BOZEMAN — Typically, there are only about a dozen high school students in the Bozeman School District needing summer classes to catch up on credits.
“About 10 to 15 students per summer typically,” said Erica Schnee, Gallatin High School Principal.
This summer there were about 4 to 5 times more students taking classes.
“We had an estimate of about 65 students initially interested at the start of the summer," said Bozeman High School Principal Dan Mills. "When all was said and done we had 56 students who were getting credit.”
Missing credits and lost instruction time were some of the negative effects for education during a pandemic. But with parents and educators getting involved the summer program presented a solution to that problem.
"We sent communication directly to those parents and students and said 'are you willing and interested to come in over the summer,' and beyond that, we had our school counselors recommending students," said Mills. "We had some teachers recommending students, and so all of that kind of moved towards one group of students for the summer.”
But like with many other aspects of the pandemic, the need to adapt led the high schools to offer more classes which in the end benefited the students.
“This year because we had the English option, that really expanded the number of students," said Schnee. "But we even had more students in math than usual, and it was really nice to have that biology option for a few students who needed it.”
With the summer behind them, the principals are ready to take on another school year during a pandemic.
“The important thing is just reminding ourselves and always remembering that we’re all working towards the same goal, and regardless of whatever opinions may be on all different kinds of subjects the goal is the same, and I think reminding ourselves of that as well,” said Schnee.
Summer classes have ended, but did you know there’s a little more than a month left in the actual season? Summer doesn’t officially end until September 22nd.
