March 25, 2020
Dear Friends of Elyria Catholic,
Hope! Our Elyria Catholic Community is moving forward with hope during this difficult and challenging time. All are invited to pray a Divine Mercy chaplet every day at 1pm. We can participate in mass and receive a spiritual communion on Sundays. We live in a time when technology allows teachers to reach out remotely to connect with students and continue our pursuit of academic excellence. And both teachers and students are growing and developing new skills they can use for a lifetime. The technology we once feared might keep young people from developing effective interpersonal skills is the very technology that is keeping everyone connected while we stay at home and practice social distancing.
We have encountered some challenges but have risen to the occasion. Many of our teachers are talking to their classes in real time utilizing Zoom. They have been finding new resources every day and networking with each other to share ideas, tips and applications to grow the effectiveness of their virtual classrooms. Many of our teachers are also caring for and teaching their own children at the same time.
In an odd way, we are reaching out and saying things to one another that might not have been said otherwise. David Leeper '20 was the first to join our Divine Mercy Chaplet and complete a new engineering project, and he mentioned that he really felt EC was his home. Luke Costantino '20 reached out to Mr. Kronholz and shared that he felt incomplete without the Eucharist. Our kids are AMAZING as they reach out to help each other. They are grateful for the time they spend together with other students in their virtual classrooms. Many students, like our teachers, are juggling their classes with additional responsibilities at home, including caring for their siblings. When times are tough, we either see the best in people or the worst. We believe we've seen the best.
We know and understand that many of our families are facing or will face economic hardships. We are heartbroken as we witness many of our students lose their jobs as well as other spring and summer opportunities. Elyria Catholic High School and its faculty and staff are committed to making sure students can complete their EC experience as they intended. We know many of our students continue to hope that some of the year end traditions of Elyria Catholic High School will still take place and we hope, pray and if given approval, will definitely plan for the same. For now, please view our Senior Spotlights on social media and on
https://www.elyriacatholic.com/senior-spotlight-2020 as we highlight our fabulous seniors.
We pray for the health and safety of our community as well as all of our alumni, parents, friends, businesses and organizations that have partnered with us to provide amazing opportunities for our students and athletes. We will continue to share our EC stories of hope at home with you and ask that you might do the same by utilizing #ECHome on social media and/or emailing Annie Cunningham at
annie.cunningham@elyriacatholic.com. You will also be able to view the stories on our school website
https://www.elyriacatholic.com/echome-2020. We pray that all can continue to navigate this difficult and unprecedented time with faith in our Lord and the hope our students share.
God Bless,
Suzanne Lester Michelle Hoffman
Principal Director of Advancement