Skip Navigation

Student showcase: What teenagers are thinking about this upcoming school year

  • By Sammy Sacksith, Kaitlyn Rodriguez and Trinity Hunt for WHYY
How are kids being impacted by the pandemic? Our high school reporters, Trinity Hunt (left), Kaitlyn Rodriguez (center) and Sammy Sacksith (right) produced short personal essays on ways that the pandemic has impacted each of their lives.

 Image courtesy of Trinity Hunt, Kaitlyn Rodriguez and Sammy Sacksith

How are kids being impacted by the pandemic? Our high school reporters, Trinity Hunt (left), Kaitlyn Rodriguez (center) and Sammy Sacksith (right) produced short personal essays on ways that the pandemic has impacted each of their lives.

This story is from The Pulse, a weekly health and science podcast from WHYY. Subscribe on Apple PodcastsStitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.

How are kids being impacted by the pandemic? Our high school reporters, Trinity Hunt (left), Kaitlyn Rodriguez (center) and Sammy Sacksith (right) produced short personal essays on ways that the pandemic has impacted each of their lives.

Image courtesy of Trinity Hunt, Kaitlyn Rodriguez and Sammy Sacksith

How are kids being impacted by the pandemic? Our high school reporters, Trinity Hunt (left), Kaitlyn Rodriguez (center) and Sammy Sacksith (right) produced short personal essays on ways that the pandemic has impacted each of their lives.

This week’s episode was produced in collaboration with students from WHYY’s Pathways to Media Careers, Youth Employment Program, with support from The Lenfest Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Bank of America. Our students were: Sammy Sacksith, Kaitlyn Rodriguez, and Trinity Hunt.

Special thanks to instructors Gabriel Setright and Becca Morgan for their help and guidance with the projects.

Pulse high school reporter, Trinity Hunt. (Courtesy of Trinity Hunt)

Pulse high school reporter, Trinity Hunt. (Courtesy of Trinity Hunt)

“It’s hard to look toward my senior year with anything but fear and sadness.”

In this audio Trinity invites her two best friends, Jackson and Ivanka, to talk about their thoughts and feelings on how COVID-19 will affect their group’s traditions during their senior year.

Pulse high school reporter Kaitlyn Rodriguez. (Courtesy of Kaitlyn Rodriguez)

Pulse high school reporter Kaitlyn Rodriguez. (Courtesy of Kaitlyn Rodriguez)

“One thing has been overlooked: the art schools”

The School District of Philadelphia has come up with a new plan to accommodate students during the pandemic. But, with all of these changes happening — one thing has been forgotten: the art school. CAPA, The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, is one of the many art schools that have been affected by these changes. What things have they lost? How does the new plan affect them? Will CAPA still be able to keep its reputation as an art school? Through the interviews of three creative and performing art students and the voice of a teacher, we hear their opinions and thoughts on how much they believe CAPA would be affected with the new plan.

Pulse high school reporter Sammy Sacksith. (Courtesy of Sammy Sacksith)

Pulse high school reporter Sammy Sacksith. (Courtesy of Sammy Sacksith)

“The most stressful part for me was being unsure of my education and career path”

Sammy Sacksith is entering his senior year of high school and he’s planning to pursue his dream career of becoming a dermatologist. But first he has to apply to college. Sammy shares his struggles and anxieties about this process and some additional road blocks caused by the pandemic. He talks to USciences President Dr. Paul Katz to calm some of his fears and find out what college will look like in near future.


WHYY is the leading public media station serving the Philadelphia region, including Delaware, South Jersey and Pennsylvania. This story originally appeared on WHYY.org.

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Up Next
Regional & State News

16 counties in the state now under a drought watch