In Asheville, high school seniors make key life choices under the stress of Helene’s recovery

ASHEVILLE, NC – Last Friday, Ari Cohen and three friends – all Asheville High School seniors – gathered to play UNO at his house, next to a pile of bottled water in his living room.

It’s been weeks since they and thousands of other students have been in a classroom due to the damage Hurricane Heleneresulting in a huge tree leaning against Cohen’s house. Without reliable cell service and Internet, students in hard-hit Asheville are finding other ways to spend their time – volunteering, exploring hurricane-ravaged parts of town or playing board games.

“We meet almost every day,” said Nathaniel Durham, one of Cohen’s friends. – However, we are not bored yet.

The storm has he interrupted his studies at school for students of all ages in Western North Carolina, but for high school seniors who are making important life decisions – wondering what to do after graduation and applying to college, at an especially delicate time. Meanwhile, they are creating memories of their senior year of high school while analyzing the impact of the disaster on their communities.

Some families evacuated after the storm, enrolling at least temporarily in schools elsewhere. Students trying to apply to college have encountered difficulties with internet, cell service and basic transportation. For others who may have been hesitant about higher education, the crisis has added new challenges.

Helene’s remnants struck on September 27. Asheville, North Carolina’s largest mountain city, stayed largely cut off when roads were washed away or blocked by mudslides. Six school districts in western North Carolina were still closed, according to the state.

The Asheville City Schools system is like this set to reopen According to its website, there is a shortened four-hour working day on Monday. Superintendent Maggie Fehrman said the system will involve drilling wells and bringing in toilet trailers while the city’s dilapidated water system continues to be repaired. The Buncombe County school system was, too planned return on Friday with a two-hour delay.

But even as classes resume, Cohen and others remain uncertain. He planned to graduate early, in part to recover from hip surgery scheduled for December. Cohen said that’s still the general plan, but he’s not sure if the timeline will change.

Helene’s influence complicates college applications

One of Max Schantz’s first concerns was his college scholarship application, which would be submitted a few days after Helene arrived in the Southeast. The Asheville School of Inquiry & Life Sciences senior didn’t have cell or internet service over the weekend, so he went to a Wi-Fi-equipped library to work on his essays. He sat outside a locked building for about two hours with about 80 other people, hoping to use the Internet.

Schantz’s family left Asheville a few days later for Miami because his father had to work remotely. But time was running out to report Schantz. Then, checking his email at a rest stop, Schantz was relieved to see that the deadline had been extended.

Later, Schantz decided to discuss the hurricane’s impact on Asheville in his application, something he thought about for a while.

“It was really hard because I didn’t know if the college admissions officer would want to hear it or not,” he said.

Even though school buildings were closed, Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools held activities in October to help students navigate the college admissions process. Counselors offered help with writing essays, completing financial aid forms, and using the Common app.

During one of the sessions, Abe Garry, one of Cohen’s friends, received help. He was concerned about receiving teacher recommendations on his application in time, but he found that most of the colleges he applied to treated Western North Carolina students leniently.

Another setback occurred when Helene canceled his date to retake the SAT in hopes of getting a better score.

“I was just frustrated because I think if I did something good, it would definitely help me,” Garry said.

Some seniors say it’s ‘definitely not okay’

School disruptions are familiar to seniors who have gone through the isolating Covid-19 pandemic as they transitioned into high school. Now they are struggling with a similar problem.

Caroline Barton stated that things haven’t been the same since the pandemic, and Helene’s feeling that she never had a normal high school experience was further heightened.

Since Helene, she also struggles with survivor’s guilt because her home wasn’t destroyed like some of her peers. Her teachers allow students to talk openly about their experiences, which has helped.

“I don’t know anyone who has died. My family is safe. Our house is fine. It’s quite OK in our backyard. We have working cars,” she said. “But I definitely don’t feel good.”

During the first week back at the independent Carolina Day School in Asheville, Barton said many of his seniors were stressed about college acceptance and what school would bring.

“It’s a really stressful time for seniors in general, and then a hurricane is thrown at it,” Barton said.

Barton, a cross-country and track runner, had to postpone a recruiting trip to an Ivy League university when her flight was canceled the day after Helene was hit. The next morning, Barton and her mother traveled on storm-ravaged roads to take off alone from another airport. Barton said she plans to attend college after the recruiting trip, but she knows many of her classmates are still worried about not following through on their applications.

There is a silver lining to Helene’s hardships, said Asheville High School student Nathan Flaherty. Volunteering—something he previously considered a requirement for applying to college—became part of his daily routine. Seeing people come together was “the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

Flaherty’s career plans after graduation may also have changed. He planned to attend flight school to become a pilot, but after Helene, he is now considering combining that profession with emergency management.

It’s hard for Schantz to describe how he feels knowing that a month of his senior year has passed. As he plans to return to Asheville, Schantz said he is mentally preparing for a “completely different world.”

“It was just a really fun time before, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to that level of enjoyment,” he said.