ETHS students reflect on switch to hybrid learning model
April 23, 2021
After more than a year of online classes, Evanston Township High School senior Chloe Haack said she wanted to spend at least some time in the building before her high school career ended. But she said that her first day back at ETHS definitely didn’t feel like things were back to normal.
“Walking in, there were maybe 10 kids in the hallway at the same time, which, if you go to (ETHS), you know that having 3,000+ kids in the same hallway can be very overwhelming,” she said. “Only seeing 10 other kids in the hallway was a very weird and honestly apocalyptic type of experience.”
Evanston Township High School will open some in-person activities in February, school officials announced Thursday.
Due to improving local health metrics, students will soon have the option to participate in athletics, fine arts, hands-on learning, mindfulness practices and other activities in-person at ETHS, the email said. Students will continue learning according to the school’s Enhanced E-learning Schedule.
“Isolation is negatively affecting many of our students,” the email said. “In a regular school year, student wellbeing and belonging are priorities at ETHS and the pandemic amplifies those priorities.”
The announcement comes shortly after the Coalition to Reopen Evanston Schools, formerly known as the Coalition to Reopen District 65 Schools, called on District 202 leaders to provide a detailed plan for returning to in-person learning. D65 superintendent Devon Horton announced just over a week ago the district is set to launch its hybrid learning model Feb. 16.
Evanston Township High School students are continuing to educate the Evanston community and press on racial equity in the city, even as they say the momentum behind last summer’s wave of antiracism action has fizzled.
Since the police killing of George Floyd last spring, ETHS senior Mika Parisien has been working as a board member of both Students Organized Against Racism and Evanston Fight for Black Lives.
Through these organizations, Parisien is leading equity workshops to discuss antiracism, at her school and at other Evanston schools. EFBL has also met with City Council, organized protests and redistributed donations through a mutual aid fund.