Last year, educators at Bonham Academy in San Antonio ISD started Friday Fenomenal, a tradition that gave students an opportunity to get out of the classroom and learn something new. It was a hit, but when COVID-19 closed schools this year, Bonham had to get creative. Enter: Semana Fenomenal, a virtual, weeklong program with a variety of community speakers and activities.
Molly, for example, shared a few of her favorite books (How to Be a Good Creature and Fox 8, if you’re wondering) and then asked students to share stories of their own. The only parameters: set in San Antonio, somewhere in the future, told in first person. Below, we’re sharing a couple of the stories that students submitted. And, while we’d love to hear your own stories, too, we have a somewhat easier option for the grownups: take 10 minutes to share your priorities for San Antonio’s future on our new community survey.
Leonard Hernandez, 4th Grade
The year is 2030, I wake up in my dorm and I hear absolute silence. I’m curious as to what’s going on so I jump out of bed. I call my mom to make sure she is safe. I then proceed to get dressed and walk out of my dorm, curious I walk around to find out I’m late to my first class, I run to class to find it empty so I hop on my bicycle to go for a quick ride and the streets are bare nobody to be seen for miles. I’m riding around downtown and I see the Alamo wrapped in a thick glass. I then rode to my moms house to check on my mom and my sister.
They are home and tell me that the coronavirus is back and worse than before, I’m in shock but then I kinda figured this would happen only because not a lot of people are following the rules listening to the social distancing or wearing their masks society as we know it may be at an end if people don’t start to listen. I then decided to go ahead and stay at my moms since they cancelled school anyways. I am scared for me and my family, but I know we will be safe because we are being safe.
Sofia Elena Lamb, 4th Grade
What I envision for San Antonio, Texas, by 2050
In 2050 pets have a device that can allow them to talk to humans. I think this will help our city because it will allow pets to tell humans when they are sick and it this will protect pets from being not cared for correctly. I believe our city can do better in saving and taking care of animals.
Also, more cats and dogs would have homes. And, if the mom had babies, all animals would be neutered and spayed. You see if you do not have them neutered and spayed, then they won’t all have good homes.
I have experience with this because a local cat had babies and took the babies out of our garage. When we found them again, we discovered our neighbor had been feeding the cat and claimed it was theirs when it really was a stray. I asked them if they were going to take them to the veterinarian to get them spayed and they responded, “No!” They just want them to keep having babies. We are now looking for one of the three kittens that has not returned to see if we can take care of them and get them neutered/spayed.
For example, one day one girl had a dog and the dog was acting very odd. Her name was Liliana and her dog’s name was Thomas. When the dog was limping around Liliana decided to invent a device so Thomas could tell her what hurt and what kind of pain he was in. The next day, Liliana finished inventing the device and Thomas started talking. Liliana asked Thomas, “What hurts?” Thomas responded, “My leg broke when I jumped the fence.” The next day, Liliana decided to take Thomas to the vet doctor.
