Distanced & Different But Still Westridge at Heart
During remote learning, we miss many things about our regular school life that we have taken for granted in the past — from hands-on group projects and field trips to live productions, competitive athletics, playgrounds, and spontaneous conversations between teachers and students on campus. In this unusual time, however, essential elements of Westridge have kept us going and kept us together, including a creative and dedicated faculty and staff who have gone above and beyond to ensure the best possible education for their students, a community that surrounds our students and school with support, and Westridge traditions. Here, we reflect on and celebrate the many ways people from all corners of the Westridge family are keeping the school, its students, and each other in their hearts during COVID-19.
FACULTY & STAFF STEP UP In March, every member of the faculty and staff pitched in to ensure that our school could be rebuilt online with only two weeks’ notice. Emphasis was placed on ensuring educational continuity and supporting student wellness in a new and frightening time. There was trial and error and evolution in the first weeks of the emergency campus closure. Yet faculty and staff fought to keep students learning and connected and to keep special elements of their year intact, from tech support drop-in sessions and support groups for parents, to the 8th Grade Radio Play, the 6th grade’s online World Women of Courage and Character Wax Museum, rocketry competitions, and a slate of yearend events for seniors. With time over the summer to evolve our remote learning playbook, teachers developed curricula specifically designed for remote learning. Based on experience from the spring, the academic team revamped the schedule to build in additional regular opportunities for community connection and social emotional learning — even more critical when students can’t be together on campus.
Ceramics teacher Juanita Jimenez sent students home with pottery wheels and provides clay refills at monthly supply pickups so students can continue their ceramics studies from home.
Extra time was added for advisory and homerooms, and “Westridge Wednesday” launched to create a day without classes devoted to student-life activities and much-needed time to do homework or meet one-on-one with teachers. In addition, a fuller complement of co-curricular programming was re-instated or expanded this fall, including: • Regular assemblies • An online after school program •A full slate of performing arts online productions and a new professional speakers’ series in the Theatre Department •C ollege Counseling events •U pper School Writing Center •M iddle School online athletic team skill building
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The Theatre Department’s winter production of Mynx and Savage was produced and streamed online.
•A nd even full-blown ceramics classes, because the inimitable Juanita Jimenez (see page 6) figured out a way to get pottery wheels and clay to the homes of students.
