CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Some Chicago Public Schools students who were high school freshmen when COVID hit are getting ready to graduate in less than two months thanks in part to a local nonprofit called Communities in Schools of Chicago (CIS).
“Things were kind of bumpy in the beginning, but I feel like I came above all that, and now I’m doing better,” said Luna, who attends Mather High School on the Northwest Side.
Luna said she’s looking forward to graduation and is weighing where to go to college. At one point, Luna stopped attending her classes, but the 17-year-old credited regular video chats and messages with Stephanie Estrada — a CIS student supports manager — for bringing her back to remote learning.
Estrada said Luna and her classmates are resilient.
“Having support through those difficult times, I think, was crucial to how they would perform later, academically, and how they’re doing well now,” she said.
In addition to helping students work through emotional and educational challenges, including overcoming feelings of isolation during remote learning, Estrada said she helped students at Mather with basics due to COVID challenges like family deaths and job losses.
“Clothing, food — if that was necessary — also just working closely with the schools to make sure students had access to laptops, Chromebooks and internet,” said Estrada.
Luna said it helped her open up and stop keeping thoughts, emotions and struggles bottled up inside. Another 17-year-old student, Jaylin, said Estrada helped him come back after missing classes. He was balancing babysitting with school work while his family was evicted, which led to failing grades for two semesters.
“In the beginning, I was pretty closed off,” Jaylin said. “Eventually, I did grow around to coming out to lessons more, talking, and being able to have a conversation.”
Jaylin said his grades are back up, and he’s joined the stage crew at Mather — something he wants to pursue in college as well. As far as where that might be, Jaylin said he’s considering Northeastern Illinois University or taking a gap year to make sure he’s emotionally ready for college.
Luna, meanwhile, said the experience has been so positive that she wants to become a teacher — and has been accepted to multiple colleges to study education.
Mather High School’s graduation ceremony is scheduled for May 31.
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