Special Edition

The rumors are true. ORCA’s administration has opened direct Gmailing between students so they can communicate outside of classes and clubs. Students are now free to contact each other through their ORCA Gmail accounts.

“Students can now email each other through their Oregon Charter Academy Gmail accounts,” says ORCA’s high school principal, Matt Lacy. “Your Student Government, the National Honor Society, [and] many individual students, parents, and teachers throughout the year have expressed the need for peer to peer communication and it is our pleasure to provide it in this way.” 

Many student leaders have been advocating for a better way that students could contact each other and their requests have been answered.

ORCA student Brady Cruse is currently the co-president of the National Honor Society and the vice president of Student Government. He has been leading many discussions with Mr. Lacy on student-to-student communication. “The Student Government has been advocating for school-sanctioned student-to-student communication ever since the school’s transition to Canvas,” he says. “I believe allowing students to communicate through Gmail will allow students to connect and create new friendships and experience the ORCA community in a new and exciting way.”

 All you have to do is open a new Chrome tab – if using a Chromebook – and click the word “Gmail” in the right corner of the tab. Then, click on the pencil icon on the left side of the screen and you can easily write an email to your classmates. Or simply go to www.gmail.com while signed in to that account. 

To send a message through Gmail to another student, you have to decipher their Gmail address. All ORCA student Gmail addresses are in the format of the last two digits of the year they will graduate, the first two letters of their legal first name, and then their legal last name. At the end is the domain that every student shares: @student.oregoncharter.org. For instance, an email address for a student graduating in 2022 named John Smith might look like this: 22josmith@student.oregoncharter.org.

When receiving an email from another student, you might notice this automatic statement written at the end: “This email is sent from a student account at Oregon Charter Academy and is intended for only school-related communication. Please refer to the Acceptable Use Policy in the school handbook for guidelines related to email.” 

The Student Handbook (page 36) is a great resource for the guidelines and rules that come with access to Gmailing between students. The messages are monitored through a school system. In the event of a violation of the code of conduct, the administration will follow the guidelines outlined in the Student Handbook to determine the best course of disciplinary action. Mr. Lacy wants all students to understand that the emails you send are not private and to “pretend like the world is going to read your email.”

ORCA opening Gmail access between students is a permanent change unless there’s a reason to disable it for everyone. It is unlikely that students will be able to Gmail each other during the summer.

“It is a resource that we want to use responsibly so we can continue to keep it available,” concludes Mr. Lacy. As long as conversations stay school-appropriate and respectful, ORCA’s new student-to-student communication feature has the potential to be a highlight of the school’s community.