Eva Glazier

According to assistant Principal Amy Skeens-Benton the decision for a fully in-person school year was based on the governor allowing events to occur in full-capacity settings once again.

She said, “We believe that in-person learning and having (students) on a schedule every day is what’s best for (them).”

Junior Shreya Krishnan said she agrees with Skeens-Benton and is excited to be returning to in-person schooling this year.

“I am glad that I made the decision to get the vaccine so I feel a little safer since I will have some immunity when we come back to school next year. I’m also, in a way, looking forward to going back because it’s my first time going back after a year and a quarter from being back at the school,” she said.

  According to Skeens-Benton, the administration is prioritizing a smooth transition to a full in-person school year for all students.

    “We have had some students that haven’t been in the building at all this year and we’ve had students that have only been here for half of the time. We really want them to get acquainted with this school and feel comfortable so we are going to be doing more before school starts to acclimate kids than we’ve ever done before. We’ve always done this for freshmen and done the GKOM program, but now for upperclassmen we are going to put a bigger emphasis on acclamation before school starts.”

    For Krishnan, she said she is excited to see her teachers and mentors in-person once more. 

    Krishnan said, “I am definitely looking forward to having a face-to-face interaction with my teachers again. Doing things on camera and doing things in-person are two very different things so I am looking forward to that. I’m also looking forward to seeing people since it’s been awhile.”

According to Skeens-Benton, after the distanced school year, she encourages students to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them at this school. 

  “I think that we should never take for granted the opportunities we have, especially at Carmel High School. Maybe this year was something we learned from as far as taking advantage of every opportunity,” Skeens-Benton said. “I remember, not this year because we had hybrid, but the year before when we had seniors, when we ended in March, and the seniors didn’t get together, they came out with a video to underclassmen and they said, ‘Go to everything, go to football games, go to Homecoming, go to volleyball games, get together with your friends and take advantage of all the things the school has to offer because you never know when it’s not going to be there and you missed out on an opportunity to meet new people and I think that’s the greatest thing that (this school year) is going to offer,” she said. 

According to senior Sneha Srivatsa, she agreed with Skeens-Benton and also plans to make the most of this year after the non-traditional school year. 

“I’m so excited about the upcoming school year. I’m going to be able to see all of my friends in school again and just be reunited once more. It has been a while since the Class of 2022 has been all together and I’m ready to see my classmates again,” Srivatsa said. “Overall, I’m determined to go out with a bang and have a good time.”