MANCHESTER, Pa. — Faculty and staff at one local high school are going the extra mile to make sure their students know they’re missed.
Northeastern High School in Manchester, York County is a fairly small, but tightknit family. The closing of schools across the state has left the teachers looking for new ways to connect with their students.
One teacher at Northeastern, Dr. Donna Burns, explains, “Being shutdown was a really big deal for a lot of our kids. And even a lot of us, it was emotional and difficult. We basically rushed out on a Friday and just really haven’t seen the kids since”.
What started out with a simple email sent out by Dr. Donna Burns turned into this meaningful project. She explains, “We had first year teachers to teachers close to retiring to administrators to secretaries. We really had this huge response.” DOUBLE BITE “It was really touching to see everyone kind of come together”.
This project required a ton of work and Donna didn’t do it alone. She requested a little help from the technical guru, Mr. Dave Weikert.
Dave says, “I asked her if she could let everyone know like the simple things to do. We wanted to make it as nice as we could for the students, in addition to wanting to communicate, making it as special as possible.”
Faculty and staff came together not only to say hi and reconnect with their students, but also to send a message of hope.
Together, this tightknit family knows that they will pull through this tough time together and they will come out stronger on the other side.
Mr. Dave Weikert adds, “I would like to say to my students, keep hanging in there. One week down, eight more weeks to go – we can make it! You guys are doing a great job. Keep up the hard work. We will finish out this school year strong”.
Dr. Donna Burns says, “I just hope that they know that this too shall pass. We will stick together. We’ll be there and help them. We will see them again. It may be weeks or months, but we will see them again”.