Natalie McCray was 11 when her school went all-remote in March 2020. Now, at 13, she's returning to the classroom for the first time since the pandemic began.

Transcript

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:

Millions of students are heading back to school this month. Some are seeing friends and teachers and their classrooms for the first time in more than a year. They've grown and changed in ways that they and we don't really understand yet. Clare Lombardo of NPR's education team is in Fulton County, Ga., and brings us the story through the eyes and ears of one eighth-grader.

CLARE LOMBARDO, BYLINE: On Monday, 13-year-old Natalie McCray could hardly sleep.

NATALIE MCCRAY: I woke up at, like, 6:45, which is way earlier than I needed.

LOMBARDO: It was her first day of eighth grade and her first day heading to class since the pandemic started.

NATALIE: The excitement made me get ready way faster. So I got ready at 6:45. I was ready at, like, 7:15ish.

LOMBARDO: A whole hour before she had to leave. Natalie wore a royal blue mask that matched the accents on her shoes, a new pair of white high-top Converse. For the first time since March 2020, Natalie had a full backpack.

NATALIE: OK. So let's see. You have my lunchbox.

LOMBARDO: A sandwich, Oreo yogurt and strawberries.

NATALIE: Five notebooks for, like, all the core subjects, like math, social studies, science.

LOMBARDO: Science is the one she's most excited about.

NATALIE: Hand sanitizer, ChapStick and lip gloss.

LOMBARDO: At school, there are classroom assignments posted on the walls and sanitizer dispensers in the corners. And there are friends that haven't seen each other in months.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: Hi.

LOMBARDO: School starts at 8:55 a.m. at Webb Bridge Middle School.

(SOUNDBITE OF SCHOOL BELL RINGING)

LOMBARDO: In Natalie's first period class, Mr. Amrine, there is low music playing and tennis balls on the legs of the chairs.

REBECCA WILLIAMS: Good morning, Jaguars. I am Ms. Williams. I am your principal. And I am so happy to say, welcome back to school.

LOMBARDO: Last time Natalie heard those announcements, she was 11 years old. A lot has changed for her since the pandemic started. She spent all of seventh grade learning online. And like a lot of other kids, she had a really hard time, both emotionally and in school.

NATALIE: I never even got lower than a 90 on a report card. And all of a sudden, we were seeing all of these 60s and 70s and even worse grades than that (laughter).

NAKILIA MCCRAY: She's in a neighborhood where there aren't a lot of kids her age. So she was really, you know, just isolated at home on her laptop doing school all day.

LOMBARDO: That's her mom, Nakilia McCray. One reason it was so tough is because two years ago, Natalie McCray was the new kid.

NATALIE: I had never moved before. This was, like, my first time moving. And I was in a completely new environment. I didn't know anyone.

LOMBARDO: She started sixth grade at her middle school.

NATALIE: Meeting new people had always been hard for me. So almost every friend I've made so far is because they came up to me.

LOMBARDO: She was working on it, but there just wasn't enough time.

NATALIE: And then in March of 2020 is when everything got shut down. And I was really upset because that's when I was really starting to, like, even get better at talking to people, even though it was the end of the school year. That's when I was starting to kind of become a more extroverted person. And I felt like all of my work was just thrown out the window.

LOMBARDO: All year, she's been ready to get back out there and meet people. But it's not just Natalie who's different. The world has changed a lot since she's been stuck at home. George Ford was murdered. Protesters marched across the U.S. The country elected a new president.

NATALIE: Then with, like, George Floyd and so many other things going on, I saw the people around me starting this show, like, their true colors. And I was like, oh. It's not - it's literally not safe for me to be around you.

LOMBARDO: She said that was a scary realization. Natalie's school in the suburbs of Atlanta is predominantly Asian American and white and just 11% Black students like her. Some of her friendships changed. Last year, she says, her teachers started talking about racism and oppression in the present tense. And now she's started speaking up on social media about it.

NATALIE: All that happening at once is really stressful for someone who, at the time, was, like, 11 years old. So (laughter)...

LOMBARDO: One thing that's the same - the coronavirus is still spreading. In Natalie's school, there are pink masks, cheetah-print masks, medical masks, even N95s. Her district, Fulton County Schools, announced just a few days before classes started that they'd require masks until the virus spreads slows. And while Natalie is fully vaccinated, many to middle school-age students aren't. Kids under 12 aren't even eligible, and fewer than a third of 12- to 15-year-olds in the country have gotten their shots. And almost 1,200 students attend Natalie's school. Last week, Natalie and her mom stopped at Target for supplies.

NATALIE: Things like tissues and hand sanitizer, basic, like, hygiene, like, things we bought to keep it clean. Because with this year, there's obviously a bunch of cautions that need to be taken to make sure that things just stay under control.

LOMBARDO: For Natalie, who's excited to finally play her saxophone in band class instead of on Zoom, this August feels a lot like déjà vu.

NATALIE: Because I'm scared I'm going to get to get used to face-to-face again and be thriving in face-to-face, and then everything gets shut down, and I'll be back to the way I was six months ago in school.

LOMBARDO: For now, at least, she's back in the classroom. Throughout the day on Monday, she volunteered in class. She said that was so her teachers would know who she was. Her last period was algebra.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: Natalie, take it away.

NATALIE: I hugged my best friend for the first time in, like, months.

LOMBARDO: And she says she spent all day meeting new people.

NATALIE: Bye.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: See you tomorrow.

NATALIE: See you tomorrow.

LOMBARDO: If there's one thing she's learned from being cooped up for the past year, she says...

NATALIE: Life's way too short to just sit back and not - and kind of shut yourself off from everyone around you just because you're scared. I feel like there are times when you just need to take the risk and face your fears.

Clare Lombardo, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF KUPLA'S "ROOTS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.