Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown changed life at Andover High School, student participation in extracurricular activities has successfully rebounded, according to Principal James D’Andrea, students and other school officials. But schoolwide community spirit is still returning.
In March 2020, after-school sports, student clubs, and performing arts groups moved to online platforms as a safety precaution as the pandemic spread. School dances were canceled. Students said they felt disconnected from one another. School spirit faded.
Sophomore Shreya Soni said she lost the motivation to continue synchronized swimming after the lockdown. She recalled the challenges she had adjusting to new restraints and rule changes.
“I just feel that I didn’t really find that connection again, that spark that I had before,” said Soni.
With swimming no longer consuming her time, Soni decided to explore other activities and hone her interest in a potential career path in the sciences.
“I definitely feel like I’ve been more excited and more motivated to do what I’m interested in because I’ve already experienced the pandemic where I didn’t get those opportunities,” said Soni.
This story was published as part of a collaboration between Andover News and the Department of Journalism in Boston University’s College of Communication. The student journalist is a member of Professor Meghan E. Irons’s Reporting in Depth class.
Clara Strong, a freshman, said the pandemic gave her the opportunity to quit soccer and experiment with new activities. She is a member of the Dungeons and Dragons Club, Crochet Club, French Club, and Newspaper Production Club. She does marching and pit band during the fall and winter as well.
Sophomore Shreya Soni said she lost the motivation to continue synchronized swimming after the lockdown. She recalled the challenges she had adjusting to new restraints and rule changes.
“I just feel that I didn’t really find that connection again, that spark that I had before,” said Soni.
With swimming no longer consuming her time, Soni decided to explore other activities and hone her interest in a potential career path in the sciences.
“I definitely feel like I’ve been more excited and more motivated to do what I’m interested in because I’ve already experienced the pandemic where I didn’t get those opportunities,” said Soni.
Clara Strong, a freshman, said the pandemic gave her the opportunity to quit soccer and experiment with new activities. She is a member of the Dungeons and Dragons Club, Crochet Club, French Club, and Newspaper Production Club. She does marching and pit band during the fall and winter as well.
“When I got into sixth grade, I joined so many activities because I was so sick of being bored at home. I just joined stuff, quit stuff, joined stuff,” she said. “Mostly I do it for the community, because I like the people.”
Based on clubs listed in the annual Andover High yearbook, many student groups seem to have returned. While there were 29 clubs in 2018 and 18 listed in 2019, the two years before the lockdown, this number dropped to 10 clubs for the class of 2022. In the last two years the yearbook has shown 38 and 24 student-activity groups, a clear rebound.
After seeing a decrease in student interest at the start of the pandemic, Sean Walsh, the school’s fine arts coordinator, said there has been an increase in visual arts enrollment this past year. “Post-COVID, we are stronger than before,” said Walsh.
In 2021, Andover elementary schools launched a program that introduces students to string and band instruments during the school day that has ignited excitement for high school bands, said Lauren Conoscenti, Andover School Committee chairwoman.
“I think as a result of that [music curriculum], we have a lot more [high school] students who are playing musical instruments than we ever have had before,” said Conoscenti.
Luka Oatman, a senior member of the theater club, participated in three school shows and the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Drama Festival this year, but said the previous few years were lackluster. Oatman recalled particular disappointment with their eighth- grade musical, which took place over Zoom.
“It was horrible, and I regret participating in it. It made me hate theater a little,” said Oatman, who was halfway through seventh grade when the pandemic hit.
While enthusiasm for specific activities like theater has returned, Oatman reported feeling a lack of overall community among peers. Oatman pointed to cliques that developed in the absence of a traditional model for schoolwide social events that typically bring students together.
“You form this strong bond with the people that you participate in these clubs with, which I think is great, but it kind of shelters you from the bigger school spirit aspect,” said Oatman.
Oatman entered high school excited for pep rallies and school dances but found that these events were actually “kind of dreaded.”
“I’ve always looked forward to that kind of community in high school, where everyone is together. I feel like none of us got that, and I wish that we did somehow,” said Oatman.
D’Andrea, the principal, said students did not experience any build up of anticipation for traditional school-community events such as a homecoming dance.
The principal, who has served at the middle and high school level, said he also noticed a lack of social skills that students typically develop in a regular school environment.
“We tried to replicate the academic pieces via Zoom, but you can’t replicate the social, emotional and the informal interactions,” said D’Andrea.
Despite these remaining challenges, D’Andrea said it’s good to see the school bouncing back five years after the lockdown.
“It wasn’t something to flip a switch and make it come back on again,’’ he said. “It was easing back in.”
As for the question of whether students will regain school spirit, he said, “They will get there.”