How’s this for a high school senior year?
Not once did JoAnn Ragbeer step inside her school. Once the commonwealth went on lockdown last spring as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Harrisburg High School shut down and put all students on remote learning.
That was a tall order for Ragbeer: She tends to struggle with keeping her focus on the task at hand.
“I’m not going to lie,” she said. “It was very challenging. It was very bumpy. I know it wasn’t just me.”
Count Ragbeer among the tens of thousands of school students who had to do major pivoting this past year in the face of the pandemic - but even more so because she is a graduating senior. For that echelon of upperclassmen, the senior year has always held the promise of something mythical: the final year to an educational journey that began in preschool.
The pandemic broke all the conventions.
For Ragbeer, it was a year of learning about herself.
“I have learned to be more disciplined,” she said. “I have learned how to self motivate myself and sit down and focus on one thing at a time. I am more organized, too.”
It was slow going at first, but eventually Ragbeer got the hang of remote learning and self pacing herself to keep up with all the class assignments.
“Towards the end of the year I realized I could do virtual learning easier,” she said. “I could work at my own pace.”
She had challenges, not the least of which revolved around technology. The internet didn’t always work for her, and she couldn’t always hear her teachers clearly over the video-conference classes. It all took a toll.
“I wouldn’t pay attention,” Ragbeer said.
That’s not surprising given that the 18-year-old is somewhat of an extrovert who likes to engage with classmates and teachers.
“I had a limit to how much I could engage,” Ragbeer said. “I am a hands-on student. That’s how I learn. This virtual learning thing was hard.”
But she persevered. Ragbeer finessed time management. She made certain she was ready for classes and that she was on time. She was in the ROTC and a member of the high school band. She plays the bass.
Ragbeer was accepted into a number of colleges. She decided on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she will major in nursing. She said the year of a public health crisis has made her even more appreciative of the nursing track.
Without a doubt, she feels cheated out of her high school senior year. All of last year, as a member of Harrisburg High’s School Business of Industry, she helped plan the class trip to Europe this year. Clearly that was canceled.
“I got cheated out of my senior trip,” Ragbeer said. “I couldn’t do prom the way I wanted, and graduation won’t be the same. I couldn’t do senior year Homecoming. There wasn’t football, not the way we wanted. I couldn’t do what most seniors do in their senior years.”
Still there was learning and growth for her.
Ragbeer, who at first thought she would struggle with her focus, learned to hone on those skills.
She has emerged from a high school senior year like no other stronger as a student and as a young woman about to take on life.
“The biggest difference has to be my work ethic,” Ragbeer said. “My work ethic has gotten better because of this virtual thing. I can say I didn’t like to do my work. I wasn’t always on time. But I got myself together.”
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