Freshman have mixed feelings about Pace post-Covid. 

Freshmen have their lunch during third period everyday from 9:56 to 10:41 am. Freshman last year were allowed to go out for lunch during fifth period as part of the Covid-19 safety protocols. However, freshmen this year must eat inside and have lunch earlier than usual. 

“I think lunch is way too early,” said ninth grader Allyson Pacheco. “I don’t eat at all because it’s too early, plus I don’t really like the school lunch. I wish we could go outside to buy food. I am responsible to come back. I don’t know about other people, but I wish I could go out to eat lunch.”

Pacheco believes that freshmen should be granted outside lunch privileges, however, consequences should be applied to those who take advantage of it. Pacheco believes that freshmen should be given a chance to prove that they are responsible enough because it’s unfair to those who truly are. 

She wasn’t far off the answers of other ninth graders at Pace. Raian Lopez said,  “I think that they should let us go outside. I’m noticing at this school, they let us take responsibility for the things we do so I think they should just put more trust in us. They should put more trust in us and let us go outside.”

The freshmen aren’t the same people as last year, there are believed possibilities that this batch of students might be different. 

 Additionally, freshmen have newer and different classes compared to the classes applicable to the lower classmen. However, there are still problems that are present from the previous years. The overall Pace environment has changed ever since Covid. 

“I like it,” said Ericka Stuckey. “I felt like everyone I was around was nice and there was nobody really giving off weird vibes. I like the school and the teachers are pretty nice.”

The Pace environment is enjoyable to many freshmen at first, however, they realize things they dislike once they get comfortable. 

“Two of my main dislikes at this school is that they should give AP classes earlier in 9th grade. Also, they should give us lockers as soon as possible and give us at least 10 minutes to go to our lockers,” says Lopez. 

Lockers have been an ongoing problem at Pace. The difficulties in locker distribution have been a hassle for both freshmans this school year and last school year. Pace students have come to realize that there are classes that should be applicable to them, in comparison to the classes that are applicable to upperclassmen.  

Because of the belief in inequity, some students are hesitant to further contribute to the school community. However, there are freshmen who have already joined sports teams rather than the other extracurricular activities that Pace has to offer. These sports teams include: volleyball, softball, cross country and basketball. Lopez wishes we had a baseball team and wants to help start one.

Pace’s new first-year high school students have completely different experiences compared to last year’s batch of students because the spread of Covid-19 has become endemic.  

Of the many students that Pacer NYC spoke to, not one mentioned Covid-19. It seems not many freshmen are concerned about Covid-19.