How Athenian Boarders are Managing School Abroad
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By Amanda Cutrer
A very beloved part of the Athenian community are the Athenian boarders. Boarders have always brought intriguing new perspectives to campus, but this year, as summer came to an end, it became clear that the pandemic was going to affect the 2020 school year. Some students chose to come back to campus, but with very limited student visas available and concerns with safety pertaining to COVID-19, 15 students were faced with the reality that returning to the dorms would not be an option.
Remote learning can be hard for everybody, but attending school remotely from a different country than the majority of the student population and faculty presents unique challenges. Due to the time zones, for many international students there is no ideal way to attend class. Being so far from the community can cause students to feel disconnected.
Pow Vachirajindakul ’22 lives in Thailand, and she chose not to attend classes synchronously due to the 14-hour time change.
“I didn't feel as motivated to study at home as I was at school. Every day, I spent the whole day watching the recordings and catching up with all the assignments,” said Vachirajindakul. “It took me forever to understand everything and finish each assignment as I couldn't ask teachers [questions] right away.”
Not being able to attend classes synchronously strips students of the learning experience they had once enjoyed. Many are unable to talk with their peers and teachers, and the classes can begin to feel like independent study full of busywork. In response to these struggles, some students made an effort to attend their classes.
One student who is currently living in China, Clara Feng ’23, consistently stayed up in the middle of the night to go to class.
“Before you guys started the in person school I used to stay up till 6:30 am to go to all my classes including E period and elective, and [then I usually woke up at] 3 pm,” said Feng. “Now that all classes end at noon for you guys, I can go to sleep at about 3:30 am, but sometimes I have E period or electives later, so I’ll just sleep for like two hours and then wake up for classes.”
These hours seem unreasonable for many, but only watching class recordings brings additional social challenges. In addition to academic obstacles, living abroad creates a social barrier between the boarders and the day students. Weizhi Du ’23, a new student living in China, responds to this struggle.
“It’s hard for me [to get to know the school as a new student],” said Du. “I try to attend a few classes if I can. Because I’m a new student here, I can only connect with a few people… [I wish] there could be more activities that I can attend in my time zone.”
For some boarders to even see the faces of other students, they must maintain an absurd sleeping schedule. Especially for our new students, getting to know Athenian while living in a different country is far from easy, and can easily lead to the deterioration of students’ mental health.
“It sometimes feels like I’ve been left out of something at school,” said Feng. “I’m fine for now. I might not be once the in-person E period starts. I’m thinking I’ll go back to school next semester. I will feel terrible if the theater starts to do a show at school and I’m not in it.”
Whether it is the musical, sports, or other programs that are generally a part of life at Athenian, attempting to continue these traditions without our boarders can make them feel isolated. It is a hard situation with no clear answer, but the best the school can do is reach out and try to make them feel like a priority.
“I was lucky that most of my teachers are very understanding and flexible with due dates of the assignment for those who were overseas,” said Vachirajindakul.
Du echoed this sentiment, saying “I think I got a lot of support. For example, my history teacher scheduled a discussion with me every week, so it’s been really good.”
Athenian students have always loved the teachers at the school, but the pandemic really highlighted their care and resilience. Teachers went out of their way to try and make this transition as comfortable as possible for the students living abroad.
Domestic students can follow this lead and reach out to boarders. As the world awaits highly anticipated vaccines and the Athenian community has to patiently await the day we can all be together again, it is important to connect with one another in whatever way we can in order to support each other through this time.
“I went to the campus last September. It’s really nice,” said Du. “I like the school… And one day if I can go to the campus in person [I know] it will be much greater.”
Despite being thousands of miles away, Athenians can find ways to unite through their collective struggles and hope for change. For now, the students and faculty can acknowledge the challenging position of those overseas and try to make a difference, and the community will look forward to filling the dorms back up with boarders.
