HNS students are dealing with changes brought on by pandemic

HARTINGTON — Students and staff at Hartington-Newcastle Public Schools have adjusted to new changes this fall due to the coronavirus.

Daily life at HNS consists of wearing masks while indoors, with the exception of eating and drinking. 

Lunch procedures have changed as well. Eight kids used to sit at a table at lunch, which then became four. After some quarantine events, lunch tables were limited to two students at a table, leaving some high school students to eat in classrooms. 

The lunchroom protocols have not only changed for the students, but for the kitchen staff and teachers, as well.

“Staff must serve everything and wear gloves and masks at all times,” Carmen Jueden, head cook, said. Superintendent A.J. Johnson has now taken up ketchup and ranch duty at lunch to limit the handling of the condiments to one person.

Extra curricular events have also been affected. Some football and volleyball games have even been cancelled or pushed back due to the virus. 

“It really hurt us due to the fact that the two games that were canceled this year, were needed in order for us to qualify for the playoffs,” Kobe Heitman, senior football player said. 

Students have also noticed a decrease in group work and a designated time frame for entering the building. 

In addition to these daily changes, Homecoming activities looked dramatically different this year.

The Homecoming parade and dance were canceled, and the coronation featured a very limited crowd. HNS high school principal Corey Uldrich said that administrators chose to cancel the dance in an effort to keep the risk of infection down. He said that efforts like this are helping to keep the school open.

When asked if he would still have the dance if it was fully up to him, Uldrich said, “Professionally speaking, I wouldn’t, but as a dad who would have liked to see his daughter go, yes, I would have.” 

Instead of the dance, high school students gathered outside at the Cedar County Fairgrounds to watch a drive-in movie, “The Blind Side.” 

The Student Council decided on the outdoor movie, and the student body voted on the movie of choice. 

“We tried to make sure we still did enough that Homecoming was special and still remembered but had to make sure that it stayed in the guidelines and health measures,” Principal Uldrich said. 

Time will tell how the rest of the school year will go. 

“We cannot change the inevitable, but we do have control over our own attitudes and whether we choose to react to situations positively,” Uldrich said, adding that one of his favorite Charles Swindoll quotes best sums up this philosophy: “Life is 10% of what happens to us, but 90% of how we react to it.”

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