This January, during a large winter storm that resulted in power outages throughout the city, an anonymous individual created a petition to cancel finals. This petition, created on the website Change.org, quickly circulated around the school.
The change.org petition took place during a time where many students left without electricity or any sort of WIFI leaving them with limited abilities to study. So, when students saw there was a chance for finals to be canceled or postponed, most students signed it immediately.
“I was severely displaced by the storm when a tree fell through my house that already didn’t have power. I really didn’t have any way to study so I saw the petition as a way to anonymously use my voice for change,” junior Taylor Stalick said.
Other students used the survey to show their displeasure to the administration about the fact that finals were not being canceled.
“I had just endured a long snow storm that literally sent trees flying into homes and shut power across Oregon and I got the email saying we were still doing finals so I had to put my foot down and sign the petition. It was the least I could do for my friends who were stuck without warmth power or wifi,” junior Nathan Tram said.
Steve Deklotz, the vice principal of student life, said that he didn’t become aware of the petition until a day or two before finals. However, he also said that it was important that students were able to express their opinions.
“I think students should always express their opinion and their feelings about their education. And they shouldn’t be pure recipients of [education]. Students should feel like they can and should speak up about what might make their school better or advocate for themselves and do so in a respectful way,” Deklotz said.
A survey sent out by administration had a few hundred responses, Deklotz said. The purpose of the survey was to gauge how many people had been severely impacted by the winter storm.
“Mrs. Hagelgans and Mr. Powers were doing direct academic outreach to support those families impacted most significantly. It also asked the question ‘would you like us to reach out to you, do you need extra support or something related to that?’” Deklotz said.
In an interview with Ashley O’Neill, Mr. Scott Powers, vice principal for Academics, noted that the petition received over 1500 signatures from some concerned students and some students who may not have taken the petition as seriously as others. But, the real question is if anyone thought to take future action or just rely on the petition to see a change.
“As someone who was stuck at home due to the ice on the roads without access to power I thought to take it a step further. I decided to send an email to my vice principal explaining my situation and creating an argument as to why I thought it was in the students and teachers best interest to cancel finals,” junior Hannah Wendler said.
