By Sydney Simpson – News Editor

The Jonathan Law Broadcast and Journalism classes have been working hard this holiday season to keep tradition and make Lawmas happen amid unfortunate circumstances. 

Lawmas is a fun tradition that gets students involved in the school community and gets everyone excited for the holidays. Being home this year has been a new learning experience for all, and although some things must be changed, Lawmas is still a thing, and it is being kept as normal as possible.

“We all miss Law, we all miss being in the building, and this time of year is extra special at our school because of the sense of community and family that we have,” Broadcast Journalism and Journalism teacher Mr. Kulenych said. “Hopefully these two videos can get people in the Lawmas spirit and help people feel a little more connected to that feeling that we are all missing right now.”

Eagle Eye News has already aired one Lawmas video, the annual favorite “Twas the Night Before Lawmas.” Jonathan Law principal Dr. Thompson was featured as Santa Claus, along with many different students and teachers each reading a witty line from the parody. 

Aside from the first video released for Lawmas, the Broadcast and Journalism students are working on another project to keep spirits up this year – a “What Do You Want For Lawmas” video that will be released next week.

Both videos are a yearly tradition at Law, and although distance learning is in motion right now and everything seems different, Kulenych and his classes are working hard to keep Lawmas the same. 

“We are doing our best trying to keep the Lawmas traditions going this year, since this year has been really tough on a lot of people,” senior Broadcast and Journalism student Gill Rees said. “It’s important to do our best to keep the traditions alive even though it may be a little more difficult to do compared to past years.”

Although the unusual circumstances of 2020 make producing Lawmas both different and difficult compared to previous years, the one thing that has not changed is the attitudes of the hard working students and teachers who helped make Lawmas happen. 

“The spirit of Lawmas is the same, but since we are not in school, we had to change some of the Lawmas traditions,” Kulenych said. “If we were in school, we would have been able to have more in-person celebrations through Advisory or in classes, but virtually we wanted to keep as many traditions going as we could.”

Producing Lawmas videos was more difficult this year than in years past mainly because the way in which the videos are filmed had to change completely.  

“Being virtual definitely complicated things a little bit, “ Kulenych said. “For the “Twas The Night Before Lawmas” video, we decided that the Broadcast and Journalism students would read the lines (with some teacher lines as well), but for the “What Do You Want For Lawmas?” video, the whole school is invited to submit a response.” 

Typically, the Broadcast and Journalism students would go around the school stopping random people in the hallways to be in the two videos, in an effort to make sure each grade was represented. A difficulty faced this year with being virtual was not receiving responses from as many students as would normally participate. 

“The most difficult part, especially this year, would be how some people take a really long time to send videos and responses to us, it is understandable because obviously everyone has their own stuff going on,” said Rees. “If we were in school we would be able to track them down in the school and get answers on the spot, which is something I personally miss.”

The Jonathan Law staff and students have been a great help in putting together the Lawmas videos. Although a bit more difficult to get participants, the Law community still helped make it happen. 

“In the beginning it was a struggle but we have great staff and students and so far everyone has done their part and really pulled through,” senior Broadcast and Journalism student Alexis Broderick said.