Many students had to deal with the aftermath of COVID-19 when they started heading back to school last year. For the new school year, students at Canyon Hills are finally going back to campus completely mask free and in-person.

“Last year when COVID was still around, no one wore their masks after Christmas break, and there was even a protest across the street,” Sophomore Lio Castañeda stated.

Fortunately, the year started with fewer cases and welcomed a safe campus for the incoming freshman class. Canyon Hills High School staff are putting in a lot of effort to make the transition into high school easier.

“My first semester as a freshman hasn’t been crazy. Classes aren’t asking for too much and everything is really easy,” Freshman Linh Nguyen said.

The COVID free campus has also allowed for more campus activities. Within the first semester, ASB put out many spirit week events and multiple club events were held during lunch.

“This year I noticed a lot more candy grams and dress-up days within the first couple months of school and I think it adds to our school spirit,” Sophomore Jozef Bautista noted.

The privilege of fun activities included more restrictions on campus as school officials enforced the new cell phone and bathroom policy at the beginning of the year.

“The phone and bathroom policy is in use to avoid distractions during class and prevent students from skipping, but it’s not really effective. Staff are walking around school to make sure people get to class though,” Bautista added.

While the school is directing their attention to working on supporting the underclassmen, seniors are busy with college applications and finishing their last first semester of high school.

“It’s my fourth year and I’m feeling a little burnt out, but since I’m already here I just wanted to get over it,” Senior Betty Desta said.

Whether it’s their first or last year, Canyon Hills students are pushing through midterms to finish off the semester on a good note.

“It’ll be a challenge and I’m not going to enjoy midterms, but it will be a relief to end the semester without another big test for a while,” Castañeda said.