The future is here for Broward County: all students will be spending the last of their 2019-2020 year learning entirely online. The formerly science fiction notion of being educated by technology is no longer just a fantasy. This is especially the case for Charter students, whose contact with teachers has been mostly limited to Zoom meetings for extra help or special assignments. The quotidian has been turned on its head, and it’s only natural that many are struggling to find their footing in this crazy new world. The Chat spoke with tenth grader Jeinily Bencon this week to see how she’s been coping with the transition.

  Webb: How have you been handling the whole transition?

  Bencon: At first it was hard. When you stay home you are given so much freedom to kind of just do what you want, like watch TV or sleep in more. However, I have been trying to give myself a routine to follow. I think this has helped a lot with staying on track with school while still giving me time to do other things.

  Webb: How is the workload with online school? Is it more or less than before we left?

  Bencon: The workload has honestly grown to more than before. Teachers are piling up homework and classwork and it is really difficult to keep up with. Because I have a younger sibling in elementary school, I have also been the one helping her with her online work. So, for me, I have the responsibility of making sure her work is down properly on top of mine as well.

  Webb: Is it harder to learn the material at home?

  Bencon: For me, personally, it has not been too hard. There are subjects like chemistry that are harder for me, but I have found other resources to help me out. YouTube videos have come in handy when I was struggling with learning certain concepts.

  Webb: Do you prefer going back to school?

  Bencon: My answer goes both ways. I do want to go back to school because I want to see my friends and hopefully have my workload be lessened. Being stuck in a house without seeing other people you usually see at school can get kind of boring. However, I also don’t want to go back because certain classes cause me so much stress.

• Contributions also made by: Alexandra Webb (YB)