Many high school and college students rely on social and emotional support systems comprising a select group of their friends. The COVID-19 pandemic all but stripped students of those support systems, while separating them from the comfortable school environment to which they've grown accustomed.
"It's a big loss," said Suzanne Walker Buck, head of school at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson. "For some kids, this school really is home and they feel as though they have been taken away from their home."
For those suffering emotional distress, especially depression and anxiety, the transition to remote learning has stirred up unwanted feelings and emotions. To assist Western Reserve Academy students in coping with the transition and to fill the void left by isolation, Buck created opportunities for her students to connect with one another remotely as they scattered to shelter in their home states and countries. Advisory groups hosted meetings and teams gathered to create videos and online games, allowing students to connect in real time.
"We tried to replace that element of spontaneous relationships students felt prior to leaving," Buck said.
When the all-male student body of Benedictine High School in Cleveland was forced off campus and entered a remote learning environment, Ryan Ryzner, the school's principal, needed to ensure his students could still access their support system and that his school was addressing the needs of the whole student, not just the academic side.
He charged his four counselors with setting up virtual counseling sessions. Students could attend any of the four sessions offered each day. Through surveys, Ryzner gathered data on how his students were coping socially and emotionally. To further evaluate his students' and their parents' emotional well-being, his counselors moderated weekly town-hall meetings.
"Our counselors took the data from the surveys and anecdotal data from our town-hall meetings and it gave them a great sense of some students who might have need for opportunities to talk to somebody," Ryzner said.
To ensure her students had access to mental health resources during the disruption caused by the pandemic, Buck first consulted with her school's psychologist to make sure her three mental health professionals could offer teleconference sessions for those who needed counseling.
"We knew this disruption to the school year was going to be difficult and we wanted students to have the opportunity to seek help … and that they had all the tools (they needed) at their disposal," Buck said.
Teachers have a professional obligation to be cognizant of their students' individual learning styles and to accommodate for those learning styles within the framework of their curriculum. In the two-plus months that Ryzner's students worked remotely, his faculty discovered a great deal about their students' individual learning styles.
Initially, Benedictine students received their lessons five days a week in an asynchronous environment. Teachers quickly realized, however, that some students were foundering in the asynchronous environment and craved more structured lessons.
"We have some students who are extroverted and needed that face-time," Ryzner said. "So we retooled our meeting time to go synchronously. Some of the guys thrived in the asynchronous environment. We tried to meet the needs of all students by providing that blend of synchronous and asynchronous instruction."
Of all the disappointments the pandemic heaped upon America's students, a canceled graduation ceremony might top the list.
Buck provided her 2020 graduates with some semblance of a graduation when she and her staff hand-delivered graduation boxes containing their diplomas, handwritten teacher notes, neckties and necklaces to 82 of the 117 Western Reserve Academy graduates. That was no small feat since they had to cover Ohio, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. The 35 students who reside farther than a day's drive from campus received their packages by mail.
All things considered, Ryzner said, the teamwork and communication his faculty and staff established and demonstrated throughout the pandemic was phenomenal. "Our community has come together and found different ways that we're getting the guys what they need academically, spiritually, socially and emotionally. It's been really impressive. There's no playbook for this," he said.
To illustrate her students' longing to return to the safe, familiar environment to which they're accustomed, Buck shared the text of an email she received from one of her students. It read: "Even the things we disliked about school, we miss right now. We regret they were taken away all too soon."
Kids are remarkably resilient, Buck noted, and given the proper tools and guidance on their use, they can do great things.
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Caring for the whole student — remotely - Crain's Cleveland Business
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