With the onset of summer came an unfavorable shock to CATA students – a transfer of teachers, so it is rumored; some of the best teachers, the most highly respected teachers, so it is told among us students. We are asking ourselves how something like this could happen; teachers whom we have grown to cherish, teachers whose words have forever impacted us. Why should they be taken away from us? When I was asked to attend this year’s senior graduation ceremony as a ceremonial marshal, I was exultant. During the ceremony, I heard a number of great speeches given by a number of graduating seniors such as Frank Deese, May Rogers, and Morgan Stegall. The topic was community. Each of these students gave their varying and abstract and heartwarming views on the topic, but there was a definite underlying message among them: Central Academy of Technology and Arts is a community, with no student or teacher as an inconsequential variable. By taking these prized teachers away from us, the strength of the CATA community will surely take a strong blow. As I sit here and type this, I am struck with an inability to comprehend why these teachers – who have undeniably fostered our school spirit – should be ripped away from us? Even furthermore, I am upset to think that those speeches were falling onto the ears of the very teachers who would be snatched from us. It is frustrating to know how much hypocrisy is swirling around us. Were those speeches about community truly felt by those who were listening? Did they strike a chord within anyone? Or were they simply words to fill the ceremony’s time frame? I don’t know the answer to that question. Neither do I pretend to understand the complicated goings-on among the higher-ups who have made this decision. Perhaps the county has decided that the teachers at the Central Academy of Technology and Arts would benefit another school. Perhaps there is rule somewhere within the Union County manual that requires teachers to transfer schools after a certain predetermined time. Or perhaps UCPS just felt like it might be time for a change. But one thing is as vivid as the sun – the wellbeing of the students has not been taken into consideration in this case. In an ideal society, the will of the students would be just as important as the will of the decision-makers. Is not the aim of public education to enlighten and expand the minds of the young and to entice them to get involved in their communities, to find their voice so that they can defend what they believe in? That is all we are trying to do here. We have a concern with what is being done and we are trying to get involved. As a student body, we have banded together to affect a change. We are doing this neither to attack the decision-makers, nor to point fingers. We simply want to know why this is happening, and we are endeavoring to protect the teachers that we love. Author Kyle Harris Founder : Haley Rognstad Co-Founder : Sara Newman