Today's Marists V.6 Issue 1 FALL 2020

Notre Dame Preparatory
and Marist Academy,
Pontiac, Michigan
(The following are responses shared by
students and faculty about a disappointing
end to last school year and a hopeful beginning
to the current school year.)
Love and Care at Home or in School
For Elena Schwegman, a senior at Notre
Dame Preparatory (NDP) School in
Pontiac, Michigan, the last few months of
the 2019-20 school year were disruptive
and highly unusual. However, the
closing of the school’s campus due to the
pandemic also provided an opportunity
for her and her classmates to more
clearly recognize what’s really important
and what is not.
“The way we finished our school year
last spring gave us all a time to reflect
on what really matters,” she said. “Being
stuck in our homes and secluded from
our friends, made us think about things
quite different than what we usually
think about. Personally, I realized how
much I had taken in-person learning for
granted. But NDP’s amazing teachers did
an outstanding job making the difficult
and unexpected transition to online
teaching. However, online learning
cannot compete with the massive
benefits in-person learning offers.”
She said there’s something special about
being in the classroom rather than
sitting at home behind a screen and she
understands how lucky she is to be at one
of the few schools that was able to figure
out a way to enable in-person learning
for the 2020-21 school year. Schwegman
also said that those few months learning
from home last spring provided another
unexpected benefit.
“It gave me the opportunity to take a
break from my normal daily hassles and
enjoy the outdoors,” she said. “I went
on more bike rides during quarantine
than perhaps I have my entire life. Plus,
in becoming more connected with
the outside world - with creation - my
eyes were opened to all of its intimate
beauties. As Christian people, we are
called to understand God’s perfectness
and majesty, and I realized it doesn’t take
any more than a step or two into nature
to feel awestruck by His wonderful
creation.”
‘Craziness’
Jacob Anderson, another NDP senior,
echoed Schwegman’s somewhat more
optimistic view of the campus shutdown
last school year.
“Those few months away from school
gave me more time to reflect on myself
and my goals in life,” said Anderson,
who like Schwegman is a member of
NDP’s student council. “Although it was
a little more difficult to learn, I think
it helped in some ways. I had so much
going on that it kind of felt good to have
everything slow down for a bit. After
a while, I started to get a little crazy; I
think we all did. I think it really helps
that we are in-person right now at school,
seeing all of our classmates, and getting
rid of some of that craziness.”
Dan Staniszewski, an NDP alum and
longtime math teacher at the school, said
he, too, learned some important lessons
during that “craziness.”
“I think the most important thing I took
away from remote learning is that math is
not the most important thing I teach,” he
said. “Yes, I really want students to know
the quadratic formula, how to take the
sine of an angle and how to use implicit
differentiation, but I learned that teaching
is so much more than that. Check that...
remote learning cemented in my mind
what I already knew: teaching is more
than conveying information: Teaching is
performing! Teaching is loving! Teaching
is having fun! And for all these reasons
and more I teach!”
Staniszewski also said that despite
missing the normalcy he came to expect
at the end of every school year, there
were some “amazing” memories.
“I got to watch movies remotely with
many in the Class of 2020,” he said. “I
was able to deliver lawn signs to many
of my favorite students to celebrate their
completion of high school. I got to show
up in my truck on graduation day, clap
for them, see them again, and even take
a few distanced selfies with them. And I
got the chance to wear my cap and gown,
be a part of their graduation ceremony
and take some pictures with them
afterward!”
Notre Dame Prep math teacher Dan Staniszewski takes
a selfie in front of Malorie Wilson NDP’20 during the
special May 17, 2020 senior parade at NDPMA
Adjusting Quickly in the Lower School
For Kathy Dugan, another faculty fixture
at Notre Dame, she and her fourth
graders also handled remote learning
last spring pretty well.
“My students adjusted very quickly,”
said Dugan, who has also taught prekindergarten
and kindergarten classes
during her 15 years in the lower school.
“We had a great system in place that
seemed to work very well for my students
and for me. We were able to make great
progress through our fourth-grade
curriculum. Of course, I was working
with an outstanding group of students
who also make my job a delight.”
Notre Dame senior Isabella Slifko said
remote learning for her was difficult last
spring in that she missed her classmates.
“Peer interaction is something I am used
to and need,” she said. “However, with
that being said, NDP did a spectacular
job with virtual learning. I could not
have wished for anything more. The
counselors, teachers and administrators
were by my side every step of the way.”
Now with the campus back to in-person
learning for the 2020-21 school year,
continues on page 18
Fall 2020 17