Sometimes, personal room and school setups at home for online learning can get pretty boring. Sitting at the same desk, same room, not moving around to classes; how are students possibly supposed to spice it up? Well, a few students have managed to get creative and fun for their bedroom and desk space setups and rituals.

One student in particular who has quite the reputation of zoom room setups is Senior Ian Elsbree. For one, Elsbree’s digital desk space consists of two full-size monitors, 25” and 30” in size, which makes it easy to have multiple windows open at the same time on different parts of the screen. He also has a drawing tablet which he uses for anything handwritten, as his monitors are not touchscreen. This allows Elsbree to do math work by hand easily without having to use my mouse as a pen. Using a desktop computer is nice for productivity in general as it allows for a full-size keyboard and mouse, making it easier on the hands to type out long written pieces. He has his computer set up on a desk in his bedroom, so he can wake up just before classes start and be at the computer in no time. He said, “Having a computer that boots up quickly is pretty useful for those mornings when I wake up at 8:09 and have only seconds to get to class on time”.

One of the most iconic parts of Elsbree’s room setup is the story behind his routinely bed making production at the beginning of English class. He said, “This started when yearbook was taking a picture of our English (Diverse Voices) class for something and I noticed that my bed was messy in the background of my camera shot. I didn’t want a messy bed in the yearbook, so I jumped up and made it real quick. Ms. Freeman noticed and commented on it, so I decided that if my bed was unmade at the beginning of English class, I would make it. This is not really for my benefit, but more for the fact that it seemed to amuse my teacher and other classmates. And who doesn’t like a neat bed to get into at night”?

Lastly, Elsbree’s set-up is special to him because, “I use a computer that I built myself, and that I chose each of the different parts myself to put together into a setup that works for both my schooling and recreational computer use. I’m very used to how every part of my setup feels, and every item in it has a specific place that it belongs. It makes it easy to do what I want when I need to. Having a large monitor makes it really fun to watch movies and TV shows on my computer, because the main monitor is the size of a small television. I play a lot of video games and in general use my computer a lot, so it’s the item and place I’ve spent the most time customizing and making comfortable to use.

Sophomore Kate Diefendorf also has quite the setup, as she has been living in Hawaii for the last month. She luckily has her own room and does not have to share, for the most part, with her older brother who also has online classes. It is an early rise and shine for a 6:10 am wakeup call for Diefendorf’s first period classes.

She said, “Since school started so early, once you finished around 12:30, you have the whole day to explore and go outside. Being in Hawaii motivates me to get my work done to get outside, but sometimes I will go outside first and then do my homework later which isn’t the greatest move”.

As for Diefendorf’s setup, she said, “I have a small desk space in the corner of the room. It is a great space but sometimes gets cramped if me and my brother have to share”.

These unique setups are truly innovative and an inspiration to change up any home workplace.