A Day in the Life of a Day Student

I am a ninth-grade day student, and it is Tuesday of the third week of school. I’m taking seven classes like all other freshmen. For the first four weeks, the odd arrangements (that just means “period”) are meeting online three times a week. Once I get to know all my teachers and classmates in these classes, I’ll then spend the next four weeks in my even arrangement classes. (Sample Daily Schedule.)

I have to get to school early so my mom can get my brother set up in his online learning before she starts work, so I arrive at 7:15 a.m. and go into the meetinghouse, where I am greeted by my chemistry teacher, who happens to be on early morning meetinghouse duty! I thought I might use this time to work ahead in some of my classes, but I end up talking with my teacher and a couple of other students who are also here early—all masked and from an appropriate distance of course!

From 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. I have Arrangement 5 online—my Spanish 1 class. There have been a couple of days over the past few weeks when I decided to stay home to participate in my classes (with my camera on), but today I chose to put on a mask, come to campus, put on my headphones, and join the Zoom class from my designated ninth grade day student working area in the FAC. I sit with, but not too near, some other day students.

Same for my Arrangement 7 class, Chemistry, from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. I ended up in Zoom breakout room with someone sitting a few desks away from me and someone else in Vietnam—a cool example of what we can do with the internet!

My meeting for worship is scheduled for Tuesday, so during Lunch A (11:00-11:30 a.m.) I go to the meetinghouse. There is a large screen in the room with us, where people join MFW from their dorms, day student areas, advisor’s meeting spot, or homes around the world.

I’m not scheduled to eat lunch until Lunch C, so now I make my way back to the 9th grade day student area to remotely join my Arrangement 1 class, Global Spiritualities, from 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Today, we are just learning with our teacher, but sometimes during this class we do group activities with our Peer Group Leaders.

Now it’s lunchtime, so while doing my best to stay at least six feet away from people, I get my lunch, and take off my mask to eat. I picked a sandwich today, but there are hot entrées, different salads, fruit, and desserts.

After lunch, there is a consultation period. Today, I have a consultation scheduled with my Spanish teacher, and we chose to have a physically distant meeting in her classroom, although we could have met online if I had preferred. If I didn’t have a consultation, I could have spent these 30 minutes making progress on my asynchronous work or talking with friends.

At 2:15 p.m. I arrive at my In-Person Time for Arrangement 4, Painting and Drawing. During this time, the day students and boarders are split between two rooms, and the teacher decides what to do. In my art and science classes, we tend to be more focused as we make progress with our projects or labs, but for another class, like AP Human Geography, this time isn’t always about the subject and can be used for study hall.

During my Painting and Drawing class, we work on drawing a still life that is in the center of the room. There is enough room for the teacher to move around and give pointers to me and the other students as we draw.

This classroom time ends at 3:30 p.m., and I chat with some friends at a distance as we walk down to the FAC, where I change for cross country practice, which starts at 4:00 p.m.

As I look at the schedule for tomorrow, I see that I have online classes in English (my one odd arrangement class that didn’t meet today) and Spanish, as well as In-Person Time for Arrangement 4, which is Math. Tonight, I’ll make sure to do whatever work is necessary to be ready for those classes!