Copley High School seniors adjust to new routines
Like most of the high schools across the nation, Copley High School (CHS) students have been receiving their classwork via remote instruction from their homes for over a month.
In the beginning, the CHS 2020 class seniors assumed that it would all be temporary, with nothing to worry about.
Hopeful this was temporary, with the optimism of returning to school for the remaining months of their senior year, students quickly adjusted to online learning, despite some never having any experience with online instruction before.
“My sister Giavona and I set a time frame from 10:30 a.m. to like 12:30 a.m. or 1 p.m. to do our homework, so it’s nice that we’re doing it together rather than myself just in a room alone, losing my mind,” Alexia Ostich said, Vice President of the CHS 2020 class.
Alexia, who has three other sisters at home, noted that having her siblings, alongside her parents, has helped her stay calm, motivated and focused despite not being able to go to school in person.
Michelle Caye, Treasurer of the CHS 2020 class had her “quarantine buddy” to thank for keeping herself busy during the stay at home lockdown.
“It’s just my mom and I at home. So I have my quarantine buddy, one of my friends, it’s only his family and my family that I go to and I hang out with him every night just because my mom goes to bed early and I have nothing better to do,” Caye said. “I’m very social so there were times in the beginning where with just talking to him, my mom and his family I was going insane,” she finished.
In the beginning, the thought of returning to school was still a possibility, as time passed and the numbers of COVID-19 patients in Ohio continued to rise, it became clear that returning was unlikely.
“When we found out we weren’t going back… that realization… I think that is what made it very final. I immediately thought of prom and graduation. Those are things we’ve been talking about since the beginning of summer going into senior year,” Grace Beck said, Secretary of the CHS 2020 class.
Senior class officers Alexia Ostich, Michelle Caye and Grace Beck spent a great deal of time planning events like Prom and After Prom, Graduation and Senior Skip Day for the CHS 2020 class.
“The other kids know what they’ve been working on all year but they don’t get to see the BIG final product that they planned,” Kim Carothers said, an English teacher at Copley.
Carothers has spent more than a decade working closely with students at Copley-Fairlawn City Schools, teaching English. For more than seven years, Carothers has worked with senior class officers everyday to assist in planning events, fundraisers for senior classes.
“I get really angry at people that dismiss their feelings because this is the first class, the only class who has ever been in this situation,” Carothers said. “You know in other years they can decide if they want to participate in Commencement, they can decide if they want to go to Prom. This, the rug has been pulled out from under them,” she finished.
With their classmates in mind, the girls thought of different ways to honor their peers during which would have been their last months in the Copley High hallways, and decided to work together to personally highlight each of their classmates on Instagram.
Ostich, Beck and Caye both gathered senior portraits from peers who were interested in being highlighted, and created graphics around each portrait stating the students college of choice and what they will be studying. With each post, was a personal message written to each student congratulating them.
“ I just think it’s encouraging to see where everyone is going, what they’re doing, and of course the comments.. It’s all so heartwarming,” Ostich said. “Obviously, it’s nice knowing we’re there as somewhat of a backbone for the rest of our graduating class,” she finished.
“I’ve been so grateful to be able to work with this group of strong kids,” Carothers said. “Like Michelle said earlier, we’re not worried about ourselves but more so others. I’m sad for the kids who were going to be the first of their family to graduate from highschool, that this would have been the only graduation that their family will experience, and I worry about that sense of community these kids need right now” she said.
For now, the full details of Copley’s Prom and Commencement plans have yet to be announced, but students remain hopeful that they’ll get to experience their final moments together as seniors.
The administration will continue to take input from students and PTA and discuss with other local schools to analyze their options moving forward.