By Jeffrey Mu ’24
As Bells start off the new month of April, many are looking forward to the weeklong spring break. But just as much as April brings us closer to spring break, it’s been a couple weeks that the administration has established their schoolwide masking policy, allowing students to take off their masks in class if they so choose. After nearly two years of quarantine and slow progress into the normal flow of school life, this new masking policy may come as a surprise to some. This week, we talked to students about their opinions on the new masking policy in place and their thoughts on the progress of our school’s transition into the new normal.
____________________________________________________________________Colin Lakkaraju – Class of 24’
Q. What do you think about the new masking policy?
A. I don’t really care.
Q. Will you be taking your mask off?
A. Only in 2 classes.
Q. Are most of your teachers mandating masks on?
A. Yeah, most of them.
Q. How do you think Bellarmine is doing in terms of their transition back to pre-covid life?
A. I think they’re doing pretty well; I think it’s good to give people the option.
Q. Do you think the new masking policy has any noticeable advantages or disadvantages?
A. I don’t think there are any disadvantages, nor any advantages. It’s really just up to your discretion.
Q. If you could implement changes to the masking policy, what would they be?
A. I don’t have any changes in mind.
Derik Lien – Class of 24’
Q. What do you think about the new masking policy?
A. I think it’s good because it gives people an option of whether you wear a mask, you aren’t forced, but you also have your freedom of will.
Q. Will you be taking your mask off?
A. Yes.
Q. Are most of your teachers mandating masks on?
A. Most of them do.
Q. How do you think Bellarmine is doing in terms of their transition back into pre-covid life?
A. I think they’re definitely making the right decisions in terms of their choices, and overall, I believe they’re making good progress.
Q. Do you think the new masking policy has any noticeable disadvantages?
A. Yes, the fact that people now can excuse sneezing and coughing without their masks on.
Q. If you could change the masking policy, what would you change?
A. I would probably mandate that people bring masks every day to school but have the choice of whether they want to wear them or not.
Aaron Buenaventura – Class of 23’
Q. What do you think about the new masking policy?
A. I like it way better because it allows me to see other peoples’ facial expressions.
Q. Will you be taking your mask off?
A. Definitely!
Q. Are most of your teachers mandating masks on?
A. Most of my teachers don’t really care, except for a select few.
Q. How do you think Bellarmine is doing in terms of their transition back to pre-covid life?
A. I think it’s going slowly but it’s also going well, we can’t really ask for them to implement changes any faster because that would jeopardize health.
Q. Do you think the new masking policy has any noticeable advantages or disadvantages?
A. For some advantages, I’d say that with the mask, people are safer, but the masks also hinder speech, and the mask stinks sometimes. Being able to take it off, I would say, is a huge advantage to some and I would say is a huge advantage to some, but also a disadvantage to others.
Matthew Nguyen– Class of 23’
Q. What do you think about the new masking policy?
A. I think it’s pretty bad, more people got sick because people tend to be careless about wearing their masks when they sneeze or cough.
Q. Will you be taking your mask off?
A. No.
Q. Are most of your teachers mandating masks on?
A. Most of them aren’t.
Q. How do you think Bellarmine is doing in terms of their transition back to pre-covid life?
A. We didn’t have to wear masks pre-covid, but that’s about it. Other than that, the only difference is that in pre-covid times, we were able to eat inside, like in the cafeteria. Overall though, I think the administration is doing the best they can.
Q. Do you think the new masking policy has any advantages?
A. People have more freedom of choice.
Tate Vaughan– Class of 23’
Q. What do you think about the new masking policy?
A. I don’t mind it; I think it should be up to you whether you wear one or not.
Q. Will you be taking your mask off?
A. Outside, yeah. Inside, not so much.
Q. Are most of your teachers mandating masks on?
A. Yeah, I’d say that out of my seven teachers five of them still require them on in the classroom.
Q. How do you think Bellarmine is doing in terms of their transition back to pre-covid life?
A. Not very well, to be honest, they kind of took online life and asked us to figure everything out.
Q. Do you think the new masking policy has any noticeable advantages or disadvantages?
A. I mean I think that while the mask mandate was in place, I didn’t get sick as often, so the mask policy definitely had a toll. Other than that, I think the option is nice.
Q. If you could change the masking policy, what would you change?
A. I would probably make sure that in every classroom, there are masks so the students can access them.
____________________________________________________________________
So there you have it, folks. Bellarmine’s new masking policy is – for the most part, viewed as a positive addition to campus life, and is certainly popular amongst students. Where Bellarmine’s administrators choose to go next with the school’s transition is still uncertain, but we can assure ourselves that beneficial changes like these are coming our way.