Students reveal embarrassing moments in the Zoom classroom

By Mackenzie Hedges

The year 2020 has thrown some challenges and trials in our direction. Athens High School teachers and students have started teaching and learning through virtual Zoom classes. I believe it goes for everyone when I say, a few mishaps have occurred. I asked the AHS students to speak about their embarrassing moments over the past couple of months and here is what they had to say.

Junior Haylie Mills walked into Starbucks one day, while on a Zoom call for one of her classes, to sit and work uptown. Mills was walking up to order her drink when a load of her friends started texting her exclaiming to her she left her mic on. As Mills was ordering her drink she had the whole class as an audience. To think positively, at least everyone knows that the pumpkin cold brew is a good thing to order.

Another student, senior Julia Weber, was sitting at her desk one Wednesday morning working diligently on her French work when her cat Sandy decided to impose upon Weber’s class. As Weber put it, “She was VERY interested in exploring her AP French class.” Sandy was leaning her head into the camera and meowing as loud as she could. Weber said she had hoped that nobody would notice considering her mic was off. Inevitably though the AP French teacher, Madame Myers said, “J’ai vu ton chat,” which means “I saw your cat!” Looks like she didn’t get away with that one.

Let’s just say that senior Savanna Wilson had a very close call with an extremely embarrassing moment. Wilson was in her college English Zoom class working through her lesson when she got a tad bit flustered and shouted, “That’s so annoying!” She later looked down at her computer and noticed that her mic was on. Luckily when reviewing her class recording Wilson was relieved to discover that the proclamation had gone unheard.

I feel it is safe to say that while learning virtually when something embarrassing happens, it feels just a bit more awkward than when in person. There is an impersonal aspect to Zoom calls that creates this weird distance and unfamiliarity. When you are staring at blank screens or peoples’ faces all day, it feels like everyone is staring at you. When you mess up, it feels utterly humiliating.