Academy Shutdown

Academy students are affected by COVID-19 and must make the change to online learning.

Some+seniors+from+PLHS+and+PLSHS+that+are+in+the+Health+Academy+pose+in+front+of+Hillcrest%2C+an+assisted+living+home%2C+after+the+academys+weekly+service+learning.

Ally Engleman

Some seniors from PLHS and PLSHS that are in the Health Academy pose in front of Hillcrest, an assisted living home, after the academy’s weekly service learning.

As everyone is aware, COVID-19 has taken over almost everyone’s lives. Students have been hit hard after schools have closed and classes are now moved to online. Students in academy have had a difficult time transitioning to their classes being online. 

Senior Mitch Germany is in the EMT Academy and had his hands-on academy has moved to a Zoom video. 

“Once schools shut down, we moved to online classes and as of right now, we have no way of learning the physical skills and we can’t have labs,” Germany said. 

Like Germany, senior Ally Engleman was involved in the Health Academy. Instead of working as a CNA at the hospital and working with patients, she is stuck learning through the computer. 

“Since school got cancelled, I have had to take my CMA online in order to still get the hours I need to get my medical assistant license and I am not able to go on rotations anymore,” Engleman said. 

These academies are missed by the students, not only because of what they are taught, but also because of the people. 

“I prefer going to the campus because we get to learn the physical skills needed as an EMT and get to practice them,” Germany said. “I miss seeing my classmates everyday like I used to and also seeing some of my instructors.” 

With the stress of transferring to online classes, many things are missed about in-person school. 

“I really miss all of my teachers and all the students,” Engleman said. “Academy was so small that pretty much everyone was close friends. I also miss being able to go work with all the patients on the different floors and getting to have those huge experiences.” 

Learning the skills from Health Academy and EMT Academy is very different from a remote location. These students are missing the hands-on learning that they have been used to.