The Central community returns to school

Cvpa

On Tuesday January 17th, students of Central Visual Performing Arts Center (CVPA) resumed in person learning. They allowed virtual to stay an option for students who are not ready to come back.

After a shooting zthat claimed two lives, the school had been virtual since October.

To start the process of the students returning, CVPA is beginning with only half days, with the option for students who don’t yet feel comfortable coming back into the building being able to attend school virtually.

Being a student in high school, I couldn’t begin to understand the pressure and the reality of going back to school after something so tragic happened. Not even being able to compare how scary it was with a fake scenario at Ritenour to how scary it was for those students that lived it in real life.

After experiencing something so life changing at school, going back for a full day almost feels detrimental. The way that CVPA is starting with half days is something that I think will go in the best direction as they start bringing kids back to school.

To think about how strong those students are to be able to go back after such a life-changing event that happened, especially with all the mental issues these students will now face, is something that I couldn’t even imagine.

From someone who is a big advocate over mental health, I am pleased with how CVPA is reacting to student emotions and how they are taking that into consideration. Growing up I have heard about so many school shootings and with them getting closer it becomes a bigger scare. Going to school, you never think that your school will be the one that ends up on the news for something like this. I feel like even though it will be tremendously hard for those students to go back to school, overall it will help them process more of what happened with their peers who experienced the same thing. Even though going back to school for them is terrifying I feel as if it is a necessary part for their grieving process, especially being able to be surrounded by their peers and others who understand what they went through and are going through.

The way the CVPA is going about bringing these kids back into school, is a way that will better help the students grieving get back into what they say the ‘norm’ is for school. School will never be the same for those students after experiencing what they did, but how understanding CVPA has been about bringing them back is staggering.

As a community we all understood bringing the students back to the school would be absolutely gut wrenching, we knew that it would be a long process yet beneficial in the end.

There is just something about seventeen

The transitional period between childhood and adulthood is confusing, and causes many teenagers to feel caught in between expectations of their school life and their future

Growing up should be a positive, happy progression, but that doesn’t mean that the positivity is constantly flowing in a linear fashion.

Remember when you were 10 and you thought 13 was old?

Remember when you were 13 and you thought 16 was old?

When I was these ages, I always felt like I’d be in different mindset once I was older, and I was correct! But I didn’t change in the way I thought I would change.

As a junior, I'm 16 going on 17, but very soon, I’ll be a senior that is 17 going on 18. Something about the age 17, to someone younger than 17, sounds like a weird in-between. You’re too young to be making mistakes that “kids” make, but you’re slowly creeping into the age that now, aside from the absence of childish mistakes, serious things are going to be expected from you.

17 also sounds like you have no more time. 17 sounds like Cinderella at 11:50 p.m. right before the clock strikes midnight. Once you hit 17, you only have a couple more months before you have to make the first decision that sets up the rest of your future.

Of course you can change that decision, but once you change it, it starts to feel like you’re wasting time. You feel like you’re doing overtime and you are falling behind. However, does it have to be like this? A part of growing up is trying to find out if what you’re thinking and feeling is normal. Does everyone else feel like they’re running out of time? Does anyone else feel like they’re stuck in a video game they’re expected to win but they have no idea what the rules are?

Do other people know what they want, know who they are, know how to follow their gut, know the steps to achieve their goals, know what makes them happy and know what is needed from them?

The answer is: kind of. Most people know they have important decisions to make, but not everyone is stressed at the same points with the same intensity. The truth is, is that everyone sees the world differently. To some, the age 17 sounds like what I said, it sounds like a sliding door that has almost finished sliding all the way to the other side, and once it closes, it can’t be opened. But to others, 17 sounds like “almost freedom.” It sounds so close to a new invigorating chapter of their life that is just beginning. My advice, is to just relax. Try to remember that it’s never that serious and that even if you fail in your plan a, as long as you get back up and try, there will always be a plan b, c, d, e, f, g, 1, 2, 3, etc., etc. Of course the pink, glossy afternoons where hours melted slowly and vividly into one another are now over, and instead a time-sensitive, strict mindset where priorities and responsibilities reign supreme

Editorial Cartoons

has been put in place, but that doesn’t mean your childlike positivity should be stripped from you. As you’re learning and growing, try to incorporate some newfound awareness of the world into things that make you happy. Growing up and transitioning into a new chapter of your life brings changes, but these changes should never be something you’re scared of. You may reflect on how your past self would’ve described your future self, and you might realize, “wow I’m nothing like how I thought I’d be,” but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. Find satisfaction in the new, and don’t hold onto the past, especially if doing that takes trial and error.