On Friday, April 17, AP Government teacher, Jeff Foster, and AP Psychology teacher, Ronit Reoven, hosted an informal zoom call for their students called “Tea Time.” The name stemmed from the phrase “spilling the tea,” as the two aimed to share news and discuss opinions surrounding the quarantine.
Foster and Reoven have kept in contact during the quarantine. In order to comfort their students, Reoven proposed the idea of hosting the zoom call.
“Reoven called me with the idea and I agreed that it would be something worth pursuing,” said Foster.
The students found out in the form of an announcement from either Foster or Reoven early that morning. They essentially told their students very little about what the call would be about besides it being a hang out of sorts.
“I first heard about it in a Remind text from Reoven and I wasn’t sure what to expect,” senior Alyssa Marrero said. “I wanted to sit in on it so I could know what she meant by ‘Tea Time.’”
The call, which included a total of about 25-35 of both Foster and Reoven’s students, consisted of many different topics ranging from prom woes to netflix shows. The teachers and the students asked each other questions, mostly revolving around how everyone is processing quarantine.
One question that kept popping up regarded who the graduation speaker was supposed to be. Foster refused to share, as he is still seeing if the speaker would be willing to speak virtually in any capacity.
“I find it amusing to hear who you guys think the graduation speaker will be,” Foster said. “I just hope that we’ll still be able to bring in a few people remotely to make graduation a little more special.”
While at times the conversation turned serious, there were still many jokes and laughs, enabling the overall atmosphere to remain light.
Near the end of the two-hour zoom hangout, Foster asked Florida house of representatives member Dan Daley to join the call and answer a few questions. Once he joined, he discussed how his job has been affected by COVID-19 and how unemployment is being handled on a state level.
In general, the students that attended seemed to enjoy the opportunity they were given to just hang out, especially considering that Grad Bash and Teen Political Forum were supposed to be on April 17.
“The call made me feel happy and kinda helped everything going on around us,” senior Andrea Peña said. “[Foster and Reoven] always find a way to make me feel better and laugh so it was super fun.”
Foster and Reoven plan on having a similar call next Friday, April 24, potentially making this into a weekly occurrence. In addition, Foster plans to have representative Ted Deutch speak to his students and their families on Thursday, April 23.
