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Lessons From COVID and the Class of '21


young people with face coverings

COVID changed a lot of things in 2020-2021, not the least of which was education and college planning. We at CPC were happy we could assist 90+ students in a real time of need- need for personal connection and guidance. Some of the things this Class of 2021 taught me or reinforced what I already knew:

  • Consistent small chats and breaking projects into very small bite-size pieces might be more valuable than group application bootcamps

  • Most students benefit from a long runway, and they always say "thank you"

  • Sometimes students just need to be on video chat with me while I do other work, so they complete the job at hand

  • My son isn't the only student who blocked his parents from his application accounts to keep some semblance of control over his life

  • Applying good 'ole Catholic guilt works for both Catholics and non-Catholics

  • Requests for recommendation letters MUST be a formal writing assignment

  • Something as common as babysitting can be creatively described in the activity list- "learned how to not talk down to little people"

  • You can leverage the heck out of Regional Tuition Discount programs

  • Always asking someone how their day is going is invaluable (a student taught me this)

  • There are perhaps a million ways to correct Zoom audio-visual technical difficulties (when in doubt, end the meeting and just start over)

  • Our home needed (and got) greater bandwidth

  • The CPC office was the best place to deposit the rest of my working family (husband and three youn