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Missing Out: School Cancellation Means No 'Grand' Events For Connecticut Seniors

Hartford High School
Joe Amon
/
Connecticut Public
Weaver (Hartford) High School students are dismissed at the end of the school day on Friday, March 13, 2020. A few days later, the governor of Connecticut closed schools indefinitely to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday officially canceled in-person schooling for Connecticut students for the rest of the 2019-20 academic year.

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School buildings, closed effective March 17 over fear of the spread of the coronavirus, will not reopen until fall.

Nayeli Peralta, a senior at Old Saybrook High, had been assigned a capstone project earlier in the school year.

“I have a project of getting to know the culture,” Peralta said in her native Spanish.

She was working on a picture guide designed to help English language learners understand how Americans celebrate holidays. With in-person classes canceled, she worries about whether it’ll be finished.

Peralta enrolled at Old Saybrook High around Thanksgiving -- after having lived in Ecuador for 18 years. Her father and her stepmother, Quiana, made it possible for Peralta to attend high school in America.

“It’s going to be difficult to not see the teachers,” Peralta said.

Credit Quiana Peralta
Nayeli Peralta, a senior at Old Saybrook High School, is one of thousands of Connecticut students who will miss out on many of the events that highlight their final year of K-12 studies.

Now there’s no chance for her to experience traditional events American students enjoy during their senior year -- events her half brother and half sister rave about: senior skip day and a senior trip, for example.

Her stepmom said that’s a big regret.

“I just wish that she would be able to have all of those big, grand experiences like all of the other kids in my family have been able to have,” Quiana Peralta said.

Nayeli Peralta said she’ll miss what high school afforded her: “new experiences, making new friends and learning about the culture.”

As for what’s next, Peralta said she wants to be a nurse. She’ll likely start at Middlesex Community College in the fall. Her stepmom said Nayeli couldn’t apply to four-year programs because she wasn’t able to take an English language test required for college admission before the pandemic hit.

Frankie Graziano is the host of 'The Wheelhouse,' focusing on how local and national politics impact the people of Connecticut.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.