It’s that time of year—both school and cold and flu season are getting into full swing. It’s no wonder lots of students—and teachers —have gotten sick these past couple of weeks.
Senior Nora Lowther only missed one day of school, but was “still partially sick when I returned, and for a week I was congested.” She said that her illness made it hard to focus on schoolwork. “I had to get up a lot when I was working, because at any moment in time whenever my nose started running, I had to go blow my nose or get a tissue or something.”
Sophomore Audrey Young also couldn’t focus because of being sick. “I left school early on one day and because of my illness I got one point off on my vocab test because of my brain fog,” she said.
Freshman Celia Peffley was sick for several weeks, but never stayed home from school. “I was constantly fatigued as well as constantly leaving class to get more water and/or cough drops,” they said. “If I could handle it differently, I think I would take my meds more consistently and communicate to my teachers that I might need a little bit of flexibility.”
English teacher Mrs. Luther does her best to accommodate students who have been out sick. “If the student reaches out to me and wants work, I will likely message them daily or every other day to let them know precisely what they missed,” she said.
Young appreciates the efforts teachers make to help their students who have missed work or lessons. She said that most of her teachers were good about catching her up, “except for my one teacher who didn’t teach me what I missed so I got a B on my test.”
Luther said that if students do not prepare for a make-up test or quiz, then “scores are lower due to memory degradation.” However, this may be difficult for some sick students. Peffley shared that while they were sick they “weren’t able to focus and slept instead of doing homework”.
Lowther talked about the challenges of missing even one day of school. “There are some things talked about in class that aren’t exactly assignments but you still need to know,” she said. She also mentioned how she hadn’t yet made up an assignment over a week after she missed it.
When asked if extra precautions should be taken to limit illness in the school, Luther said, “There were fewer illnesses when everyone wore a mask and desks were cleaned off after every period…but continuing that…is not going to happen.”
Lowther concluded her interview with a positive message all students should take to heart: “Stay home when you’re sick!”
