Maintaining the Connection Outside the Classroom

After having to leave school in March due to the worsening situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, many students at RHS lost the chance to interact and laugh with many of their friends or their teachers. Even when there is access to applications like Zoom or Google Meet, not all teachers opt to use the program–and some opt to keep their cameras off or their mics muted. As a result, teacher and student interaction has often been brought to a minimum. This is a disappointment for many members of the community, especially for seniors who lose the chance for close interactions with their teachers during their last year at RHS. But many members of the faculty have reached out through correspondence and affectionate videos to bridge this gap.

Some of these efforts include the “R House” and Tik Tok videos that have been sent to the RHS families in recent weeks. They feature staff such as Mr. Pizzuto and many enthusiastic teachers including Ms. Reilly, Mr. Muro, and Mrs. Geronimo as they greet their students and express their well wishes. During days where so much of the news around us seems to be full of tragedy or anxiety, faculty have reached out their hands and offered images or words of comfort and companionship to the students they care about. 

Their efforts are certainly valued – senior Hyein Lee says, “Honestly, I never thought that I missed school this much until I watched the video and realized that this really is how I’m spending the last bits of my senior life at RHS… It was good to see my RHS teachers this way before we go off to college in September — we all miss them and [are] thankful for their efforts to remind us that we’re not alone in this.” 

And the school community’s shows of appreciation for each other have not stopped yet–students from the junior class have responded back with their own version of the “R House” video, showing their pride in RHS and appreciation for the staff working hard to bring a quality school-set education to their homes.

As teachers and faculty continue to reach out to students through various methods, everyone in the RHS community waits for the day we can return to our beautiful campus and learn in the same room again–all together.

Eugene Park
features editor

Graphic: Katie Hu