In March, CCHS began offering “engagement” pods in activities such as ceramics, gardening, and theatre to give students a chance to socialize with other students on campus. 

These pods meet twice a week for an hour and a half in the afternoon. Each pod is allowed a maximum of 14 students and they are supervised by CCHS teachers. 

Physics teacher John Bakunin and English teacher Penny Schulte are facilitating the gardening pods in the CCHS garden. Students have the opportunity to interact with one another through a shared bond of gardening while spending more time outdoors. This can be a refreshing change from the distance learning students have been doing for the past school year because it gives their minds a break from their screens and technology as a whole. This specific pod can benefit both a student’s social connectivity with others, and their mental well-being since they are able to be outside and be a part of the process of gardening with others. 

English teacher Marc Ketchum is hosting a theater games/play writing pod. This is another pod that doesn’t just highly encourage social interaction, but also gives students a safe space for their creativity to thrive through the arts of writing and theater. 

Ceramics teacher Craig Wisner is instructing two ceramics pods to students currently enrolled in his classes which gives these students who have been learning online all year the opportunity to finally craft art on the wheel.

The engagement pods are an additional resource provided to students who need more support throughout their struggles with distance learning. In these pods students will be given access to school materials and supervised help to make sure they have all the possible resources needed to be able to succeed in online learning. 

The new engagement pods are a great way for students to build their social connections with other students during a time where they aren’t getting as many social interactions.