During Covid-19, CHS lost a major aspect of humanity: In-person interaction.

CHS counseling office professional Remi Harrington explained that during the pandemic, we experienced both solitude and isolation. While isolation has aspects of loneliness and rejection, which feel pervasive and painful, solitude brings aspects of introspection. Brian Williams, CHS counselor, says that Covid-19 separated us from one another and took away a lot of the experiences and skills that we would normally build being in-person. These experiences and interactions are what define our traditions.

“Especially as we’re coming out of the pandemic, all of us are socially awkward or trying to figure out what [a community] even means.” Brian William said.

Throughout the year, the counseling office has seen an influx of students struggling to interact with teachers and students. This has resulted in many students returning to their home schools.

“As a human species, we’re rusty on some skills: Skills for tolerating discomfort [and] skills for feeling uncomfortable and [still] putting ourselves in [those] situations,” Kelly Maveal, CHS counselor said.

The counseling staff echos that self advocacy is hugely important. They want the counseling office to feel like a place where students can come to feel that authentic self to feel safe, seen and heard. They want students to feel like they can walk in these these doors and not feel like they need to pretend and not feel judged for the struggles that they’re having.

Both Williams and Maveal have high expectations for changes this year. They hope students will become more active in their education by searching for and pursuing academic opportunities as well as cultivating relationships with teachers and professors. They also hope students will become more social members of our community, encouraging students to step out of their comfort zones in school.

“We need students to participate and [contribute] to what we want the culture to be and what we want our traditions to feel like,” Williams said. “What we don’t want is a school where you come in, sit, hide and do not participate or socialize. We need students to not only interact with their peers, but with the staff and [our] community. Let your voice be heard, step up and be a leader here. Join the clubs, be active in the community, be active within the school and make this your experience.”