Hello, my lovely people. I hope everyone is doing well. I want to take a moment to just ask: Have you taken time for yourself in the past week? Have you been kind enough to yourself? Have you loved yourself? This past school year has been so tough. Between isolation, online learning and much more. I personally have just been on go mode. Not giving myself enough time to breathe. I know there are many students and parents and teachers out there doing the same thing, so please just remember to be kind to yourself.

The Student Union has specifically been working on ways to better the communication between administration and students. We’ve noticed that email is not the best way to reach students. We are trying to look into communicating through social media and other avenues that access students more easily. We are also working on figuring out how to create a student handbook so that you all can understand your rights and rules the school has much better. You can say an overall goal is just to make more school avenues student-friendly. And, lastly, we are working on proposing ways to give students more mental health relief, by adding a day for each student that they are able to take off, with no consequences for their mental health. We would love to see more students at Student Union; it is led by me and my leadership team, there is no commitment required and all students are welcome.

I would like to dedicate the rest of this letter to my beloved seniors. Wow. This year has been quite a disappointment. It has been scary, and devastating, and we have lost so much. I just want to say sorry. I’m sorry that we don’t get a chance to go to football games with our school spirit or host fun parties with our friends; do our last performance, play in our last game or dance our hearts out at prom. I am so sorry. Often this year, I found myself unable to feel bad for what I’ve lost, because we are in a national pandemic. I didn’t want to feel upset about my loss when some people weren’t eating, didn’t have a home and were struggling in worse ways. But the reality is, we have lost a moment in our lives that is so important. It’s the year before we start adulthood; it is supposed to be the best time of our lives. So, please allow yourselves to grieve, to be sad because it makes all the sense in the world. And I’m right here with you. I know the school hasn’t been very present for us or made us feel special, but I am personally making sure that that doesn’t continue. To you all of you wonderful seniors, it is the last quarter of our last year of high school. Congratulations are in order because we did it! I’m so proud of all of you. I know each and every one of you overcame a lot this year. You are superstars. Let’s ride the rest of this year out together and strong. Sending all my love.

Sincerely,

Carmiya Bady