Ella Petersen
Staff Writer
The end of the school year is always full of activities. As classes come to an end, teachers scramble to find things for their students to do while they attend school for the number of days required to pass.
This year, there is a new set of activities for the underclassmen. “The Week Without Walls” is a whole week dedicated to planned pastimes for students to enjoy with their teachers.
The list of things to do was sent out to advisories last week so students can pick what they want to participate in. Some of them include hiking in Wissahickon Valley, board and card games, local college tours, and first aid/CPR training.
Melanie Manuel, Spanish teacher at SLA, explained the idea behind it: “At the school where I taught in San Francisco, California, we had Week Without Walls the week before spring break. All the teachers and students looked forward to it each year. Week Without Walls was the time of year when I would take my students abroad. My first year I took them to the US-Mexico border and my second year I took them to Guatemala. I loved Week Without Walls and had always wanted to bring the concept to the schools where I worked after I left San Francisco. And now it’s finally happening!”
Ms. Manuel shared examples with the other teachers of activities from the Week Without Walls at her old school and it helped them pick their own ideas. They brainstormed things that could showcase their passions so that they could share them with their students.
Orlando Aguayo, a freshman at SLA, is very excited about the new event at SLA: “I chose the college tours because I just can’t wait to have the college experience. I also chose the CPR training because I would like to be able to help somebody if they had drowned. I think the week is a great idea, the choices are great in my opinion.”
Ms. Manuel hopes that this becomes a yearly things at SLA as it was one of her favorite events at her old school. “I just want everyone to have fun sharing in the teachers’ passions. It’s a great way for students to know a different facet of who we are. It’s going to be a great week that I hope becomes an SLA tradition!”
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