Trish prepared testimony for the Massachusetts legislature in both 2020 and 2022

Trish’s 2022 Statement

I’m a junior in high school and I’d like to share with you some of the ways that learning during the pandemic has affected me, and how schools can better support students.

When they first announced that we were getting two weeks off of school everyone was actually excited for a break! But no one really understood at the time how long the pandemic would last and what was really coming. Once we began to realize that school was shutting down and virtual learning began, the sense of school community disappeared and I began to feel a sense of loneliness…

Trish’s 2020 Statement

Hello, my name is Trish and I’m a freshman. I want to talk to you today about the importance of having strong relationships between students and adults in school.

One of the challenges at my school is that guidance is overworked. It seems like they are always swamped, so when students need an appointment, they usually have to wait until its too late. Or we’ll make an appointment like we’re supposed to, but have it cancelled so we have wait another week to talk to someone when we really need to talk to them that day.