At 7:30 a.m on a Tuesday, senior Madelyn Rosenthal’s alarm rings.

She gets out of bed, throws on a T-shirt and a pair of comfortable pants, then eats a bowl of cereal.

By 7:55, she’s ready for the day ahead of her — and she has only a few minutes before class begins.

But instead of racing to her car to make it in time for the first bell, she takes a seat at the desk in her room and opens her computer. 

This is where she will spend a majority of her day.

As a remote student since Sept. 8, Rosenthal has been attending all of her classes in virtual meetings via Zoom. 

“My first block is College Algebra, and I’m usually done when the bell rings,” Rosenthal wrote in a text. “We do notes and then maybe check over a few problems from the homework before. That’s usually the whole block.”

Next up — U.S Government. 

The class begins at 9:25 a.m and, according to Rosenthal, typically lasts “about 20-25 minutes unless (there’s) verbal notes.”

“We go over all the stuff we need to do and get done that day, and then (teacher Tammy Kuipers) lets us off Zoom so we can do the assignments.”

Rosenthal will then work on homework and grab a small snack until 11:20 a.m, when she joins the rest of the Madrigal choir for her third class of the day.

“It’s a little different,” Rosenthal wrote. “The audio can be hard to hear sometimes, but (teacher Tyler) Morris has all the music we work on in Canvas, so I can see the notes.”

Singing along with the rest of the class, she keeps her video on and mutes her microphone. 

“Overall it’s not really that bad, I just miss singing around people and not sitting in my bedroom,” Rosenthal wrote.

By 3 p.m, Rosenthal is done with her classes. 

Shutting off her computer, she slips on her shoes and heads outside.

“Usually I’ll go for a jog or take my sister to the park,” Rosenthal wrote. “Something to get some exercise and away from the screens.”

As of Sept. 24, there were 531 students enrolled in remote learning. 

Only six days later, on Sept. 30, the number had increased to 606. 

“Eighty-eight students changed to remote this week,” registrar Kathy Wohlford wrote in an email last Wednesday. “We had a few go from remote to in-person this week. There are more students changing as I send you this email.” 

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment identified the DHS football team as an active Covid-19 cluster on Sept. 30 as well — the same day, superintendent Heather Bohaty announced in an email that the school district would continue with in-person learning through Oct. 16, as decided at the bi-weekly Gating Criteria Committee meeting.

Assistant principal Allison Strecker was not surprised by the Gating Criteria Committee’s decision. 

“The number of students we have doing remote learning really has no impact on the decision about DHS moving to a hybrid or a remote only format,” Strecker wrote in an email. “

There have been 14 positive cases identified in association with the football team in the last two weeks, and all activities within the football program have been suspended until Oct. 4

With the number of students transferring online on the rise, more students are adopting routines similar to Madelyn’s.

“I don’t have to wake up as early to leave my house for school,” senior Damien Matmanivong, a varsity soccer manager, wrote in a text.

Matmanivong, who switched to remote learning on Sept. 28, chose to do so for the safety of himself and others.

“Honestly, seeing all the cases we were getting in school and the people around me getting quarantined, I did not want to risk me getting sick and bringing it home to my family and the soccer team since I travel with them,” Matmanivong wrote. “To me, this seems much easier.”

Rosenthal feels “slightly isolated” being at home and finds being a remote student to be more difficult than attending school in person.

“I don’t really talk to anyone, which is a bummer, but I do work together with a few friends in my classes on some assignments,” Rosenthal wrote. “It’s just harder because in person you have other peers you can physically talk to and get ideas, or directly ask the teacher for help instead of having to type in the chat or trying to talk on Zoom with several others.

“… There is more to get distracted from, as an example my sister, my phone or another class’ homework.”

Junior Mersadie Kiewel, who also switched to remote learning last week, disagreed.

“It’s significantly easier in a way,” Kiewel wrote in a text. “All I do is show up for a while and then I’m let go to work. I take my own breaks whenever I need to…. But I have a feeling I’ll have issues when I have harder classes next quarter.”