“I didn’t expect the lack of Internet to be such a huge problem,” said senior Jennifer Plamondon. This sentiment was echoed by many students and teachers when Ludlow High School was without Internet for most of the day on Thursday, Dec. 15

Ludlow High School Secretary Anna Miranda announced during first period that the Internet was out due to a downed utility pole in Springfield. This pole provides service to Ludlow.

Teachers couldn’t post attendance. Additionally, teachers complained about wanting to post grades for certain assignments or provide feedback on Google Docs that students recently submitted. Some teachers even planned lessons that depended on the Internet, such as presentations.

English teacher Jennifer Ollquist borrowed the Chromebook cart so her students could write their essays, which are due on Monday.

Ollquist reported frustrated emotions from her students throughout the day because they depended on the class time to work on their essays with Ollquist present to assist them.

Ollquist’s students recently finished writing an outline for their essay to show to Ollquist. Unfortunately, she could not grade the outlines and provide feedback for students who did not print them out because the Internet wasn’t functioning.

“The Internet problem really stopped progress because we didn’t have anything else on our agenda,” Ollquist said. In the future, Ollquist will create a backup plan.

Progress in journalism class came to a halt because this class depends on the Internet for writing and publishing articles. Writers type articles online through Google and then publish them on the Ludlow Cub website.

Without Internet, journalism class could not write or edit articles, and impacted deadlines.

Students didn’t know what to do with the spare time they possessed in classes that needed Internet access. Teachers advised students to use their cell phones, but as Junior Stephanee Bouthiller pointed out, “we don’t want to use up all of our data.”

Clearly, the Internet is a crucial tool used in classrooms every day. In this generation, many lessons and assignments are found online. Ludlow High also keeps school records such as attendance and grades on the Internet.

Teacher Charles Cangemi says, “we don’t realize how often we use the Internet until we don’t have it.”

Teachers and students should always prepare to think of new and creative ways to get through the school day in the event of another Internet outage.