When faces are no longer sculpted by blue light and classroom banter is not restricted by a microphone icon, school is less anxiety-inducing. That’s the way it is for Hudson Bell, who, like many other sophomores, is experiencing high school for the first time after a year of online schooling, robbed of the freshman experience. 

“I feel like I’m grouped in with the freshmen,” sophomore Hudson Bell said. “I feel like I’m not a sophomore, I feel like a Freshman 2.0. I guess it’s what I expected, to be honest.”

Sophomores, Bell suggested, are not only catching up with the familiarity of a high school campus, but also in-person interaction in general.

“It was odd,” Bell said. “I was sitting in science recently, and it took me a second to realize this person that is teaching me is right here; they’re a physical person that I can interact with. It’s unfamiliar. When you’re gone from school for a year and a half, it’s a big jump.”