Ready to conquer the challenges

KENT — When we left for spring break at the end of February, the coronavirus wasn’t on my radar. We had just finished up winter term of school [at Marvelwood, an independent boarding and day school in Kent] and I looked forward to sleeping late. I knew my break had some commitments but I expected to have lots of free time to relax, hike, spend time with my family and work on my National Resources Conservation Academy Project (NRCA).  

A week into break we realized just how bad this might be. Things I was really looking forward to got canceled and it’s snowballed from there.  It didn’t really hit me how novel this all was, or that my parents and grandparents hadn’t experienced anything like this before. Realizing that, was when it really hit me. 

So my NRCA project work had to keep going but the format where we would present it would change. The conference we were going to attend was not happening and our project presentation would become virtual [the virtual presentation was made March 21].  

My mom and dad, and my project advisor [Marvelwood teacher Laurie Doss] were scrambling around figuring things out so we could safely shelter in place.  

My school was emailing me changes to our break but my work to complete my project was relatively unchanged and continued on.  My meetings with my advisor went to Zoom meetings, and Boy Scouts was also going virtual. We were figuring it out.

School starts back on April 6 for me, in a virtual format.  It will obviously be different, but the adaptation will be novel too.  My classmates are spread all over the world now but we will connect by Zoom and continue to study together.  We are resilient, we are a community, we will continue.  A positive of all of this: We don’t have to be in dress code for virtual school. I’m excited to see how we will conquer the challenges.  I’m ready! 

Aiden Cherniske is a Kent resident and a member of Kent’s Marvelwood School Class of 2023.

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