As we entered March 2021, I think everyone held their breath. This marked one year since the beginning of the pandemic. There have been more than a few days this past year that we sat distanced in a meeting trying to figure out how to move forward. It seemed that there were obstacles at every turn. It seemed impossible some days. It was hard. Yet here we are on the other side of the anniversary of chaos.
We see glimpses of light. We see students, families, and staff that are pushing beyond the obstacles and overcoming more than anyone thought they could. While many days seemed dark, we continued to find light and celebrate small victories. We will continue to push forward knowing that brighter days are ahead.
We have continued to provide programming to students and families as safely as possible and found new ways to keep families connected. Some of those ways have been to create Fun Fridays that allowed us to play games, have fun, and interact socially in person in a safe environment. Other ways were simply calling families to check on them and find out their needs.
We continued the tradition of our Christmas card contest with our Pathways students. Our 2020 Christmas card winner was Scott Boone. He is a sophomore at Patrick Henry. We were so excited to present him with his beautiful card framed on our December Fun Friday. We also had our Fun Friday catered as an extra special treat for our students and staff.
In February we celebrated Valentine’s Day with special heart shaped pizzas as “big as the moon” as stated by one student. These pizzas were from Benny Marconi’s. We also enjoyed King cake and devotions that kicked off the season of Lent.
As we roll into Spring we have reopened our after-school for our elementary and middle school groups while still offering a day program for those attending school virtually. We plan to continue this through the end of the school year. With high hopes for a fun summer, we will begin planning our vacation programming and other activities for Pathways.
-Nicole Jennings, Director of Family Programs