Maintaining Community
Mr. Scott Portt and Mr. Matthew Waters reach out to struggling students during virtual school
Relationships that build our community shifted during the pandemic. Restaurants closed, neighbors quarantined, our tiny town of Saint Joseph got even smaller. Through this, an opportunity to adapt and assist confronted us all. SJHS staff members Mr. Scott Portt and Mr. Matthew Waters connected with our community in a new way despite—because of—COVID.
COVID-19 posed a threat to many aspects of life: health, income, education, etc. Students faced stresses on their school work, family situation, and mental health. Mr. Portt and Mr. Waters, both St. Joseph Schools faculty, responded to this societal disruption.
Graphic by Kiersten Olson
“They asked if we were willing to put some hours in since we were remote, and we said yeah, anything we could do to help,” Mr. Portt said.
Within a few days of St. Joseph Middle and High School going remote, Mr. Portt and Mr. Waters began their efforts to maintain community across Berrien County. They delivered computers, WiFi, and other essential services for online school.
“We delivered books for the Upton Scholastic Book Fair so that they had books for Christmas breaks so they could read,” Mr. Waters said. “We identified all kinds of computer issues… and got in touch with the IT department and got them hotspots and switched out computers. We delivered those right to their houses.”
Their journey didn’t stop there, though. The most impactful part of their mission was to get in contact with students who were not logging into virtual school. They didn’t do this by emailing these students, or calling the parents, but actually arriving at their houses—masked up and socially distanced—to gauge the household dynamics and show the students how much our community cares for their education.
“It was a great experience because I go to meet the parents and I got to see the lifestyle of where the kids are so that helps us out a little better when working with kids here, so I think to me, that was the best part.”
Some parents weren’t even aware their kids weren’t logging in. Mr. Portt and Mr. Waters taught parents how to log on to PowerSchool to check grades.
With histories of reading people, Mr. Portt and Mr. Waters took on this role perfectly. Mr. Portt worked as a prison guard, and Mr. Waters, a police officer. While this makes the two of them seem tough or intimidating, their intentions are nothing but to help others maintain safety and better themselves. The pair were able to relate to these students better than teachers could, because they also had to adjust to SJ schools and know the tribulations life has to face.
In the end, they made around 150 housecalls, prompting a large percentage of our students who were not logging in to become more engaged. Their efforts cannot go unnoticed nor unthanked. Maintaining community through the pandemic poses a difficult challenge, yet Mr. Waters and Mr. Portt took on the task in a safe and approachable manner.
“In all our travels—we put more than 900 miles on the car—we didn’t have one bad experience,” Mr. Portt and Mr. Waters said.
The two men, as well as many other staffers, ask that us students take part in the effort to reach out in our community as well. Finding empathy for students in situations unlike one’s own alleviates division within our community, whether it be political, religious, or financial. To know students are willing to help their peers who are struggling—which, at some point, we all were—tightens our community connections and allows others to feel less embarrassed about their troubles. One thing that came from this pandemic was a mutual understanding of each other, as we all were forced into some sort of wintering. Let’s allow this common experience to sprout empathy within our community and find a helping, Covid-free hand to lend.