VOL. 17 NO. 11 -- MAY 30, 2022
Our Stories and Features
COLUMNISTS
Reflections/Jonathan Gramling
New Academic Normal
It was great getting out into the academic world once again this spring. Since the COVID-19 pandemic caused a hiatus in in-person celebrations since 2019, it was great seeing academia up close and personal, so-to-speak. In 2020, after COVID-19 hit and things quickly and dramatically went virtual, many seniors decided to pack it in and call it a high school career. Others hung in there to the extent their technology allowed. And others just didn’t make the big leap to the virtual academic world.
In 2020, The Hues Row of Excellence, our tribute to graduating seniors of color in Dane County with a cumulative 3.0 GPA or higher went virtual too. Students were sent information forms from their counselors that I had made into “fill-in-the-blank” forms using Adobe Acrobat. And then I dropped off a flash drive to each counselor to transfer student photos and forms to. It was pretty difficult and I admired the way that the Multicultural Services Coordinators and other guidance counselors hung in there. But while we had 366 students participate in 2019, only 150 did in 2020. And it wasn’t much better in 2021. --READ MORE