//“I miss my friends a lot”: 5 students on the uncertainty of school openings

“I miss my friends a lot”: 5 students on the uncertainty of school openings

Students across the country face uncertainty over in-person or virtual school this fall. | Getty Images/Westend61

Students from 7 to 19 years old on their hopes and worries about the coming school year.

During a normal year around this time, parents would be heading to the store to get folders and pencils for their elementary school children, incoming college freshmen would be packing up for a fresh start in a parent-free space, and high school seniors would begin celebrating their final year at home before college.

But since the coronavirus pandemic swept the world in January, education has been disrupted. Schools quickly moved online, forcing teachers and students to adapt to a new mode of learning while coping with the uncertainty of a pandemic. The whole process felt makeshift — some students were better equipped than others, which tended to fall along socioeconomic