at stake, both students and their families faced a big decision.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Cameron\u2019s father works for an AT&T company and goes to people\u2019s homes and repairs TVs for them. Cameron\u2019s father was told that he had a choice: he could work for six months and get paid, or he could leave his job and not take the risk of being exposed to COVID. Cameron\u2019s father chose not to take the risk and he quit his job to keep his family safe. \u201cRight now we are transitioning between jobs,\u201d Cameron said, \u201c he already has one interview though.\u201d\u00a0 On the other hand, Cameron\u2019s mother doesn\u2019t have a job so she wasn\u2019t affected in terms of her work.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cameron\u2019s grandmother lives with his family. One of the reasons Cameron chose to go full virtual was because of his grandma. He didn\u2019t want to take the risk of her being exposed to the virus. \u201cWe were trying to keep her safe and have as little contact as possible,\u201d said Cameron.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He said, \u201cI knew that if there was an option to be full virtual, then I would take it.\u201d Cameron and his parents decided together that the best option for him was to stay at home and have virtual classes. \u201cI have gotten used to the whole virtual thing because we did this sort of stuff last year,\u201d said Cameron. \u201cI feel bad for the teachers because they have to split their attention and work between the online students and the students present in class.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cameron said, \u201cI will stay virtual as long as COVID is still around or if it is safe to return to school.\u201d Cameron\u2019s family understands and doesn\u2019t intrude his room when he is online. \u201cI don\u2019t get distracted when I am at home because I am in my room and my family doesn\u2019t bother me,\u201d said Cameron. \u201cWith normal school, it is easier to remain <\/span>f<\/span>ocused, but at home, you are there if you want to or not. I am able to be present in the class even though I am virtual because I have a quiet place with no distractions, such as my room,\u201d Cameron said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cameron is still able to connect with his classmates and teachers even though he is online. \u201cWhile it is a bit harder to find new friends, it is easy to communicate with my classmates and friends, especially with texting,\u201d Cameron said. The Catholic High experience is still available to him even though he is not present at the school. He can still connect with his brothers in class and communicate with his teachers even at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cameron wasn\u2019t the only student that chose to go full virtual. Sophomore Sam Shroyer also was an online student. \u201c I was the one you brought up the idea of being fully virtual to my parents, and they were supportive of whatever decision I made as long I got my work done and did the best I could,\u201d said Shroyer. Shroyer\u2019s mom is an accountant and has been working from home, which hasn\u2019t impacted her as much, but Shroyer\u2019s father has been affected by the virus. \u201c My dad converts gases into energy and helps build swimming pools,\u201d said Shroyer, \u201c but the companies that he gets the products from have been late to shipments due to the virus.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c It was more of how I have different classes every day with the half and half schedule, and that messed up how I would do my work normally,\u201d said Shroyer. At home, Shroyer can manage his schedule and work better. He could record the zoom meeting with the permission of the teacher if he was falling behind on notes. \u201cIt is pretty distracting doing classes at home because you hear your dogs barking, get phone calls, or pretty much anything in your room can be distracting when you are bored, ” said Shroyer,\u00a0 \u201calso the masks distracted me from my schoolwork.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMy grades are kind of staying the same as they were freshman year,\u201d said Shroyer, \u201c but I know that some people\u2019s grades have completely dropped because they stopped studying, or continued to cheat over and over.\u201d\u00a0 Sam is still able to have the Catholic High experience because he gets the feel of the teachers and students even on the zoom calls. Shroyer said, \u201c I hope that we will return to school this year, but for the time being I will be at home just because I don\u2019t like school as it is with the half virtual and half in class.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We must always have strength and the knowledge to do the right thing, even when no one is watching.\u00a0 Cameron said, \u201c It requires more willpower and determination to get things done, rather than doing something else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sophomores Cole Cameron and Sam Shroyer found themselves at a crossroads. They could either return to school or take online classes at home. With many factors at stake, both students and their families faced a big decision.\u00a0 \u00a0Cameron\u2019s father works for an AT&T company and goes to people\u2019s homes and repairs TVs for them. Cameron\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":8771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[196,358],"tags":[143],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/liftoffnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/IMG_0900.jpg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xfZw-2hs","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8770"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8774,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8770\/revisions\/8774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/liftoffnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}