'QuaranTEENS' wins in a landslide as Chapelle's remote-learning name

By Peter Finney Jr.

Leave it to a sophomore to hit a verbal grand slam.

When the nearly 600 students at Archbishop Chapelle High School began their coronavirus hiatus last week, they stayed connected with their teachers and with each other on Google Classroom, but there was still a torrent of tears.

“We were looking for ways to stay connected with the girls, and believe it or not, we were getting a ton a phone calls from parents that their girls were crying and wanted to be at school,” said Susan Panzavecchia, associate principal. “They’re teenagers, and they’re so excited, and they missed being at school so much.”

One thing led to another, and school administrators decided one way to strengthen the bond between school and their homebound students was to ask students to “rename” their remote-learning school with something catchy.

“Believe it or not, we received a couple of hundred suggestions,” Panzavecchia said, laughing. “We were so excited. We thought we were going to get something like 20. We were thrilled that the girls wanted to participate.”

Every student suggestion was sent out to the entire student body, and after the girls voted on their favorites, the survey results narrowed the possibilities to the top five.

But, in reality, it was no contest. The name submitted by sophomore Heather Goodwin – “Chapelle QuaranTEENS” – won in a landslide.

“I can tell you what the second closest was, but ‘Chapelle QuaranTEENS’ was the clear winner,” Panzavecchia said.

The second choice was a play on Chapelle’s monogrammed socks that bear the initial “C” and the uniform Doc Martens shoes they wear – “C Socks and Docs.”

“I have to say, ‘Chapelle QuaranTEENS was pretty far ahead,” Panzavecchia said.

Goodwin said she doesn’t know how the name popped into her mind.

“I was thinking of the situation that we’re in right now, and I was like, ‘We’re teenagers – so,  QuaranTEENS,’” Goodwin said. “I didn’t think people would like it, and then I got the email that I had won, so I was really excited. I’m glad people like it because usually I don’t win things like this.”


For her winning slogan, Chapelle sent Goodwin and her family two pizzas.

Senior Morgan Spizale, Chapelle’s student council president, said the remote learning has been going well despite the challenges of the students missing each other on a daily basis.

“It’s been an adjustment just being home all day, but we’re working it out,” Spizale said. “I think the contest was huge because I think everyone was kind of down in the dumps being stuck at home. We were so excited. There were some really, really funny ones, so this was a good start for everyone.”

Panzavecchia said Chapelle was well-prepared for the stay-at-home routine through its educational program that calls for each student to have a Chromebook laptop. This year, unrelated to any knowledge of the virus, several teachers had begun using a “flipped classroom” teaching approach, pre-recording a video of themselves doing a class lecture, which the students in that class would watch the night before as homework.

“So, when they come in the next day, they’re ready to do student-centered activities and review and some higher-order thinking that can go along with that,” Panzavecchia said. “A couple of teachers started that and it really took off. They found that they could utilize those class minutes so much better because they wren able to do the lecture part of this ‘flipped classroom’ at home.’”

Panzavecchia said the girls are taking solace in the facts that they are sharing this burden with other teenagers across the world.

“We’ve taken the mentality, ‘It’s not just us; no man is an island; we’re all in this together,’” she said.

Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at pfinney@clarionherald.org.