The aroma of the morning coffee fills the air as the ringing of cereal hitting a bowl chimes out. A pale blue light tints the walls of the living room as mom and dad open their laptops. Their son watches a video lecture from his science teacher around the same time he would have had the same class in person two weeks ago.

This has become the norm in households across America. Canisius High School is no stranger to remote learning techniques that have been brought upon the world due to the health crisis.

However, Canisius has been prepared.

“Nearly 800 members of our school community have moved to an eLearning plan. And even though we are not seeing our students face-to-face right now, we continue to communicate with them and care for them,” said Fr. David Ciancimino S.J., Canisius High School president, in a video message to the Canisius community. “Our faculty, staff and technology department have been working diligently to make the transition to full-time e-learning as easy as possible.”

For nearly ten years, Canisius has provided students with iPads set up with software to create a one-to-one learning experience, allowing students to research, take quizzes, tests and submit assignments from home.

Canisius utilizes applications such as Zoom and Schoology, a virtual learning and social networking software, to allow students and teachers to connect on a daily basis as the Canisius community adjusts to social distancing. Click here for more details on the eLearning plan.

“Canisius has been a leader in implementing an iPad, one-to-one program for educational instruction for nearly a decade now in Western New York,” said Ciancimino, “Our students are very comfortable reading their text books and doing research on their iPads. They are accustomed to submitting homework, doing their papers and workbook exercises, creative projects science labs, not to mention taking quizzes and tests all electronically.”

School is more than academics. At a secondary education institution, students socialize, compete, serve and grow together. All of these have become either impossible or challenging during this crisis.

However, students have done their best to keep in touch, work together, play together and grow together in their time social distancing.

“The current heath crisis has made me talk to my friends online a lot more than I normally would. Now, I’m doing big group Facetimes for a couple hours every day where I normally wouldn’t,” said Sam Balenevsky ’21. “The iPads are game changers for home learning. All of my textbooks are online this year so I can still do the work from home. I started online learning a week early with my BC calculus class because we could not lose any time and it went super well. We were able to do a live chat and ask questions. This would not have been possible without our iPads.”

The crisis has perhaps struck the Class of 2020 hardest as they have lost face-to-face contact with their classmates of the last four years as they were preparing to graduate. 

“The current health crisis has forced me to stay at home, and now I can’t see my friends [in person] on a daily basis. However, I am lucky enough to be able to stay in contact with them, and we all talk about the good times we have had at Canisius,” said J.T. Burgio ’20. “We are all hoping to go back for the last days of our senior year. However, I have learned not to take my time at Canisius for granted because our senior year is different than I ever could imagined. I miss walking around the halls and seeing everyone. Overall, being at home during the day has allowed me to reflect on my life, especially at Canisius.”

Daily prayers, which are broadcast to the school during the morning announcements on a typical school day, are now being recorded by students at home and shared via social media.

“We pray for our broken and uncertain world.”
Thanks to Dondrell Vance ‘20 for bringing us today’s prayer. #stpetercanisiusprayforus #AMDG pic.twitter.com/DNReYcyVnf

— Canisius High School (@CanisiusHS) March 25, 2020

As the future of this school year is uncertain, Canisius faculty, staff, administration and students are working together (at a distance) to stay connected, to learn and to prosper.