HUDSON, OH, April 3, 2020 — Like nearly every school, Western Reserve Academy has switched to online learning for the remainder of its school year.

But old traditions die hard.

For most of the school’s nearly 200 years, students at the day and boarding school have come together in the campus Chapel on Mondays and Fridays for all-school Morning Meetings.

Today was no different, even amid the new reality presented by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Inside the campus Wang Innovation Center, located across the quad from the Chapel, nearly 400 student cardboard cutouts were produced, then positioned in their assigned seats inside the meeting space. Students got a glimpse of themselves when the school meeting was conducted during a school-wide video conference.

“Our school is a community, and we miss our students very much,” said Head of School Suzanne Buck. “Our traditions bind us together, and we couldn’t resist a new twist on this one.”