Spanish students embrace new online journey
As the second semester of the 2025-2026 school year is off to a start, students taking Spanish I and Spanish II have had to adapt due to Spanish teacher Cristina Borisoff being out.
Students in her class have been switched to an online program called Edgenuity. Senior Malaki Spinks believes that having an in-person teacher is valuable in class. While being online Spinks has had to adapt and try to change his learning experience.
“For Spanish I feel like you need a teacher,” Spinks said. “They are teaching you how to pronounce the words and have conversations with the class.”
Schedule changes have been necessary for many students due to this shift.
Photo By Webb Evans
The Edgenuity program is not able to offer an honors portion of the class, so many students are worried about their GPA and how it will be affected due to the class being switched to a standard level.
This switch to online has not only affected the students but teachers as well. Spanish teacher Luisa Haynes has filled in for Borisoff's Spanish I class as an attempt to get more students in a classroom with a teacher, combining her Spanish IV class with them.
Haynes has already seen changes in the students who are able to take the class in-person with her.
“Those kids were so excited when they came to see me,” Haynes said. “It was their first day in class where they had a teacher.”
Rose faculty has tried to find a long term replacement, but there has been no success yet. Borisoff's mother has filled in as a substitute teacher, but she cannot be a full-time replacement due to not being able to work more than 10 school days a month.
Through this challenge, the Spanish department has persevered, believing they are putting students into the best position to succeed.
“If we can help 22 kids not be on a computer, that's worth it,” Haynes said. “I hate a kid being on a computer, and the hardest thing for me was that I felt like it's hard to communicate with students, but there are just no other options.”