Terriers Together Surviving a Pandemic School Year

Terriers Together:

Surviving a pandemic school year

Written By: Keely Diebold ‘16

Back in August, if there was any word that could best describe the 2020-2021 school year, that word would be “unprecedented.” There was nothing usual about students, faculty and staff returning to a masked, socially-distant learning environment after a 2019-2020 school year cut short by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, with the 2020-2021 school year in the books, there is a far better word to describe it - a word that most generously sums up the experience of the VCH family. That word is “resilience.”

“I’m incredibly proud of [the students], and I told this class of 2021 at the beginning of the year…at their senior mass, that they have truly shown what it means to persevere and to continue on and make the best of a tough situation,” VCH Principal Ginny Medina-Hamilton says.

It was no secret entering the school year that COVID-19 restrictions would pose a challenge to students, faculty and staff alike.

For a start, large gatherings and assemblies were put on hold, losing what Hamilton says is a valuable tool for building community among the school as a whole. In addition, more community-building was barred by the disallowance of guests and visitors to campus. “Right at the beginning, the toughest thing was being in a class with only the people you were assigned with for lunch, so the socialization - what people love about high school - was just not there because we had removed any of that natural, unstructured socialization that they would normally have, and everything became very structured,” Hamilton says.

Hamilton says the school gradually eased regulations and reimplemented opportunities for socialization among students as safely as possible as the year went on.

For Hamilton, who stepped into the vacant principal role ahead of the 20202021 school year, making decisions in accordance with the recommendations of health experts was an immediate priority. She says she made sure she was well-versed in all requirements pertaining to COVID-19 to correctly relay them to staff and students.

“We didn’t have a COVID-19 class back in principal school,” Hamilton laughs. “So it was really about making sure that I was wellinformed and that I could defend decisions.”

Decisions regarding events like dances were ultimately made according to what it would take to adapt that event to COVID-19 guidelines. If regulations would completely change the way an event looked, the school weighed whether it was better to adjust the event to fit those regulations or refrain from holding the event altogether.

“If these are the rules, and we choose to have a dance that fits these rules, is it then really a dance?” Hamilton says. “These are the rules. If it changed what the event was completely, then we either changed the event or didn’t have it.”

Hamilton says that the 2020-2021 school year changed the scope of what she envisioned life as a principal to be like. However, she is deeply inspired by the way that creativity and resilience shone through VCH students, faculty and staff as they adjusted to their “new normal.”

“I had some incredible conversations with our class presidents and leaders. I’ve also had students who would come in and talk to me and say, ‘Hey, we were thinking, and could we do something like this?’” Hamilton says. “And the creativity that our students have shown in trying to find ways to…have fun things happen in a way that’s still safe… their creativity really shone through.”

Despite the effects of COVID-19 on academics, athletics, and extracurriculars, the 2020-2021 school year proved to be a successful one for teams, programs, and individuals at VCH.

The 2020-2021 Terriers boasted a National Merit Scholar in Brandon Nguyen, as well as 8th grade and 12th grade Diocesan Students of the Year in Olivia Hatch and Lia Martin, respectively.

On the athletic side, the girls cross country and track and field teams both took home state titles this school year, marking the first in school history for the track and field team. In addition, the cheerleading program finished its 2020-2021 season as Super Varsity Game Day Div. II National Champions.

District titles were secured by the volleyball, football, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls track, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls golf, baseball and softball programs. While the junior high girls and boys basketball teams each finished their respective seasons as Terrebonne Parish Champions.

Finally, the VCH indoor percussion/winter ensemble finished its season with a LMCGPC/WGI 1st place finish.

For VCH students, the school year proved to be one marked by both frustration and a drive to make the the most of a difficult situation.

Eighth grade class president Olivia Hatch says that meeting people at a new school was an even more challenging endeavor with restrictions placed on outlets for socialization.

For seasoned VCH students, the transition from a summer spent outside to a school year largely confined indoors was one of the most prominent adjustments they needed to make.

“You go from being outside for about four months straight, out in the sun just at home, to coming to school and staying inside and class all day until, say, your P.E. period,” freshman and Junior High SGA President Gracean Schexnayder says.

Throughout the year, sports were at the mercy of adjusted schedules, limits on contact and close proximity at practice, and the loss or postponement of games due to required quarantine periods whenever athletes or VCH opponents reported cases of COVID-19.

Extracurriculars saw their own sets of restrictions, shifting to virtual meetings and maintaining guidelines for social distancing at practices and events.

“Dancing at football games, you have to be socially distanced, so I remember the dance team was pushed all the way down the track, so we were dancing to like…a handful of parents and trees,” sophomore class president Madison Guidry laughs. “You really have to love it.”

Nonetheless, students looked for the silver lining.

Gracean says that after weeks of rumors surrounding the possible cancellation of fall sports, she was simply grateful for the opportunity to have a full cross country season.

For some students, the 2020-2021 school year was about stepping out of their comfort zone to embrace the opportunities presented to them.

“I played tennis for the first time this year. I never played in my life…but it kind of made me want to live in the moment because you never know what tomorrow’s going to bring,” junior class president Mia Martin says. “That’s what quarantine and this whole year has taught me…live in the moment, and try something new.” “I already knew I wanted to join a good bit of clubs so I could get more involved and know more people, so that’s all I know is like having the virtual meetings,” Olivia says. “I guess we all just tried to do as many in-person events as we could…and even though it wasn’t the same - how other people told me - it was something.”

Gracean says she was simply excited to be in close proximity to her friends, as opposed to not at all. Getting to experience events she didn’t get to experience last year when school moved to virtual learning in March, like the annual Powderpuff game, was important to her.

Freshman class president Juliette Trahan said that she often reminded herself of how thankful she was to be back to in-person learning, regardless of how it looked.

“When we were coming back to school and I was just upset at the world…I would think to myself in class, ‘Just be thankful that you’re here and that you can come back to school and see your friends,’ and that helped me a whole bunch,” Juliette says.

As the girls each move on to their next stage of high school - whether they have three years or one left at VCH - they plan to use the experience of their 2020-2021 school year to enter the upcoming year with a refreshed outlook on their high school career: an outlook of embracing every opportunity and living in the moment.

“As a sophomore, I watched the juniors and seniors this year lose everything that they’ve been working for, you know… all the fun things you wait for [as an underclassman] like the powderpuff game. I think that when it’s the sophomores’ turn, [we’ll] appreciate it so much more,” Madison says.