Rahema Aubdi: Being able to like talk to my teachers about things that, like, weren’t school related - because on Google Meet you never really had time and like actually being able to like connect and like show your personality not through a screen. Because all you have to do is kind of roll out of bed and click a button on your computer, and then you can turn your camera off and be like, “that’s class for me today,” and just stay muted for the entire time. Kelemua Summa: The biggest challenge for me was definitely how optional online tele-learning seemed to be. So when you’re back in person, that mindset is still not where it used to be. McKenna Wheeler: You know, after you’re remote for so long, your idea and your mindset towards school just changes a little bit. The entire student body is back on campus for the first time since the pandemic began. Grace Benninghoff: It’s early September, and the second week of school is underway at Burlington High. Below is a partial transcript, edited for length and clarity. On this week’s podcast, students, teachers and administrators describe the move to Macy’s - and the things they left behind. “A lot of people fell through the cracks.” “It was so much more work put in from students and teachers than just moving into a new school,” said Rahema Aubdi, a senior at Burlington High. While there have been plenty of jokes, memes and press coverage, students are facing real challenges attending school in a building that wasn’t intended to be a school.

They erected classrooms and hung up student artwork, but relics of the Macy’s remain. In March 2021, after discovering the campus on Institute Road was filled with toxic chemicals known as PCBs, the high school relocated to an abandoned Macy’s department store in downtown Burlington. In late August, Burlington High School’s entire student body came together for the first time since the pandemic began.īut the school community is facing unusual challenges - and it’s more than just Covid-19. Listen below, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. The Deeper Dig is a weekly podcast from the VTDigger newsroom. Students have begun their first full academic year in the building. A former Macy’s department store was converted into the temporary home of Burlington High School in January 2021.

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