Portraits of Natalie McCray returning to school.
An 8th-Grader Finally Returns To School In Person, Hoping It Lasts.
Article was written by Clare Lombardo
“Natalie McCray could hardly sleep before her first day of eighth grade on Monday.
"I woke up at like 6:45, which was way earlier than I needed," she said.
She got ready faster than usual, dressed in a white multicolored blouse, wide-legged jeans and a royal blue face mask to match the blue accents on her brand-new, white high-top sneakers.
It's an outfit she's been thinking about for months, she said.
Natalie was 11 years old when her Georgia school went all-remote in March 2020. Now she's 13, and like countless other students this fall, she's returning to the classroom for the first time since the pandemic started. She and those students have grown a lot over the past 17 months, and the world around them has changed dramatically.”
