On behalf of the Cardinal & White, I’d like to welcome you all back for the 2020-2021 school year.  My name is Alex Miller, and along with Mark Scott I will be serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper.

I got myself stuck in the newspaper in 8^th grade when I made the mistake of telling Mr. Hale that I like to write.  Even back then, writing was my space for expressing my feelings and ranting about the news.   Some of my favorite articles to write were op-eds and feature stories. Op-eds were exciting to write because it was a good way to get feelings or thoughts off my chest. It was also a good way for the administration to hear the student bodies opinions. As the Editor-in-Chief, I want to be able to help kids learn how to write in a news style, and I want to expand the reach of the newspaper and make it popular for the students once again. I believe this is important because we can spread news throughout Chaminade very quickly and it can be used as a voice for students to ask for change within our school community.

As everyone knows, this has been a strange year.  We were not able to fully finish the year in the school building last year. This was not only a surprise to the students, but also the teachers and the administration.  In the span of only a few weeks, we all had to learn a new way to teach and learn. It was difficult but we all made it through.  I feel terrible for last year’s graduating seniors, who did not have the chance to finish their senior year.  But I also believe that we have an opportunity to find positives in this new normal.

Unlike many of the schools in the St. Louis area, we are lucky enough to have the full student body here for the beginning of this school year. In order to do this, we have many new rules and systems: students are now required to wear masks in the building, to follow a one-way hallway system, to stay socially distant in classrooms and around the campus in general, and to stick with our assigned seats in each class so that we can have contact tracing for every student. Even lunch for every student is different. Each classroom has their own times for students to go down to the café to grab their lunch (if they chose to buy from the café). After they receive their lunch they are to return to their classroom and eat inside their classroom to help with social distancing.  We have also set up outdoor classrooms around the campus, and any teacher can reserve spots around campus that have been setup for better social distancing and a change of scene for the students.

Taken together, many students fear that these changes might influence the very core of our school: the culture.  We cannot host sporting events with spectators, which means that we seniors might lose out on the tradition of leading the Rowdy Red Army.  Some of our extracurricular activities might be changed or cancelled, including our award-winning stage productions.  We have also lost some of our House System events.  Sports, clubs and House events have such a big effect on our culture at Chaminade that it does not feel the same at all without these events.

In many ways, it feels like Chaminade has just changed too much for the seniors to react and create a new culture within this first month. However, the seniors may be able to build a new culture around these times or at the very least be able to hang on until we return to normalcy.  Gray house captain Conard Hogenkamp spoke to me about the effects of COVID-19 on Chaminade’s culture; “I believe that COVID-19 has helped Chaminade bring back the lost unity and brotherhood. I felt like as if we had lost the unity and brotherhood in the couple months leading up to COVID and during COVID. Everyone was beginning to fend for themselves and we had lost the unity that we have had all of this year. Yes, it does suck to not have attendance events and sports games, but we all know that it is for the better.”