Bowling Green Junior High School began the year 2021-2022 with masks on students’ faces again. On the fifth day of the 2021 school year, BGJHS announced that everyone in the building is required to wear masks, vaccinated or not. Students and faculty wore masks throughout the whole school year of 2020 to 2021. This year, BGJHS is in person school full time unlike last year with virtual learning and a hybrid schedule.

But what about the student’s words? What do they have to say about wearing masks?

Chrystyan Bennett, an 8th grader at BGJHS says, “A pro of wearing masks is to help people not get COVID. A con is that students can’t breathe very well.’’ Chrystyan also says, “Wearing a mask is uncomfortable.” “Students cannot breathe and they can’t see other student’s faces.’’ Chrystyan predicts the virus will slow down infecting people somewhere around the year 2023. He thinks if people keep wearing masks, “COVID cases will slow down.’’ If people stop wearing masks, “COVID cases will start to rise.’’

Another student, Jillian Morel a 6th grader at BGJHS says, “The pros are they are keeping us safe. The cons are that we can’t breathe.’’ She says that wearing a mask feels, “not too good but we got used to it, so it’s not bad.’’ She predicts the virus will slow down but, “not for a while. I think it’s gonna be here for a long time.’’ Jillian denies that people will be wearing masks for the rest of their lives. “Not for the rest of our lives, but for a while.’’

These students have spoken out on what they think of masks. Despite these thoughts and opinions, students and faculty in BGJHS will continue to wear masks as the COVID cases still rise, and as COVID gets more and more variants as time goes on.