Adjusting to the new academic calendar may be hard for high school seniors

This school year is shaping to be like no other, especially for high school seniors. Estero High School Senior David Mora isn’t going to let that stop him from reaching his goals.

“I’m hoping to go to somewhere like MIT, Harvard, Stanford,” Mora, a rising senior, said.

But he does admit he’s a little nervous. “There’s still a lot that I need to do in order to be able to reach those schools but the reopening of schools later is just going to make everything harder,” he said.

Normally, Mora, an athlete and scholar, would be looking forward to preparing for college and seeing his friends and teammates and teachers filling the hallways. But with social distancing in place, that will probably not be the case this year.

Despite that, Mora and other students still have work to do. One academic counselor thinks schools should reopen sooner rather than later to make sure students like Mora get the resources they need to graduate and for college applications.

“The earlier the schools reopen, in my opinion, the better,” said Angela Higginbotham, a school academic counselor.

Mora says because many of his tests are international and can’t be moved, it’ll be more difficult for him to prepare in time. “I am in the Cambridge program. That means I have tests at the end of the year that are international so they have one date and they can’t be changed. It gives us less time to actually learn the material, study it and then put it into practice,” Mora said.

Mora is not alone. Many students are worried about the school calendar not allowing them enough time.

But Higginbotham says that she and other counselors are there to help students and are ready to tackle the school year.

“Our number one priority is graduation— making sure students graduate and stay on track academically,” said the Fort Myers High School counselor.

“It was a little bit challenging during the fourth quarter to reach students and families and try to stay within our school hours but I like that it’s going to be a little more structured with the home connection in that we’ll be able to set hours and make an appointment with students and families,” Higginbotham added.

School counselors also plan to meet with every single senior at the beginning of the school year to make sure they know what they need to do to graduate.

Mental health will be a top priority this year for counselors.