“i’m so excited,” knight-johnston said. “now it’s a new year and we’re all back together!”
high school students in urban areas like ottawa, who were only allowed to attend in-person classes part-time last year in smaller groups, are back at school every day.
knight-johnston said she felt hopeful beginning her final year of high school.
“if the (covid-19) numbers go down more, i think we’ll be the first grade 12s in two years to have a more normal year.”
besides, it’s all relative, she said. “we have lived such restricted lives so that any little freedom is great.”
after school, knight-johnston said her first day back had been even better than anticipated. “we hung out at lunch, we got to see our teachers’ faces, just a bunch of things that added to the normalcy.”
jose sanchez, 17, who arrived a week ago from mexico, said he was looking forward to spending grade 12 year at glebe collegiate. “to improve my english, to have good friends and to learn.”
isabel ransom and purnima robinson, both going into grade 11, were practically bubbling over as they waited to file into school. “i’m excited for my subjects. they seem really interesting this year,” robinson said.
ransom said she was looking forward to seeing friends, biology class and to joining the key club.