By Alexis Coore 20’
The arrival of the Coronavirus in the United States has disrupted the lives of many. Stadiums, stores, and public parks have all shut down and as of April, over 20 million citizens have filed for unemployment. The National Basketball Association season has been cancelled and Major League Baseball has been postponed. Institutions of learning have been suspended, and are now utilizing systems of online learning. Graduating classes everywhere will be missing out on their promotion ceremonies, and most will be forced to skip their proms. However, there was still more to lose for Dunellen High School seniors.
DHS seniors with satisfactory records are eligible to participate in what is called practicum. Taking place during the last few weeks of school, practicum allows students to replace their classes with opportunities to volunteer and gain work experience. Students were to spend their days on-site with whatever company they chose; some might decide to work at daycares while others put time in at law firms. Unfortunately, on May 4th, Governor Phil Murphy announced that all New Jersey schools will remain closed for the remainder of the academic school year. This, coupled with the quarantine most citizens find themselves under, obliterated any possibility for practicum to take place. That is, until one student took it upon herself to come up with an alternative.
After realizing there was a chance students would not be returning to school, DHS senior Laurel Hunnewell decided that with everything seniors were losing, practicum didn’t have to be one of them. Ms. Hunnewell sent a lengthy proposal to Principal Lynch which included an idea for a new practicum, a schedule to follow, an example proposal, and an example application. This new practicum would center around one’s creativity and allow them to either explore something new or to build upon a pre-existing skill over the course of four weeks. After being talked over during a conference, Principal Lynch decided to go ahead with the plans. By the end of the allotted time, seniors are to showcase the final product of their hard work.
This at-home alternative has been well received within the grade. DHS senior Erin Barnett states “I wish I was able to go to actual practicum but I think that this gives students a lot more options. I think they should give next year’s students the option to do regular or this alternative.” Ms. Barnett will be using her time to study human anatomy and physiology. Others are planning to focus on subjects like art, computer skills, and linguistics. Ms. Hunnewell plans on improving her American Sign Language.
Though many feel as though senior year has been stolen from them, Ms. Hunnewell was able to prove not all is lost. “I wrote it because I knew a lot of seniors weren’t going to be very motivated in their classes if they knew they were supposed to be on practicum… I came up with the plan as a way to have some sense of normalcy and allow us to do something worthwhile.” Thanks to the efforts of Ms. Hunnewell, seniors will be able to enjoy one of the luxuries of Dunellen High School.
