For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone at University Prep is eligible to be vaccinated. Sixth graders were previously the only age group at UPrep that wasn’t cleared for the vaccination. As of Oct. 29, the CDC has approved coronavirus vaccines for ages 5-11.

With everyone being able to become vaccinated, there could be some real changes to everyday life for certain students.

“If students are vaccinated, we have a lot more options for how and where to eat lunch. That is just one of many aspects of our daily school life that we can change,” Wu said.

Wu believes that there will definitely be some aspects of daily school life at UPrep that could change once the class of 2028 is fully vaccinated.

During the week of Sept. 13, there was a COVID-19 outbreak within the sixth grade, causing the entire class to attend school virtually for a week. The updated vaccination eligibility decreases the likelihood of something like this happening again.

Dean of the Sixth Grade Nhu-Quynh Tu also expressed how important she believes the new rules will be.

“I think it’s going to be helpful since 6th grade students, once fully vaccinated, can follow the same guidelines as everyone else at school,” Tu said.

This means that the sixth grade will be able to gather as a whole and also in double advisories once just like everyone else.