The Going to Hamilton Part
As I told students in this past Monday’s video edition of Coffee with the Principal, Governor Evers did not cancel school for the rest of the year; only the going to Hamilton part was cancelled. Online classes with distance learning continue each school day. While the cancellation of the ‘going to Hamilton part’ is a necessary step as we do our part in a global community to keep each other safe, it does bring an abrupt finality to many things that normally take place inside the physical spaces of our school.
The Hamilton building provides us with a place to connect directly and in person with others, to be enriched by a great diversity of people and ideas, to learn, to meet new people, and to celebrate our accomplishments in concert with our teachers, classmates and friends. This is the time of year that under normal circumstances we would begin to engage in activities to commemorate our year together, the progress made, and friendships new and old. Fieldtrips, classroom celebrations, and even the final clean out of lockers serve to remind us of the accomplishments of the year, and at times give us pause to remember a difficult challenge or perhaps the sadness experienced when a friend may have left us too soon. While we are working to create virtual celebrations of the year, there is a sense of loss that comes from knowing that there will be missed hugs and high fives that normally go with the end of any school year, and for our eighth grade students, an empty place in a photo album for a Movin’ On ceremony where selfies were not taken and obligatory family photos were missed.
Rest assured that we are working to develop virtual ways to bring closure to our year. In addition, we do anticipate that there will be a date or dates designated at some future point for students to return to our classrooms, hallways, and lockers to retrieve personal items, once again bringing an abundance of life back to our Hamilton building. I of course will be communicating with you about these dates and the appropriate structure for them after they have been determined. Until then, I hope you and your family are well!
