“Youth Of Today, Future Of Tomorrow”

In the following weeks, Medard’s House Youth Center has been doing many activities for the community. Recently they’ve done a Zumba fundraiser on November 6th, a Veteran’s breakfast on November 11th, and a free family Thanksgiving for anyone that might not have a Thanksgiving on November 17th. Now they are working with Grace Way Church in Mechanicsburg to help kids in need, locally and globally, by selling Christmas trees. They are doing all of these things along with trying to help the community’s youth, providing a safe and loving space for others. 

While interviewing Saundra Colello, the Founder and Executive Director of Medard’s House, much was learned about the non-profit. Medard’s House is a non-profit after-school program for youth. While asking Saundra why she got involved, she answered, “I’m the founder, and I started it because there was a need for a safe space for kids to hangout after school.” When asked why students should come to Medard’s House, she brought up the great points that in the facility, students have the opportunity to make friends, get mentored by some awesome people, share home-cooked meals in a family friendly environment, and have fun. 

When Saundra was asked if she would change anything, she exclaimed that having to fundraise to keep the program at float. Within five years, Saundra and her team want to be financially stable enough to be fully done with the remodeling that has been in session since 2017, and they want to be able to provide everything that the students might need and appeal to all their different interests. Finally, I asked if Saundra wanted to be a part of Medard's House in the future, and she stated that she will always want to be a part of Medard’s House but would like a different role so she can spend more time with the youth that walk through the door. Medard's House Youth Center is a youth program perfectly fit for the youth of this community.

On December 3rd, New Cumberland Army Depot and Baughman United Methodist Church partnered together for a food drive for New Hope Food Bank. The New Cumberland Army Depot soldiers marched from the Army base right next to the Giant food store in the Fairview Commons Shopping Center. They marched to Baughman UMC which is on 3rd and Bridge in New Cumberland. 

When the soldiers arrived, they had backpacks full of food. There were many volunteers at Baughman to help load the backpacks from the soldiers, and donations from the New Cumberland community into a New Hope box truck to take to the facility to help out whoever might need it. After all the food was loaded into the truck, the soldiers were fed breakfast and given coffee to thank them for all that they did during that day and all that they continue to do every day to protect and serve, not only our community, but our country. 

This was a huge event for both organizations. It went a lot smoother and more food was gathered than in previous years. It’s always nice to see that the soldiers, who protect us from greater risk, also try to give back to the community where they are stationed. Many people could have gone hungry if it wasn’t for the partnership of these two organizations. Next year, the goal is to fill two box trucks and have twice or three times the amount of food. New Hope Food Bank will be able to help so many more families and businesses because of this food drive. 

On Friday, December 2nd, a train derailed in Perry County taking out a cell tower. This then resulted in a bunch of county’s losing wifi. Since the West Shore School District receives WiFi from the IV in Summerdale, school was in session, but not really. The kids were in the building but not many classes could actually do anything because everything, at least for the high school levels, is online nowadays. This made the school day go by very slowly as many people couldn’t do a lot because the WiFi was down, and data was not working. 

Some classes watched movies, did book work, or had some “fun” activity, while others sat in silence and stared at the floor for 50 minutes. When asking students how their Friday was, most answered like this, “In my opinion, I think the day would have been more beneficial if we were sent home and had a zoom day.” While everyone hates zoom, sitting in classrooms doing nothing is worse.  Other students answered this way, “The day wasn’t bad, there just wasn’t a lot to do. We couldn’t access any of our current projects or assignments because they were all online so all we could do is socialize in classrooms.” 

Many schools and businesses were affected by this. Kids in school could skip class because no one could access the online hall pass program. Businesses that need wifi to function, such as banks, could not do a lot of work. The day was unconstructive and slow for everyone. 

Ever since COVID, the West Shore School District has replaced what would be half days, with Remote Days. Replacing the half days with asynchronous days is supposed to be easier for parents, students, and teachers. While some think this change has helped, others dislike this new system. 

Many students have conflicting opinions, when Sophmore Ella Berry was asked her opinion on the topic, she stated, “Honestly I like both, because I like staying home from remote days and I like staying in my PJs,” she further explained, “but I don’t like how it is all day so we lose having an actual half day.” Sophomore, Catherine Myers added, “I prefer half days. I just don’t like remote days, and I feel like they assign less work on half days.” 

While there is much comfort in doing schoolwork at home, many people believe that it is harder to get their schoolwork done from school and that it is easier to get distracted. Myers was asked if she felt working asynchronous is more distracting and she stated, “Yes, the environment may be more chaotic in people’s homes without an adult supervising.” However, Sophomore Joseph Mya disagrees and says, “No, I feel like I get more work done efficiently because I can focus.”

Overall, every student is different and can all focus better in different circumstances. While this new form of half days can benefit some people, it can also be a huge disadvantage for others.  

December 8th, 2023, rained snow on the West Shore District bringing up the touchy subject that traditional snow days have been removed and replaced. How does the community feel about this? 

Snow days in the West Shore are no more ever since remote days came into existence, instead of having no school, students attend online Zoom meetings for their classes. Although some see this as for the better, others disagree. 

Students and parents feel a sense of nostalgia having traditional snow days. Some even believe the lack of snow days takes the magic away from the snow. Sophomore Riley Christiansen states, “I don’t like Zoom, and I feel like it takes away the one thing kids used to look forward to during winter. Especially now that we are in high school and we lost the excitement of Santa and other holidays,” She continues to say, “It feels like our childhood of sitting in front of a fireplace drinking hot cocoa while it is snowing on a Wednesday when we should be in school has been taken away from us.” Many in the West Shore School district would like the policy changed. A parent, who wishes not to be named, believes that the traditional like snow days are better. “Although it's nice not having added days to the school year, I do think there was something about it snowing and having everyone waiting to see their school on the news, or hearing it on the phone that they had a snow day that made that day almost seem magical.”

 There are many mixed opinions on the new remote snow day policy, but many students, staff, and even parents agree that they don’t enjoy the remote days. Overall, the West Shore school district community feels that this policy should be changed.