A New Experience for All

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Oratory Prep, just like every other New Jersey school, has been forced to shut down for an indefinite amount of time. Closed facilities also means the spring sports season has come to a halt along with all other activities that were taking place. In the meantime, OP has switched to distance learning where students are required to check into google classroom each day to submit all assignments online. Each teacher has been told to assign an hour of work, but there have certainly been cases where the work has exceeded that timestamp. All assignments are due the next time the class meets, and as we work on a block schedule, this means work doesn’t have to be submitted until two days later. 

Online or not, school keeps going, or as Mr. Kearns puts it, “The big O keeps rolling”. With that being said, tests and any form of assessment must still be given. To adjust to the current circumstances, most teachers are handing out these assessments through Google Forms. Many Google Forms handouts are created with a set number of short answer questions which students must then answer in paragraph responses. The questions have become more challenging since some teachers are allowing students to now use their notes while taking the assessment. 

With school being done virtually, I have to say I do enjoy waking up a little later and being able to complete work on my own time. Although, the idea of staying in your house all day gets boring after a while… The classroom environment is unmatched and interactions between one another have been limited ever since New Jersey’s quarantining experience began. Nonetheless, everyone in the OP community is making the most of the situation at hand and we are all working to put in our best efforts into the third quarter and the rest of the year.