Adjusting to a new school environment can be challenging, especially if that environment is completely foreign. For some new students this year at GWUOHS, online learning is an entirely new method, apart from the possible Zoom classes they attended during the COVID-19 lockdown. Orientation week, from Sept. 4 to Sept. 6, was dedicated to helping students acclimate to the new year.
The general sentiment from students was that even if they had no prior experience with the K12 OLS, the user-friendly format allowed for a relatively smooth transition.
“At first, it was a little bit confusing to get the hang of [the OLS],” eighth-grader Samantha M. said. “However, after I attended the orientations and learned how to use the site, it was much easier. I have also been in online school for about seven years, so it was probably easier for me to get used to it than someone who is just starting online this year.”
Junior Roslyn G. shared a similar thought.
“As a student who has taken K12 courses in the past, it was quite easy to get used to GW’s OLS, in most part due to the easily navigable features and accessibility.”
Sophomore Iris L., another student who is new to online learning, expressed the ease of transition from an in-person school to GWUOHS.
“I think for me it was pretty simple as someone who’s been to physical schools that utilized learning websites such as Microsoft Teams, it was no different from that,” Iris said. “But even if I wasn’t experienced with learning websites, it would have been easy with of all the help that the teachers provided on live sessions and because students have academic advisors that we can ask questions to whenever we’re having problems.”
Along with getting to know the system, new students enjoyed getting to know their courses and teachers via orientation sessions, which they found particularly helpful in preparing them for the school year.
“The orientation sessions were a very effective way to start the year on a good note and were a great way to get to know our classes and professors a bit better before the official start of the year,” Roslyn explained. “We, as new students, were also introduced to the technicalities and formalities of the coursework and of this new school setting, which was a very helpful experience.”
Samantha had thoughts akin to Roslyn, and she explained how orientation sessions were beneficial for her.
“The orientation classes actually helped me a lot. They provided me with a lot of information, and they let me learn a little bit about my teachers before the school year started. They also gave me insight on how the assignments and grading works.”
Outside of the classroom, GWUOHS hosted several social events during orientation week, including grade-specific meet-and-greets and an all-school assembly.
Sophomore Hope B. described the importance of these events and how they helped her socialize with other students.
“I think it’s good that GWUOHS is providing social opportunities for new online students, as sometimes it can be a little scary to deal with the prospect of no longer being with people your age every day for most of the day, and it [is] a little harder to meet new people,” she noted. “I attended all the social events and in particular enjoyed the peer mentor meet and greet, where I met with some other new students and got to chat with them.”
Finally, students were asked what their favorite part of orientation week was.
“I liked that there were multiple social events for us new students to attend to, [and I] felt very welcomed and supported,” Iris said. “[The school] had multiple different sessions [for] the assembly, [and] as someone who’s 13 hours ahead of EST time, it was really great to be able to choose and join the session time that worked for me.”
Roslyn made a point about how the week impacted her thoughts and feelings going into the new year.
“My favorite part about orientation week was perhaps the fact that it symbolized and gave way to a new beginning. After a long summer of anticipation, we were finally beginning the new school year, and I, for one, was experiencing orientation week, motivated and excited.”
