Students miss extracurriculars
The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed how businesses and schools operate. When the Cornwall Central School District closed its doors in March, learning was conducted entirely online. By September, administrators had developed a plan which would allow students to learn in-person twice a week and online the other three days.
Now a month into the school year, what do the students think about the set-up? One freshman offered her thoughts after a disappointing end to her final year in middle school.
For Vivian Stephenson, eighth grade closed on a sour note. She missed out on All-County chorus recitals, the class trip to Boston was canceled, as were the moving up ceremony and the four-star drama awards ceremony which honors those students who have participated in Drama Club all four years of middle school. Cast as the lead in the school production of “Crazy for You,” the plug was pulled on the performance.
“I was really heartbroken and devastated,” Stephenson said about the cancelation of the show. “It was my first time as the lead.”
When the new school year started, it was without extracurricular activities, at least how students knew them before the virus outbreak.
At the time of last week’s interview, the district had no plans for a drama production, which came as a disappointment to Stephenson who finds Drama Club to be one of her favorite things about school. Earlier this week the district announced the resumption of sports and extracurricular activities on Oct. 13, but it’s not known what this means for a potential fall and/or spring production.
“I’m looking forward to this ending and everything getting back to normal. I hope there is a play and a concert for chorus.”
Vivian Stephenson
Stephenson does participate in chorus, but has found the practice sessions to be challenging. The ninth grader only practices with a portion of the chorus as students may have the class different periods or on alternate days due to hybrid learning.
Rehearsals are conducted in the cafeteria where the students are seated four to a table with Plexiglas dividers between them. Stephenson said the Plexiglas makes it difficult to hear the other singers, but her teacher, Anthony Ravinsky, does a good job counting everyone down so they’re in sync with each other.
The pandemic has also affected sports activities, which have yet to fully resume. Stephenson said she has friends who play lacrosse and soccer and are disappointed because they want to be able to participate in an activity after school. He sister, Lillian, is a cross country runner. While the school conducts a socially distant running club, there are no school sanctioned competitions. However, there have been opportunities for her to compete outside of school.
As for the hybrid learning portion of her day, Stephenson said she likes learning at home because she doesn’t like getting up early in the morning. Students are also free to access their assignments any time during the day, rather than keep to a normal school class schedule. The downside, however, is it’s more difficult to communicate with teachers.
“Some of my friends like going to school instead of doing it online because they like interacting with the teachers more,” said Stephenson.
On remote learning days, teachers will post 15-minute videos, with questions to answer, or other assignments. If a student has a question, they must send an email to the teacher and wait for a response. Stephenson said her teachers are good about getting back to her fairly quickly.
Stephenson and her classmates still have a full high school career ahead of them and she continues to remain optimistic for a change.
“I’m looking forward to this ending and everything getting back to normal. I hope there is a play and a concert for chorus.”
