It’s mid-COVID-pandemic; the feeling of summer fading, and the 2020-2021 school year is met with rolled eyes, sighs, lost students, and teachers howling “Six feet!” Olivia Bogar, however, entered the 2020-2021 school year with excitement, as she was attending a new school, the Academies of Loudoun. Senior Olivia Bogar was studying film, a subject she knew she had interest in, but wasn’t sure the extent of this passion quite yet.

“I genuinely liked it a lot because I found out [film] was the thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Bogar exclaimed. 

Now in the 2022-2023 school year, Olivia is majoring in film at The University of Central Florida (UCF), and she believes the Academies played a significant role in her acceptance into the university. Bogar also explained how with her graduation certificate and experience she gained from the Academies film program, she could’ve gone straight into working and putting herself out into the film industry.

“I got a lot of hands-on experience [while] doing a lot of projects, so I was able to work on film and not just study it,” Bogar relayed. 

However, despite some Academies students feeling the program was valuable to their futures, many students felt different. 

When asked what she had learned that she felt was valuable to her future, Academies of Science (AOS) student Sulley Alfaro said, “Honestly, nothing.”

A considerable number of Academies students admitted to not learning anything important throughout their time at the school. Their reasons ranged from genuine disinterest in the material, misunderstanding of the material, or some being unable to adapt to that type of advanced learning style. Some students even went as far as feeling the Academies had been a setback in their lives. 

“I had to drop lacrosse because my grades were so bad,” AOS student Natalia Valenzuela commented, as the workload became too much for her to balance.

Valenzuela was not the only student attending the Academies that had felt this setback first handedly. After being surveyed on the Academies, over 83 percent of 24 students voted that the AOS had affected their ability to participate in extracurriculars in a negative way.

On the other hand, a small percentage (under 30%) of students surveyed felt that the Academies had allowed them more opportunities with extracurricular activities. These opportunities were found in the form of clubs the Academies provided to its students.

”Upperclassmen and lots of AOS teachers were talking about clubs at the Academies such as RoboLoco, and because of this I decided to join clubs at the Academies,” explained AOS student Pranav Vishnubhatla. 

Despite these opportunities, Pranav admitted to an obstacle many academies students face: a decline in mental health. 

After being surveyed, over 82 percent of students believed that the academies had affected their health negatively, or partially negatively. With the heavy work-load, short deadlines, and extremely advanced curriculum, many students were left with no time to do things they love. 

“My mental health plummeted. I had little to no time to socialize or even spend time with my friends and family because of the amount of work I had every day,” Valenzuela admitted.

However, the 18 percent who claimed The Academies had affected their mental health positively said that it had helped them instill healthy habits into everyday life, leaving them with useful life-skills. Skills like healthy study habits which came with the workload, how to work in teams, and getting to socialize with more people who had similar interests to themselves.

“Freshman year was tough, but thanks to the heavy workload, I fixed my awful time management skills,” claimed Luke Rohrbaugh. 

Many students, especially in AOS, couldn’t handle these issues, and ended up dropping out before their two years were up. This left them with none of the credits they worked hard for; however, many would say this helped them mentally and physically. 

“It felt like a weight was lifted off my chest. I noticed my mental health improved so much after dropping out, like I actually could do the things I love now,” stated Tania Hernandez, a former AOS student, who recently dropped out.