HOW TO: TAKE A VIRTUAL VACATION FROM YOUR DINING ROOM BY MEGAN BROWN
“I ENCOURAGE US ALL TO CONTINUE TO OPERATE WITH PATIENCE, WITH TRUST, AND WITH EMPATHY.” –HEADMASTER JONES
For our Cathedral School for Boys families, the School was a bright light during this time. I feel nothing but gratitude for the School. The Cathedral community was guided by steady, thoughtful leadership. Our sons were supported by their amazingly devoted teachers whose hours expanded exponen- tially as they tackled whatever was required to support their students. Families and friends of the School contributed to the Cathedral School Fund and we supported our community members. The School created opportunities to connect. The partnership between family and school was never stronger. We learned that we can gather virtually when that’s all we have. We can sing together during Hymn Sing on Zoom. What 2020 PERSPECTIVE with Elliott Chung
we need most of all is each other and we need grace itself. The assumption of goodwill goes so far. Purpose, continuity, routines, flexibility, creative solutions, and ways to connect frequently all made a difference. Headmaster Jones’ words from March 12 are perhaps the most poignant: “I encourage us all to continue to operate with patience, with trust, and with empathy.” I saw those attributes exhibited over and over during these past 100 days. May we remember them and allow them to guide us forward into an uncertain future. Patience, trust, and empathy, all of which bring me back to that one word: grace. It’s who we are.
For one Cathedral School family, canceled travel plans provided an opportunity to let their creative ingenuity flow.
AS MY TIME AT CATHEDRAL CAME TO AN END, my class, along with the rest of the world, faced an interesting challenge—the Coronavirus. It was making the news everywhere. After a couple of weeks of uncertainty, my classmates and I began to realize that we would not finish the school year on campus and no one fully understood what it meant.
in large groups. Again, the School had an answer. Every week, our class met with Mr. Jones to talk about ways that we could optimize the spring term of our final year at CSB—how we could celebrate. The class meant a lot to me because I am going to boarding school, which means I won’t get to see much of my classmates in the future. Knowing that the School was thinking about a graduation experience meant so much to me. Although many in-person activities were canceled due to the coronavirus, I did find that this time brought me even closer with my classmates. Through Zoom breakout rooms, video games, and other small group activities I got to hang out with people who I hadn’t spent much time with before. Additionally, my virtual classes were a bit different from my regular classes prior to COVID-19. A great example of this was performing arts. Mr. Breen, our teacher, had us create and perform theme songs every couple of weeks. It was really fun to use Garage Band and get deeper into creating music with things like samples. Needless to say, I looked forward to performing arts every week. Finally, I want to talk about my experience with CSB at home as it pertains to boarding school. In the fall, I will attend Phillips Academy: a boarding school in Massachusetts. Knowing that I will be leaving the City and I probably won’t get to see a lot of my classmates for a while, I wanted to make a bigger effort to strengthen those bonds before I left. I feel that I accomplished this because the School has such a strong community. Yes, the coronavirus has flipped our world upside down, but for me, CSB has been amazing, and I imagine it always will be.
MOST OF US GROW UP LEARNING that drawing and painting are reserved for designated spaces at home and in school. So imagine the surprise for Michele Bell’s three children when, after two different sets of canceled Spring Break plans, she turned to them with pencils and paint and encouraged them to get creative and draw their intended destina- tions on the dining room walls. And that’s exactly what Ms. Bell, a current Cathedral parent, Trustee, and a professional artist, and her kids did. During the School’s spring break from April 13-18, they “traveled” from Las Vegas to New York City and then across the globe to Paris and Japan—all while sheltering-in-place at home in San Francisco.
Fortunately, I feel like the School handled the situation really well. They realized that it would take some time for us and the teachers to get used to online asynchronous classes, so for the first couple of weeks, they gave us lighter work. We would get an email with all of the work we needed to complete, and we would do it over the course of that day. During those weeks, most people were excited to be away from school, but it got old fast. The next phase was synchronous learning. It was great to see my friends on the screen, but it really wasn’t the same experience as being in class with each other. The teachers did the best they could to keep classes engaging and keep the workload manageable, which really helped. As each week passed, however, the hidden issues that we hadn’t seen started to arise. We realized in-person events like Field Day, the Student Council Fair, and the Dunk Contest wouldn’t happen. As graduation approached, we feared that it would not be celebrated given CDC recommendations against meeting
Jackson, Wyoming
Plus, the local news caught wind of their creation and featured the family on an ABC7 broadcast. In conversation with the Red&Gold, Bell shares the inspiration and process behind the project and the importance of creativity both during the current pandemic and in our everyday lives.
By thinking outside the box and getting creative, Ms. Bell and her children— daughter, Finley (a rising eighth grader at Burke’s) and sons Sanders ’23 and Charlie ’26—turned what could have been a disappointment into a different kind of opportunity for fun, family- bonding, and positivity. And the results show in their shared artistic achievement.
20 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
FALL 2020 • RED & GOLD | 21
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