This isn’t the year Demaya Holman imagined. Being the new kid is hard enough without the added challenges of a pandemic. But she was determined to connect with her peers — to reach out, speak up, be “an open book.” So she turned to anime. #ThisIs9thGrade https://bit.ly/2UXDB9t 

Connecting to a community during COVID definitely isn't a struggle unique to Demaya. Her school, Chicago’s Englewood STEM High School, is still chipping away at community mistrust and building up its own culture — something made much harder during a pandemic. #EdChat #EduTwitter

This year, the school's second, presented its steepest challenge yet: how to continue to build a sense of connectedness virtually, against a backdrop of a virus that has claimed Black lives disproportionately and during a painful national reckoning on race and racism. #EduColor

The sense of connectedness the school is working to foster can be elusive. But Demaya has found a way to build a community from behind a computer screen, mirroring the values and strengths of the anime characters she and her classmates find solace in during the chaos of 2020.

“Watching anime during a time like this is one of the best things you can do,” Demaya says. “It tells a story. And everybody loves a story on dark days.”

#BackToSchool #RemoteLearning #OnlineLearning https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2020/11/23/21587636/a-story-on-dark-days-how-one-chicago-students-anime-club-is-creating-community-during-a-pandemic

Want to follow along with Demaya and other freshmen as they navigate the challenges of ninth grade during a pandemic? Find stories by searching the #ThisIs9thGrade hashtag for the latest updates. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/9/16/21439915/freshman-year-at-distance-high-school-pandemic-series