Stories From CRs

BY RIA LOWENSCHUSS

After three and a half long years full of difficult classes, nonstop extracurriculars and, more recently, college applications, both Sofi Maranda and Arista Luong were ready for a break. The aftermath of applying to college came as a surprise, however; for Luong, the sudden space to relax has made her anxious and restless. In response, Maranda and Luong, along with a group of their friends, created a Community Resource (CR) class for the second semester of their senior year: knitting.

The Community Resource program is unique to the Ann Arbor Public Schools. It allows students to learn outside of the classroom and interact more broadly with the communities around them. Students can choose what they want to learn and design a class that fits their interests; all they have to do is find an instructor that is willing to volunteer their time. The CR website states, “A CR is special because you get to create the class based on what YOU want to study!”

For two hours every Friday, Luong and Maranda, along with three other seniors, gather at their friend’s house, where they are instructed by her mother, and knit. It isn’t simply a time for knitting — they watch classic movies, like “Pride and Prejudice,” and talk about their lives.

“My social battery runs out really quickly so usually I wouldn’t go from school to something else with more people, but I think this group is really calming,” Luong said. “It’s a creative environment and it’s always a calm environment.”

The group of seniors has been a supportive group to prepare for graduation and going off to college, as well as a way to spend time with friends. Luong and Maranda are taking as much time as they can get with their close friends before they all go their separate ways for college.

“I’m really trying to spend quality time with the people that I love so much that I won’t see next year,” Luong said. “I’m anticipating feeling a lot of absence from people next year so I’m trying to soak it all up now, even oversaturate myself.”

The CR is a creative outlet for Luong and Maranda as they deal with the stress of figuring out what their life will look like in less than a year. Luong and Maranda have used the CR to make matching arm warmers and are excited to keep improving their knitting skills as they approach the end of their senior year.

“People say they want to do different ‘granny’ skills, like embroidery, knitting and crochet,” Maranda said. “I feel like getting to try that out in this kind of environment has been really fun. Those kinds of skills are a little bit lost in some ways for this generation and I feel like I’m getting to join the knitting community.”

Raffi Avedissian and his friends knew they wanted to take a CR together during senior year — the only question was what to take. Avedissian was inspired to do a DJing CR by a DJ mixer that had been in his house for years. When Avedissian mentioned the idea to his mother, she ran with it.

“I talked to my mom about it and she was able to structure the class outside of just sound mixing,” Avedissian said. “The course as a whole is more about how sound is used and how it can also be its own form of communication without any language attached to it.”

With his mother as the CR instructor, Avedissian and his friends have been able to learn a new skill in a more comfortable environment. Avedissian describes it as “casual” and explains that since it takes place at his house after school, the students are able to take it slow and learn about sound in a more rounded way.

CRs have been an integral part of Avedissian’s high school career. He has taken nine CRs during his time at CHS, including classes at U-M and traditional CRs with professors at Michigan State University. Avedissian has used the program to further explore his interest in filmmaking, getting credit for short films he has created and learning more about the study of films and film literature.

“The CR department is the main reason I came to CHS,” Avedissian said. “It was very valuable to be able to specialize in filmmaking.”

As Avedissian prepares for the end of high school, he is using the CR department to become closer to his friends and his mother.

“It’s really nice to be taught by my mom,” Avedissian said. “I’ve never taken a class with her so to be able to see her teaching style and learn more about her is really cool.”

Steve Coron is teaching a CR for the first time this year, after retiring from his teaching job at CHS the year before. He has appreciated being able to teach students he has known since their first year of high school as seniors, especially those that were in his forum. Coron believes that every CHS student should take a CR during their time in high school.

“I would hope by the time someone is a senior at CHS, they will have taken a CR,” Coron said. “If they haven’t, they should do it senior year first or second semester. It’s a great deal, right? It’s just the coolest thing.”

In fact, Coron remembers when CRs were required. All CHS students are required to sign a contract when they commit to the school. This contract lays out the key components of CHS and has students agree to respect the school and the freedom that they are given.

Although it doesn’t include this now, in the past, one of the requirements was to take a CR.

“It wasn’t enforced but yes, students signed a paper that said they would take a CR and do a certain number of volunteer hours,” said Danelle Mosher, the head of the CR Department.

Coron wants all students to take advantage of the CR Department, especially seniors. He has seen seniors in his forum check out of high school before graduation and he wanted to help them stay engaged and utilize what CHS has to offer. Before he retired, he was hoping to introduce a program that would do just that.

“Some seniors are so done with school by their second semester,” Coron said. “Senioritis sets in and then they don’t want to go to forum. In order to engage seniors in forum, we could do either a senior project or more CRs. I thought of a CR that could be monitored with your forum leader. If I would have stayed at CHS, I would have tried to launch this project so you would have something bigger to look forward to and to dive into your second semester of your senior year.”