Author: Leisa Komyo
Irvine Students are Back in School
Last year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) students had the option to choose their academic model for the year. The hybrid model allowed two days of in-person learning and two days of online learning on the video-chatting app, Zoom. The Irvine Virtual Academy (IVA) model was strictly online learning. Some students at the elementary school level had the option to return to a traditional in-person model.
For the 2021-2022 school year, IUSD is inching towards a return to ‘normalcy’ with its academic model selections. The IVA model is still available this year for families who choose to opt-out of the traditional in-person learning. With the new state mandates, IUSD still requires students and staff to wear masks at all times indoors, but masks are currently not required outdoors.
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Woodbridge High School Junior Wins Orange County Film Festival
Woodbridge High School junior Jake Sanjongco has won the Orange County (OC) Film Festival for American singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker’s song “End.”
The OC Film Festival is an annual, one-night event showcasing work from high school filmmakers all over Orange County.
Through his music video, Sanjongco hopes to tell the story about losing loved ones and being left with the guilt from all of the mistakes and memories made.
Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Irvine High Schools
With the rising COVID-19 pandemic, the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) has found new ways of accommodating students so that they can have a safe learning environment from a distance. When the school year started back in August, IUSD chose to implement two academic models in which students had a choice between the Irvine Virtual Academy (IVA) and a hybrid model.
The IVA system included all-online classes from the safety of students’ homes. The hybrid model split the student population into two cohorts that would each attend school on different days with some days in-person at school and other days learning online at home.
I recently spoke with high school students to learn about their experiences from the past year.
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