'The Main Objective Is To Survive': Boulder Teacher Keeps Tabs On Ukrainian Students
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - From 11 p.m. to about 4 in the morning, a Boulder teacher, Sarah Carr, is teaching literature to Ukrainian students, as many of them watch their country unravel.
"There's anger, there's fear, there's shock, there's a sense of purpose," Carr said. "I'm online with students who have either escaped a war zone or are in a war zone."
Despite constant explosions, living out of bomb shelters, and faulty internet connections, several of Carr's teenage students are using their phones and computers to log on. Recently Carr had her students write poems describing their city as a person, one of them wrote that Ukraine was "getting ready for its own funeral."
"They're certainly showing a brave face, that they're coming to school every day, and trying their best to provide content for themselves and to still try to give themselves a future, even though it feels like all their dreams have been destroyed," she said.
Some of the students have sent Carr emails describing their situations, one saying "my family has had to relocate as a result of the shellings... I'll be able to complete the assignments that you send." Another expressed, "anything that mattered before doesn't matter anymore... now the main objective is to survive."
About a fifth of Carr's students haven't been able to attend class because of the war, but she's staying in contact with all of them.
"Just three weeks ago some of my boys were getting tested for COVID, and now those same boys are making the decision 'Do I cross the border with my mother? Or do I stay and fight with my dad?'" she said.
As a teacher, Carr said her training couldn't have prepared for this, but she's continuing her classes because they give students a sense of hope and normalcy during a time that's anything but.
"These are real people, and these are students and people whose lives are completely disrupted, and they are giving everything they can," said Carr.