By Eric Erickson
Students across St. Paul public high schools are scheduled to return to their buildings for in-person instruction beginning on April 14 for the fourth quarter academic grading period.
So far, Como High and all other high schools in the St. Paul School District have been offering on-site academic support to students in need of it since the last week of February.
For most Como students, distance learning has been the standard method of instruction for more than a year.
Students and families choosing to remain exclusively in distance learning will be able to do so while keeping their current teachers. In-person instruction will run on a modified schedule from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Early mornings and Fridays are reserved for teachers providing online support to those students in distance learning, while all students have available asynchronous learning time.
Bilingual proficiency testing
Dozens of graduating Como seniors are pursuing the state’s Seal of Bilingual Proficiency in April. Students passing a comprehensive test in Ojibwe, Hmong, Karen, Somali, Oromo, Arabic, Hebrew or one of 15 additional languages earn credit at any Minnesota state college or university.
Advanced drawing
Como junior A. K. applied “deconstruction” concepts to create this piece for Advanced Drawing class
Como senior Susana Cabello Romero utilized “hybridity” to draw this illustration incorporating an AirPod.
Art students in Meghann Miller’s Advanced Drawing class have been producing illustrations using modern art concepts.
To apply the concept of appropriation, students altered a cartoon character to create a modern look. For implementing deconstruction, students removed layers or fractured the character. And to work with the idea of hybridity, students utilized an item found around their home and incorporated it into a drawing.
A dozen student submissions were featured in Como’s morning announcements videos to reach a larger audience.
JROTC cadets on the go
From cross-country skiing and polar plunges to service projects and academic competitions, Como’s Marine Corps JROTC has been keeping busy. Among its activities: The Junior Leadership Academic Bowl team consisting of sophomores Alex Le, Sophia Moore and Jesiah Mason and junior Nayblut Kasuh is ranked in the top 10 percent of more than 250 JROTC programs across the country. The Como team has advanced to the second round of national competition and is preparing for its next contest.
Eric Erickson is a social studies teacher at Como Park Senior High School.
