St. Edward Students Tackling Challenges Created By Coronavirus

LAKEWOOD, OH — A group of St. Edward High students will try to develop solutions to some of the many crises facing Ohioans during the new coroanvirus outbreak. The students will begin their ambitious labor on Monday, but their journey to their Monday makeathon started in March.

When St. Edward High School opened its Lowe Center for Innovation in 2018, it rang in the occasion with a Day of Innovation — an event featuring alumni speakers discussing their careers in technology. During the 2019-2020 school year, students wanted to spearhead the Day of Innovation event and transform it into a makeathon — a weeks-long event designed to create solutions to vexing problems.

Then the new coronavirus outbreak happened.

In mid-March, Gov. Mike DeWine ordered all K-12 Ohio schools closed to stymie the spread of the virus. The announcement snarled plans for schools throughout the Buckeye State and left the St. Ed's Day of Innovation event in doubt.

Then Coleman Isner, 18, and his student compatriots stepped up.

When the Day of Innovation was blocked by COVID-19, Isner and four other students decided to try something new: a virtual makeathon to tackle some of the greatest challenges created by the pandemic.

Students and select alumni will get together via webcams on Monday. They'll discuss broadly the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has changed daily life for many Americans. The group will then break their conversation into nine sub-topics:

• Maintaining relationships,
• Maintaining productivity,
• Helping small businesses,
• Figuring out supply and demand,
• Maintaining mental health,
• Engaging people who lack internet access,
• Helping the elderly
• Helping people stuck in abusive homes and
• Maintaining physical health.

After the kick-off event, students will divvy up based on their interest in a sub-topic, Isner told Patch.

"We’ll see where the student population lands at that point. We can have a team of three or a team of one. If we have seven students who want to tackle something, they can," Isner said. He added that alumni will be paired off with student groups based on their expertise.

The groups will then dig into their problem area. Isner and other student leaders will monitor their progress for two weeks and offer support however they can.

"The most important part of this process is identifying the problem at hand," Isner said. Groups will be encouraged to dig into the minutiae and locate hyper-specific issues. "Most of the time will be spent identifying the problem. Then we’ll move on to the solution."

Creating physical solutions to some of the challenges will be difficult, but software-based fixes could be easier to create while only connecting virtually, Isner noted.

Isner, an 18-year-old high school senior who intends to attend Carnegie Mellon University, admitted that leading the COVID-19 makeathon was a challenge. "I've never done anything like this before," he said.

For the staff at St. Edward, watching Isner and other students pivot their plans and respond to the crisis has been inspiring.

" We didn’t think we could pull this off. I give the students all the credit," said Jim Kubacki, president of St. Edward High.

Beyond buoying the staff, the COVID-19 makeathon also engages students academically.

"You can’t have a kid sit in front of a computer from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.," Kubacki told Patch. "You’re trying to have things they can engage with and bite into. This is a terrific idea and we’ll see how it unfolds. I think it will be very successful. I think students will jump at the chance to work together, remotely."