After 539 days away from school, we are thankful to be back at Muchin College Prep with our Mountain Lion family. Those 539 days were incredibly challenging for so many of us. They were full of uncertainty, loss, remote learning, and very little social interaction as we were doing our best to survive a global pandemic.
Now that we have returned to school safely, we are not only thankful to be back in person, but we are thankful for the community that surrounds us. Seeing each other every single day, being able to laugh together, meeting new people, and making new friends – our list of gratitude goes on and on.
As November was the month of Thanksgiving and gratitude, our community wanted to ensure that everyone knew who and what we were thankful for. Each grade level put up their own bulletin board for students and staff to express what they are thankful for and write notes of gratitude:
“What Are You Thankful For?” was the question posed to everyone who walked into Muchin College Prep this last month. Many of the notes listed specific teachers’ names, advisors’ names, and other sentiments like “I am grateful to be living.”
Mrs. Chatman, our Student Recruitment Officer, says she is “thankful for being able to see the scholars in person again, and for being a sounding board for them when they just need someone to listen.”
Kenya Castro, a junior at Muchin, reflected on her excitement to be back on-campus, especially since she has never had a full school year in person during her time at Muchin. She says she was so excited to “socialize with other people and make new friends” after “being stuck in the house staring at a screen for so long.”
“I’m so grateful to be able to see my advisees in person again, to see how much they’ve grown as individuals,” Kenya’s advisor, Ms. Stefanie Adan, says, “There’s nothing like watching them flourish, every single day, and I am so thankful we are back together in the building.”
In addition to the boards, throughout each school day during the month, you could find scholars picking up Thank You cards and writing them for their peers, teachers, and other Muchin staff. These Thank You cards were such a wonderful way to acknowledge each other and intentionally name how grateful we are for what others do.
“I am thankful for interaction with actual people in person, and not just over the computer. It’s fun to see my friends and how grown they’ve become,” Sebastian Ortiz, a Muchin junior, says.
Whether it’s the ability to leave our homes and return to a sense of “normalcy” as we head back to the school building, or it’s being able to hug our friends, advisors, and teachers – overall, the Muchin community seems to be extraordinarily grateful to be back together, in-person, at 1 N State.
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