In recent years, Northwest Academy has seen a gradual change in the way new students are integrating into the community. For many, online school marked a turning point in the school’s social structure, and the way students navigate it.
“I joined [Northwest Academy] during Covid, so even talking to people outside of projects was difficult, and I struggled to find a group I felt comfortable with,” said Aiden Van der Merwe, a senior. “In my high school experience I think that there are definitely friend groups that are harder to penetrate, people that are more closed off, but things like the senior retreat were very useful to help overcome that.”
Van der Merwe’s experience has been shared by others who joined the school pre-pandemic or during the outbreak. One of the reasons behind some students’ struggles was the way online school affected socialization.
“Everybody else had difficulty too,” said Griff Urang, a freshman who joined the school in sixth grade during online learning. “Everyone had their cameras off so you couldn’t really tell what people were like and it made me not even want to try to reach out.”
Others agree that the pandemic heavily affected social interaction and interpersonal skills. William Clarke, a senior, believes that it particularly affected grade-to-grade communication.
“Covid kind of stagnated talking with people in your grade,” said Clarke. “The ability to talk with people above or below your grade very much deteriorated.”
Clarke believes that he was readily accepted into the school over time, but noted how it was a struggle joining right before online learning and trying to fit in with the cliques that existed before the pandemic.
“I think the school has changed in some ways, I think that it’s gotten a lot less cliquey and a lot more accepting,” Clarke said. “It was always accepting, but I think there’s a change.”
The theme of change at Northwest Academy has been noted by many of the students, most maintaining the opinion that the school has shifted things for the better over time.
“I think in the high school now there’s a lot more freedom with electives and classes that offer more specialized focuses, and there’s more people now which I think is a good thing,” Addy Paternoster, a freshman, said.
Paternoster, as well as others, also believes there is some difficulty integrating into the school, though the resounding opinion is that the school does a good job welcoming students into the community.
“I think it’s hard because you don’t know anyone and it’s a new environment to get used to,” said Maura Moloney, a freshman. “But ultimately you get over that pretty quickly cause you’re spending a lot of time at the school.”
Moloney believes that the most difficult part of coming to Northwest Academy is that you’re not clued into the things that happened the years before, whether school-related or interpersonal.
“You miss out on the community that people from that school [Northwest Academy] have gotten,” said Moloney.
There are many others who have noticed the struggle new students deal with. A barrier separates new students from interacting with classmates who have already had a chance to form their friendships with students and relationships with teachers.
“Because it’s a small community and a lot of people already know each other from middle school it can be kind of hard to find a friend group, and also the workload is pretty different from middle school on top of that,” said Owen Abrahams, a sophomore.
Abrahams also mentioned how he has also noticed a change in the school, stemming from how Covid affected students’ mental health as well as the school’s structure.
“The transition from Covid was a big one in terms of both social space availability and classroom design,” said Abrahams.
Post-pandemic students and entering freshmen, especially those who did not attend for middle school, are the primary ones experiencing this change. With each new year comes a wave of students that must navigate Northwest Academy’s community to find their place.
“Everyone’s actually nice here and I felt like I could talk to everyone right away, and the teachers are understanding,” said Leili Tonisson, a freshman in her first year at the school. “I feel like I fit in at most times but it can also be scary sometimes, I feel most accepted when I get invited to hang out outside of school.”
Tonisson thinks that a large amount of her discomfort has stemmed from moving to a new state, but for many students who haven’t had to deal with that kind of pressure, their integration has been mostly seamless.
“The first week was a little bit awkward just in terms of navigating, but the way the classes kind of guide you to talking and having conversations it makes it very easy to join in,” said Wren Alger, a new freshman. “The teachers are also a lot more enthusiastic and nice.”
