This has been a crazy time in everyone’s lives, a lot of adjustments to everyday life have had to be made. The most major change for students is the transfer to online school. 

Learning new concepts and completing assignments online is very different than physically being in school. Much of the responsibility falls on the student to take their education seriously. There is no teacher standing in each student’s bedroom making sure they are staying on task. It is all up to each individual kid to focus and gain a good understanding of the material being taught to them virtually. 

For most students, this is a new way of learning and is hard to get used to. But there is a whole group of North Penn students that have been learning this way before this quarantine started. Freshman Anja Puketza has been learning online for about two years and has had to learn to adjust to the personal responsibility of her education.

It was not easy in the beginning for Puketza, she fell behind on a lot of her assignments and it caused her a lot of stress. However, after lots of disciplined hard work, she is now caught up on all her assignments. But she had to limit the distractions around her in order for her to be able to focus on just her work. 

“If you know you will be tempted to go on your phone or tempted to watch Netflix, plug your phone in and leave it in another room. It will help fifteen minutes worth of work not turn into two hours,” Puketza advised. 

She also had a hard time staying motivated to actually do her work, as many other students can relate to. She much rather be sleeping, or outside, or basically doing anything but her school work. 

“Give yourself motivation if you do not like doing school online. Like if you do one assignment, you get to watch an episode of Netflix or can get food,” Puketza explained.  

As time goes on, the students of North Penn will adjust to this new way of learning, like Anja did. The biggest piece of advice that she gives all online students is to make sure not to fall behind. 

“As hard as this sounds, make sure that you are always doing the work that is due that day. Make sure that you are always caught up, because sometimes [teachers] will give you less assignments but if you are behind, you will have to do all the assignments that you have missed,” Puketza said.  

This transition is hard, but with the right amount of discipline and positive reinforcement, the students of North Penn will be able to be successful and reach their academic goals.