By Sakib Azgar and Jada Seto
With the holidays drawing near, faculty and students at NHP are excited about all the festivities; however, with the current circumstances due to the coronavirus, the traditions during this festive season are changing.
Prior to 2020, many students participated in various school events to spread the holiday spirit. Traditions such as the ugly sweater contest, door decorating, holiday parties, and music performances bring cheer to the whole New Hyde Park Memorial community.
“...with the new age of the internet, students are coming together and expressing their sense of ingenuity to celebrate...”
“Every year before the holiday break, the chamber singers and the jazz band would collaborate to play for the staff breakfast. A band player would play Christmas music as students enter the building in the morning. The chamber singers would go around the school to sing Christmas carols in every hallway,” said senior Pia Rose Alana.
This year, NHP’s music groups are not able to follow their holiday traditions but are still hopeful to express the love for holiday tunes in new ways.
For teachers and staff, the most wonderful time of the year is the creation of unique, decorative classroom doors for the annual holiday door decorating contest. Although many students are disappointed with these changes to the holiday season, some students are not giving up. With the new age of the internet, students are coming together and expressing their sense of ingenuity to celebrate. For example, The Chariot is hosting a holiday house decorating contest where students can vote on the best house through a Google Form. The first, second, and third places will win Amazon gift cards.
Other clubs have overcome the challenge of social distancing, too.
“Usually during Christmas season, the Lance always does a Secret Santa. It’s our favorite part of the year, so we decided to do a virtual Secret Santa by using Elfster and shipping out gifts directly to the person we got. We decided to open the presents together at a Google Meet or Zoom call in order to see people’s reactions and to stay connected for team bonding this year,” said senior Joyce Chen.
Source by Anna Detke
Holidays look a little bit different this year because of the presence of remote learning, but everyone is trying to make the best of it through virtual means.
The editors and artists from The Chariot are also doing a Secret Santa through Elfster. They are planning on having a holiday party through Google Meet to open their gifts together, which is something they look forward to.
Since remote learning slows down the pace of classes, students and teachers are uncertain whether more work should be given out during the holidays to stay on par with the curriculum for classes. Some students believe teachers will give more assignments during the winter break. However, others think the opposite will happen.
“I think teachers would still give less work for the holidays as especially during these times, staying connected with family is incredibly important. The addition of more schoolwork takes away from that time we could spend with family and friends, including teachers with their families,” said senior Luis Toral.
“Adapt and overcome” is the theme NHP students stick to as they figure out ways to make the most out of this peculiar holiday season.