During this uncertain time, students at Freedom have been learning to adapt to the new changes that society is going through right now. COVID-19 has impacted the lives of many throughout this year, but the changes that people have had to make are temporary. From wearing masks to attending school virtually, along with canceling sports, Freedom students are able to modify their lives and adapt to how they learn at school, showing how resilient they are.

On Dec. 14, Freedom HS started a fully remote schedule; however, it is not going to be permanent. Freedom is planning on going back Jan. 11 to a hybrid schedule, assuming it is safe to go to school.

The hybrid schedule normally looks like this: Monday is a fully remote day for all students at home. Tuesday and Thursday students with the last names A-L are present in school while students with the last name M-Z are remote. Masks are mandatory for everyone in the building. Then the opposite happens on Wednesday and Friday: students M-Z are in school while students A-L will be remote.

On top of all of this mess, winter sports have been postponed until Jan. 11 as well.

Fall sports were able to happen with strict COVID-19 restrictions in place. When athletes were not playing the sport, they had to be socially distanced with their masks on. When athletes go get water, there had to be one person assigned to fill the bottles, so not everyone was touching the water cooler.

In the pre-season of fall sports, athletes had their temperatures checked, along with regular hand sanitizer use. During the football season, the big Freedom vs Liberty game was canceled twice due to the pandemic.

Unfortunately, the Homecoming dance scheduled in October was canceled, but the Homecoming game was played. The king and queen were announced at the game, but no students were permitted to attend except the Homecoming court. The Homecoming queen court included seniors Amya Biscaino, Caitlin Donello, Madden Dudeck, Sarah Elhussini, Corrin Gill, Gabby Glick, Jewel Levy and Madison Summers. The king court senior nominees were Brooks Coyne, Jack Dittbrenner, Jeremiah Espinosa, Jimmylee Hamm, Quin Hoke, Daniel Ramirez, Nicholas Sciarra and Gavin Zavatone. Homecoming King and Queen crowns went to Jeremiah Espanosa and Jewel Levy.

Clubs at Freedom have also had to adjust. Each adviser has been creative in how he or she meets with students to create alternative ways of still having clubs. The Pen and Ink Club has been holding its meetings virtually every Monday at 2:45. The newspaper club has also been doing face-to-face and zoom meetings every Wednesday after school.

Student learning that has continued during the pandemic includes student-created projects. For example, the students in the journalism program have been doing Flash Briefings for the Bethlehem Area School District. The podcasts can be heard on Amazon Alexa devices. Students writing scripts and audio recordings are seniors Andrew Minnich, Alexis Swoyer, Carly Grozier and Brianah Rosado and freshman Angelina Triscari. Additionally, BASD TV airs on RCN channel 67 and Service Electric channel 265.