On Thursday, March 12th, the St. George’s community learned that it would not be returning to school after spring break, and student life was put on hold. Or so some might have thought.

Instead, student activities shifted to Zoom, with a daily schedule of activities being posted every week. During the new schedule’s debut week, students had the option to watch “Inside Out,” play Kahoot trivia, work out, take part in group meditation, and showcase their talents.

While the daily activities schedule was robust, it met somewhat mixed attendance. Upper school English teacher Mrs. Heidi Rubin de la Borbolla noted that the mindfulness and meditation activities on Thursday had no student attendees, and only teachers took part.

Despite the mixed attendance, Upper school counselor Mrs. Elizabeth Bran thinks the activities went well.

“All in all, I think they were fine,” she said via email. “Our goals were to help foster community and to provide optional activities for students in case they are bored. Though some events were not well attended, I am still pleased that students had opportunities to participate. Trivia had a good group and was lots of fun!”

Trivia was a hit element of the new student life schedule, and is one of only two that are reappearing this week.

“We are always looking to improve attendance,” Mrs. Bran said, “and [to] provide the activities that students really enjoy. With that said, we are considering student musical performance, cooking videos, other house challenges, etc., and will create the offerings based on student feedback.”

As she mentioned, this week’s calendar includes “Things to do in Quarantine Thursday,” in which former drama teacher Mr. Scott Duff will teach attendees how to cook.

Notably, the calendar this week does not have group activities planned for Monday or Friday, with individual challenges replacing “Movie Munday” and “Fun Friday.” In part, this change may be related to Mr. Gibson’s announcement of early release Fridays, in which all school activities end after 12:30.

In the end, the new student life schedule is aimed to keep the St. George’s community together in times when it might feel like it is being torn apart. Though there might not be a perfect solution, when it comes to after school activities, Mrs. Bran has a plan.