STUDENT FAILING RATE

By Hannah Larson Design By Michaela Brown

With countless traditional celebrations throughout the school year being canceled, seniors took comfort in knowing that a graduation was still promised. Due to high failing rates caused by the setbacks of COVID-19, however, many seniors aren’t on track to graduate, and many more underclassmen aren’t passing on to the next grade. Senior Luke Akalaya discusses his thoughts on the high student failing rate.

“I think that the school and county administration honestly should have expected this, considering how much COVID just sucks for everyone involved,” Akalaya said.

Freshman Jonah Larson elaborates on how the global pandemic has caused problems to the learning environment.

“I do think the high failing rate has to do with COVID-19,” Larson said. “I think switching between online school and in person has been hard for students.”

Senior Jocelyn Carroll continues the discussion on how COVID-19 has affected students’ performance.

“The high failing rate has to do with COVID-19 because more students are choosing to do online which gives them more flexible time to get assignments done which can also make them forget to hand them in,” Carroll said.

Akalaya continues to explain how difficult this year has been for the students.

“When kids are split from their friends and their teachers, their grades undoubtedly suffer, especially those who have to learn in a specific manner or don’t cope well with sudden and traumatic changes,” Akalaya said.

Akalaya explains how the administration could be handling this situation.

“The administration has been given multiple chances to give us leniency in our classes or to at least give us a little bit of structure,” Akalaya said. “For example, [they could have] given us hybrid for an extended period of time. Without structure, students will fall apart.”

Along with the administration’s role, Larson explains what students can be doing to improve their grades.

“Students can try talking to their teachers more and asking for help,” Larson said. “They can also just try to make sure they are turning in assignments on time.”

Despite all these challenges, senior Jocelyn Carroll explains how she stays on top of her work.

“I keep motivated by remembering that we are almost done and once we are done then we are able to let go and do things we enjoy,” Carroll said.

Although some students are on track to pass their classes, this fact doesn’t relieve the stress from the situation.

“I have been [worried about the high failing rate] for a while,” Akalaya said. “It’s terrifying to see kids who used to be stellar students worry about walking the stage now because of things out of their control.”

Despite all the hardship, Akalaya explains how this situation will benefit future schools. [From this year, we can learn to] communicate better between the students, school faculty, the administration, and those at the county level,” Akalaya said. “There is no clear communication between students and staff, so our concerns and questions feel like they’re going into the void.”

Each year, up to 500,000 monarch butterflies migrate from their homes in Canada and the United States to move on to warmer temperatures in central Mexico. Taking to the skies, the butterflies spend the months of September and

October making their journey across countries to begin a new life. Representing the resilience all people have to move freely, the monarch butterfly stands as a symbol for immigrants, including some CNHS students. Like butterflies, the students have made a similar journey, coming to the United States with their families at a young age.

Senior Kanon Matusno moved from Japan when she was 15 years old and was excited to begin her life in the United States.

“When I was about to graduate from middle school, my parents told me that my dad will go to America for his work,” Matusno said. “They said I could either stay and go to high school as

I was planning to, or move to America and go high school there. At that time, I didn’t hesitate at all to decide.”

Matusno’s lack of hesitation to move countries was influenced by the importance of high school in her life, feeling that the location of her high school has an effect on the memories she will make.

“I think that high school is one of the most important times in people’s life because there are a lot of changes and special moments before actually becoming an adult, so where you spend your time during those periods affect you a lot,” Matusno said.

Senior Gabriel De Luca also moved to the

United States when his dad got a new job at

Cummins, however he did hot have the choice to stay in his home country, Brazil.

“It wasn’t my decision, it was really because of my dad,” De Luca said. “He got a job here for

Cummins and he said he also wanted to come here because he wanted me and my sister to have a better education.”

The move drastically changed his life, causing him to have to adapt to changes in schooling, language, and more.

“My life completely changed when I came to America,” De Luca said. “There are a lot of things that are different such as the school is completely different and the way we learn.”

With life being as different in America as it is in Brazil, De Luca felt a complex mix of emotions when first arriving, not feeling welcome or unwelcome.

“I never felt unwelcome, but I never felt welcome either. I don’t know how to explain it, but I think it has been the language and cultural differences,” De Luca said. “It was a very big shock when I first came here, just because of the cultural differences, not because anyone was rude to me or anything.”

Matusno felt similarly when coming to the United States, but has found a good group of friends that have helped her a lot. This friend group is one of Matusno’s many favorite things about her move to America.

“I was able to meet all the people who are my friends now, learned another language and a culture, got to have unusual experiences, and had an opportunity to play basketball in this country,” Matusno said.

Junior Matei Cloteaux moved to America from the Czech Republic when he was 8 years old. Similar to Matusno and De Luca, Cloteaux moved as a result of his dad’s job. Like Matusno, he has enjoyed experiencing new culture.

“I got to experience new life and culture. I met new people but I also missed my old friends.”

Unlike De Luca, Cloteaux’s life has not changed much since coming to the United States, partially due to the fact that he went to an international school prior to moving, English being spoken quite often.

“Life hasn’t changed much for me from my old country to the United States,” Cloteaux said. “I went to an international school, so I was used to people speaking English. There was a time when my parents didn’t think we would be able to get our green card, and we might have to move back.”

Cloteaux plans to become a United States citizen if he decides to live in America for long, but is not sure yet what he will be doing. He has negative opinions about the immigration system, feeling the welcomeness to immigrants is different depending on the situation.

“Immigration system in the US is utter garbage. I immigrated fine because my parents are white and rich, but that is not the case for a majority of immigrants,” Cloteaux said. “The ones who are unlucky come to America in the hope of giving a better life for themselves and their children, but instead, they are spat on and deported by people who are scared of different people.”

Unlike Cloteaux, Matusno does not have much of an opinion on the immigration system in the United States, feeling it has not affected her a lot.

“I came here for my dad’s job and spending time as a high school student, so I’m not sure if it has affected me so far,” Matusno said.

She is not sure what she will do after college, but is looking forward to the future and knows that Japan will always be her home and the place she feels most comfortable. Cloteaux is also unsure of what he will be doing, not sure if he will be living in America or not.

“I don’t think so, but I might [live in America.] There are just better countries with better governments and people,” Cloteaux said.

De Luca plans to attend Indiana University and hope to move to a coastal state after he graduates. He wishes more people understood the cultural shock a person experiences when coming to the United States.

“I think that people that live in the US don’t understand the culture shock it is for living in another country. It was especially sudden for me,” De Luca said. “It was very sudden and very fast and it was just hard to be away from people. It’s not a bad experience and I love it here but it is complicated because I have two lives that are completely separate.”

Every year, monarch butterflies migrate up to 3000 miles. They are the only butterflies 3000 to make this two way migration every miles year. They fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the same trees. As monarch butterflies only live for two to six weeks, individuals only make the round trip once, leaving their great-grandchildren to make the return trip back.

As senior Diing Diing has gone through significant changes in his life from moving from Africa, he finds his passion for basketball and helping others through living in the United States. “I was born in a small country in Africa called South Sudan and I moved to the U.S. in October of 2018. I lived in Massachusetts before moving to Indiana and the reason why I came to the U.S. is to follow my dreams of playing professionally basketball in the future and have better education. [My] first [experience] in U.S. was kind of difficult learning new stuff and learning new things was really a good experience but hard to understand at first. [It] has also affected my life in how far I have come from and [how] far I am about to go because these past three years have been really amazing and I have learned a lot from it. I am truly blessed with an opportunity to be here and I’m very happy that I am here today still learning more every single day and hopefully one day I will accomplish my goals and dreams so I can go back to my homeland and help people out.”

“I was born in the Czech Republic, but my family is French. I was 8 years old when I came to the U.S. My dad’s job made him come to the United States. My parents moved our whole family to the U.S. I wanted to stay with my family so I moved too. I got to experience new life and culture. I met new people but I also missed my old friends. America is fine I guess. Some people make it bad, but overall I am pretty happy here. Life hasn’t changed much for me from my old country to the United States. I went to an international school, so I was used to people speaking English. There was a time when my parents didn’t think we would be able to get our green cards, and we might have to move back. I might get my citizenship if I decide to live here during my adulthood. It’s important because if I decide to live somewhere, I want to be a citizen of that country, not just another immigrant. The immigration system in the United States is utter garbage. I immigrated fine because my parents are white and rich, but that is not the case for a majority of immigrants. The ones who are unlucky come to America in the hope of giving a better life for themselves and their children, but instead, they are spat on and deported by people who are scared of different people. Americans don’t hate French people that much, maybe because they’re white. I might [live in America.] There are just better countries with better governments and people.”

“My life completely changed when I came to America. It was especially sudden for me. My dad told us we were going to live here for five to six months before we came here so it was very sudden and very fast and it was just hard to be away from people. I never felt unwelcome, but I never felt welcome either. I don’t know how to explain it, but I think it has been the language and cultural differences. It was a very big shock when I first came here. There are a lot of things that are different such as the school is completely different and the way we learn. Because North is a bigger school, it was a change from Brazil. Our school was K-12 and only had around 250 students and here is 2,000 just for high school. Also something different from here than Brazil is we have more opportunities to do things here. If it’s for presentations for school or presentations for projects or robotics, there are a lot more opportunities here than Brazil. I got my green card recently and my sister is an American citizen. I am planning to get citizenship since I have my green card. Before we got our green cards, it was very stressful especially for my parents and with COVID because the only thing that was keeping us in the US was my dad’s job and he wanted us to go to college in America. If he did lose his job we would have to move back and get a new visa. So that was very stressful for them, but since we have our green cards we have felt fine. I am planning on going to college at IU and after that I am planning on moving to one of the coastal states.”

“I was born in Japan and was 15 years old when I came to the United States. When I was about to graduate from middle school, my parents told me that my dad will go to America for his work. They said I could either stay and go to high school as I was planning to, or move to America and go high school there. At that time, I didn’t hesitate at all to decide. However, my brother was studying for college in Japan, so he stayed by himself. I think that high school is one of the most important times in people’s life because there are a lot of changes and special moments before actually becoming an adult, so where you spend your time during those periods affects you a lot. There are a lot of good things and a few bad things. Good things, I was able to meet all the people who are my friends now, learned another language and a culture, got to have unusual experiences, and had an opportunity to play basketball in this country. I would say that some bad things are that I had to go through tough times struggling with language and not seeing my friends in Japan for a long time. I’m grateful for having my friends here and people who have supported me. When my friends told me not to go back to Japan, I thought that I was welcomed by them. I’m going to go back to Japan for college. I’m not sure where I would live after college, but I think it depends on what I want to do as my job. I would say that it [Japan] is my home no matter where I live because I realized that Japan is the place that I feel the most comfortable.” senior Gabriel De Luca senior Kanon Matusno