Photo by Mary DeWinkeleer

The Lancer Spirit staff learns remotely from home during a staff Zoom video chat session.

With the recent switch over to remote learning due to COVID-19, students are adjusting to the habit of logging on to their computers and completing their daily assignments each day. With all that is going on it is easy to thank the students for their cooperation, but the real heroes are the people on the other side of that computer screen: the teachers and administrators.

The faculty at LHS were only given a brief warning before learning they would have to teach their students online. 

Within no time though, the teachers and administrators each had figured out ways to ensure that students would still get the proper education they would’ve been receiving at school. 

Administration has kept students, parents, and teachers in the loop with everything that is going on. Any update they have, they pass along immediately while also remaining calm. They provide all the answers they have while also acting as a support system for Lancer Nation. Their compassion and open communication has not gone unnoticed. 

We’d especially like to thank our teachers who have been patient and composed. After months of working hard to create lesson plans for their students, teachers were challenged to remodel their assignments in order to comply with remote learning. 

They have spent their careers becoming experts in their respective subject areas, and not all of them were necessarily trained to be technology experts. 

But as normal life is adapting to the current national crisis, so are our teachers. 

Regardless of what they went to school for, all teachers have risen to the occasion. They have open office hours on Zoom to help students who are struggling. They are always refreshing their emails to answer any questions or concerns, and they keep students up to date on their Google Classroom assignments. 

They’ve done this all the while keeping their students in mind. We are entering a new grey area for everybody. Not only are the teachers new to this style of learning, but so are the students. And the teachers have come to understand that. 

Instead of piling on unrealistic amounts of work, the teachers are giving students structured assignments that allow them to tackle their tasks one day at a time.

They have made sure that their students’ mental and physical health are a number one priority throughout this crisis.

And on top of everything going on, they are still being supportive. 

In a time where it’s hard to stay optimistic, the teachers and administrators are reassuring their students that we are in this together and that we will get through this. 

So to the faculty at LHS, don’t think we haven’t noticed all your hard work. We understand how hard it is to change the lesson plans that you have been working on for months, and we as students are here for you too. 

On behalf of the student body, thank you for showing us what it truly means to be a Lancer.