IS YOUR STUDENT EQUIPPED? How one local private school is handling COVID-19
How are our local schools dealing with the present COVID-19 crisis? Are we meeting this challenge to our educational system? Is this destined to be the lost quarter for students globally? We toss these questions around endlessly at Saint Olaf Catholic School. This past fall, before there was COVID-19, we changed our logo and created a motto. While we spent much time evaluating our ethos and how to best capture that in two symbols, we had no idea how intensely significant these new symbols would become as we seek to save precious academic and social/emotional time for our school, our students, and families during a global pandemic.
We started with ideals that seem to register with all parents: college prep, rigorous academics, and leadership. We do offer and value these, however, we offer more. While students pre K-12 are technically only our responsibility through their senior year, we are not just a school-we are a community of faith, a responsibility we take very seriously. Our faith compels us to focus on the development of the complete student, not solely their K-12 career. We are attempting to prepare and equip our students for the entirety of life, far beyond the school years, while also equipping them for today. The hard truth is that not every child is going to be a leader, an A student, or even attend college, however, every child can be equipped to deal with life’s highs and lows while developing their own individual talents, and learning to live in a Christ-like manner.
In this strange and unusual time of social distancing, evaluations naturally take place. What is really important to me and my family. What have I lost that I deeply care about and miss? What loss has been “no big deal” or a “blessing in disguise?” We share our school process and evaluations as encouragement to others to intentionally lean into this time, process your evaluations, and prioritize maybe again what has value. Possibly ask, “who is my school, what do they say they offer vs what do they provide?” What do I ultimately want for my student?
At Saint Olaf we traded a solitary male Viking logo for a Viking ship on an ocean’s journey. The ship is a symbol that includes everyone. On a ship, we all have a job to do based on our individual skills and talents. We journey together going our separate ways when the final destination is reached. The voyage will be rough and exciting as we grow together. Our selected motto is Strength & Endurance. Our Principal, Mr. McFall, uses three key words to describe instruction. We develop learners who are endlessly curious about all things, resilient to face life’s ups and downs, and deeply faith-filled, kindly serving those around them. As the ideals of these 3 words are used to equip our students, they depart our ship equipped to face present trials and their futures.
So how are we at Saint Olaf Catholic School facing this turbulent moment? We face COVID-19 in the same way we have faced every day, with the Strength & Endurance we have built brick by brick, layer by layer. We honor our students’ academic year by seeing it through to its completion, even when we are weary, scared, and overwhelmed. We spend hours in early March prepping student work and moving to on-line platforms as we learn & adapt them. We plan creative ways to keep even our specials like music, spanish, and art going. We use Zoom meetings and other platforms to connect and prepare staff and engage with our parents, equipping them for the coming storm. We remain in the ship, completing this portion of a very important journey for our children as they will never get this year back. The students at Saint Olaf finish the 2019-20 school year in its totality. They will return in the fall equipped to move forward in the next grade level. We will continue on together, stronger, having endured something unprecedented for our time. Our logo and motto have truly become our inspiration, urging us forward into new waters. Our hope and prayer is that each and every student’s academic year can somehow be honored and completed as the wave of COVID-19 washes over the entire globe.