Following a tumultuous and challenging year and a half, Choate has fully reopened for the 2021-2022 academic year, resuming in-person classes along with a full catalogue of extracurricular opportunities in athletics, the arts, and student clubs. Despite Choate’s campus-wide vaccination rate of over 99%, the School has maintained the previous academic year’s Covid-19 safety policies on indoor masking, along with the enhanced air ventilation and filtration systems that were installed last year. However, students are no longer required to wear masks outdoors, nor be physically distanced when indoors.
Besides the less stringent Covid-19 guidelines, life on campus has mostly returned to pre-pandemic norms, with all students required to return to campus for in-person learning. For some returning students, this year marked the first time they have met their peers in-person. Yoyo Zhang ’24, a returning fourth-former from Shanghai, China, appreciated the opportunity to gather in-person and chat with her friends. “I love how we are able to be together, have more social events, and feel the energy of the community,” she said. “The interludes of exciting activities throughout an academic day energize me and motivate me to work.”
Additionally, all academic classes have returned to the in-person schedule and format from the 2019-2020 academic year, with round Harkness-style discussion tables back in Humanities classrooms and movable desks for discussion groups in STEM classes. David Garsten ’23, a returning fifth-former from North Haven, Connecticut, appreciated the increased cooperation brought by in-person learning. “In general, classroom participation becomes a lot more active without the awkward silence caused by everyone ‘muting’ themselves and having to raise their ‘virtual hand,’” he said. Garsten especially appreciated the return of Harkness tables. He said, “Being able to sit at a round table and engage in discussions builds a strong classroom connection.”
Science teacher Dr. Chris Hogue agreed with Garsten. “More than anything else, [in-person classes] have reminded me again just how amazing Choate students are, and how lucky I feel to teach them,” he said. “Engaging with them in person, seeing how they interact with their peers, feeling their passion — it completely validates all the reasons I love working here.”
Sports, arts ensembles, and student clubs have also returned in full swing, with the first outdoor SAC Dance held on September 18 and the outdoor Club and Organization Fair on September 19. Returning sixth-former Kenadi Waymire ’21 said, “I’m super excited to dig into play rehearsals, watch fall sports games, go to SAC events, and start club activities back up again. I really missed the hustle and bustle of a regular Choate year, so I’m eager to get back into the swing of things.”
However, an increasingly large number of students and faculty have begun to raise awareness of the visible physical and mental toll a fast-paced return to normality has pressed upon the community. Only two weeks into the new academic year, returning students who have only experienced Choate through the screen have reported feeling exhausted and overwhelmed after classes every day due to the sheer amount of homework they receive on top of various extracurricular commitments. This has caused them to spend many hours late into the night completing homework assignments due the next day, often compromising their sleep and wellness to get work done. Addressing the issue, Dr. Hogue said, “Things are still not normal. For that reason alone, I don’t understand the urgency to jump back into the pre-Covid pace of life.”
