Every day students all over the school use digital devices for projects, contests and for studying. These students put rigorous effort into participating in online classes, doing projects, or creating new things. The students doing these activities put in extra effort to balance their school work, sometimes even taking classes outside of school.
“I use technology for pretty much everything, my whole life probably revolves around technology,” junior Kadence Gerber said. “With my classes, it really depends. It depends on the lesson, how they’re teaching it, and the class work, but most of the time I’m pretty engaged.”
Students in different elective classes use technology as well. Students in the Engineering Principles class used technology for a project involving robotics.
“It was a project where we built up and battled bots in a small circle. The objective was to push your opponents out or disable them,” said senior Josiah McKee. “This project was really fun. The competition aspect of it made it much more fun.”
This year the school district rolled out a no-phones rule. Students from around the school have shown their opinions.
“I’d say the phone rule is pretty effective because everyone seems to follow the rule. I don’t really mind the phone rule because we still get our phones at lunch so the rule doesn’t bother me too much,” junior Landon Doty said.
“I understand why they enforced this rule, but I don’t necessarily like it. We use phones a lot, so taking it away during school makes kids not want to listen as much and want to rebel more,” Gerber said. “I feel like the phone rule is pretty effective, phones aren’t out during class. But it does make kids more sneaky with how they get to their phones.”
Technology is a big part of daily life now, and schools have adjusted to fit that, whether it’s online classes or individual projects these classes all seem to be engaging for the students taking them.
“I’m pretty engaged in all of my classes. I get all of my work done and I work pretty hard,” Doty said.
Since the COVID outbreak in 2020 teachers have been moving further and further away from paper. Many teachers use a student management program called Canvas for their tests and assignments. “English I & English III use Canvas almost every day," language arts teacher Alison Eidman said. “It is easier to disseminate assignments to students. When students are absent, they can check Canvas for their assignments.”
Senior Josiah McKee works with his partner Eli Green to program a robot in his Principles of Engineering class. “The benefits of technology in the classroom are the ability to get hands-on experience with new things, not just the same old boring paperwork. I think that we should incorporate technology in our classrooms because the world is advancing and technology is becoming more and more relevant in the modern workforce,” said McKee.
Junior Mateus Mitchell works on a computer programmed robot in his engineering class. “Technology has aided my school experience by making more things accessible and improving upon different things in various ways,” Mitchell said.
Senior Athena Soria plays Kahoot in her Horticulture class. “Technology has a big impact in the classes I take because everything that they assign us is online. I think it kinda does affect my daily life because it helps me complete the things I have to do but it also lets me use social media,” Soria said.
Junior Carys Price takes notes in her Intro to Psychology online class. “I think online has helped me learn about new things that I would have not been able to do at my school. I think they are very beneficial because it helps prepare kids for a college setting. I would totally recommend the classes to other kids because it has benefited me so much,” Price said.
Junior Kadence Gerber works on her Intro to Psychology online class. “Technology for me isn’t really different from any other type of learning in my opinion. But I do think it’s a lot easier because all of your information is right in front of you, on the internet. I was taking notes for my psychology class. I used Canvas where our teacher posted slides for our class to look at,” Gerber said.
Junior Daysha Schickel works on her Algebra II class online. “I feel that being online for this class has helped me greatly. Everyone learns in different ways and after a long time of trying to figure out what suits me best, I finally feel confident in how I'm learning. Being able to use my laptop is a really big help and has gotten me through almost every class I take,” Shickel said.