One fine morning, you wake up to the ringing of an alarm clock. After rubbing your eyes and getting out of bed, you get dressed and go downstairs to eat breakfast. Everything seems perfectly normal, just like any day in December, in January, in February—except you’re not going to drive to school anymore. Instead, you open up your laptop and log in to Google Hangouts, waiting for your virtual class meeting to begin at 8:00 AM sharp.

This has been the norm for Sage Hill students ever since March 12, when Head of School Patricia Merz announced that classes at Sage would go virtual due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This situation is completely unprecedented, and it took a while for students and staff to adjust to a generally new concept of distant learning.

“There’s been a few mishaps,” said freshman Eleni Engelbrecht.

The community has experienced a number of technological problems in online classes. After a month and a half, however, most major issues have subsided and both students and teachers are able to use class time extremely productively, sometimes nearly as if they are sitting in an actual classroom.

School is not the only thing that has gone online. Under current light of the pandemic, public health resources have recommended that everyone stay home and self-quarantine. Therefore, most means of communication and gathering, including everyday socializing, have switched to virtual texts and calls as well.

“I miss going to Sage and seeing everyone,” said freshman Alexandra Montgomery. “In general, though, the quarantine is going alright. Our teachers are really supportive, and we’re all doing our best to adjust to this new routine.”

Distance learning has provided many students with a lot of freedom. Classes are now only four days a week and an hour long each, and it was recently announced that students’ final second semester grade would not fall below their third interim grade unless they do not show effort.

“You don’t have to wake up at 6 in the morning to get to school. You get to eat snacks during class,” said sophomore Jocelyn Li. “The workload is not less, but you have more time to do it.”

Most students are using their free time to keep up with their friends or continue to pursue their personal interests and hobbies.

“I think it’s important that we don’t let quarantine prevent us from making something out of this time,” said junior Jian Park. “If you organize your time well you can get a lot done.”