With the new semester recently beginning at ILS, many students were given the choice to remain fully virtual, or to come back hybrid mode. This semester, many more students picked hybrid school over virtual, meaning they’d be put into one of the two cohorts and expected to come to campus for school certain days out of the week.

Why is that? Well, I was able to ask a few virtual students what some of the reasons were behind their choice, which might shed light on why so many were itching to return to campus.

Senior Isabella Juara says she came back because she “missed everything about going to campus, the bay, the food, and especially my friends..”

As a senior, she didn’t want to miss out on her most special year. She claims that being in person has helped her tremendously, especially when communicating with teachers. “You learn much better, you are more focused, and you get to be with your friends,” she concluded.

Junior Ceci Harding commented that her main reason for returning was because she “was going crazy staying at home 24/7”, and that now she’s happy to see all her teachers and friends.

Harding remarked that she thought people were coming back because of how safe hybrid school is. Harding thinks returning is totally worth it.

Other students, like Cata Lujan, a junior, felt the need to come back to school because they “felt extremely unmotivated to do work ay home”.

This attitude led to her procrastinating and falling behind academically for Lujan. Now that she is hybrid, she says the days go by quicker, and that she can concentrate much more. She attributes people’s change of heart to the spread of information, saying that “they’ve heard from others what hybrid is like, [and] they feel less afraid.”

With an influx of more hybrid students, La Salle is getting its lively color back. Hopefully sooner rather than later, things can go back to normal. With such positive reviews from hybrid students, it seems the hybrid school option has been a success.