Building a Family Group

By Olivia Marcano
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Do you enjoy attending Family Group? Ever thought of ways to make it better?  This week I surveyed a number of peers and interviewed some Family Group Carents including my own and what I found was interesting.  My research uncovered a large sum of senior scholars who found their Family Group boring and unengaging to say the least. Scholars reported lack of enthusiasm or connectedness and friendship with their Family Group peers, which is understandable given we may have people we’d rather be spending time with outside of family group. Therefore, this makes our time in Family Group less enjoyable for everyone including our carents since friendship and open conversations can’t be forced. So I interrogated my peers, asking what they suggest could make our Family Group more fun? I ascertained a range of requests from cooking, eating and enjoying movies together to having excursions as a family. Ah. And of course, phones.

Since a substantial portion of our senior student body would obviously rather be replying to their group chat or watching tiktoks, here we’ll re-visit our 4-year long debate about having our phones in class to make our Family Group more enjoyable. I’ve heard a lot of opinions, If’s, and’s, or but’s about permitting phones in class however, Mrs. Gallagher’s response has to be the most thoughtful and aware. 

In light of my article topic, I decided to interview our very own  Family Group coach Mrs. Gallagher and after being asked her thoughts on student phones in  Family Group, her reply was, “If carents would allow phones I wouldn’t mind,” she continues, “But if everyone was on their phones, we wouldn’t be able to bond as a Family Group.” 

Mrs. Gallagher went on to inform me about the role her Family Group played in a moment of hardship for her. She recounted how they noticed her troubles without her mentioning. A trait only a close-knit group can achieve over years. A Family Group. She emphasized how they rallied around her, allowing her to be vulnerable in this moment. A moment that would've never happened if everyone was buried in their phones. I am a strong advocate for phones in school, but this made me think. What about you?