Cocoa and Cram

Student Cora Landgraf (10) focuses intently as Mr. Romero helps her to prepare for a Spanish final at Cocoa and Cram – a school-wide study finals session hosted by Interact on Monday in the Commons and featuring multiple teachers from every subject matter who volunteered their time to ensure students had academic success as they finished their first semester. “[Mr. Romero] was helping me with some missing assignments I had due to my absences. Cocoa and Cram helped me get a more profound understanding of Spanish and helped me feel ready for the final,” stated Landgraf. Photo credit: Yasmin Torres 

On Monday January 13th,students gathered in the commons after school. They sipped hot chocolate, munched on cookies provided by Rotary/Interact and studied for their finals. This newly founded annual tradition is known as Cocoa and Cram. The purpose of the event is to help students succeed on their finals by providing a designated study time without distractions and with the help of content-area teachers. 

“Last year, Cocoa and Cram went much better than we expected: we put it together, but we were unsure if there would be five kids who attended, or if there would be no one,” stated Ms. Robison, Interact advisor. Robison continued: “In the end we had about a hundred kids who came so we were all super happy that kids were interested in the event. I think it just shows what our community and the culture at Cascade are about in that we are an academically minded school, and we do have a lot of kids who care deeply about their performance in their classes.” 

With the help of Ms. Robison, the CHS Interact Club was the driving force behind making Cocoa and Cram a success for the past two years. Interact reached out to Rotary for help running the hot chocolate table and making cookies.

“Rotary is the parent organization of the Interact Club in the high school, who work directly with the interact club,” explained Pam Brulotte, the co-Director of youth services for Rotary. Pam continued: “The Interact club came to us and asked for volunteers to make cookies and help pass out cocoa and we had about ten Rotarians that came. We all love being able to work with Interact and help give highschoolers an opportunity to study. I think anytime you can get kids from different backgrounds who do different activities in the same room and interacting is amazing. I think it's also a great way to encourage people to get help from other students and teachers, especially because finals week can be tough.” 

“It was really nice to have teachers around to help especially when you don't know something, and you get to ask the teacher directly,” said Kate Smith (10). “I think it's a good concept, because it's a great way for people to get help close to finals, especially because they might not ask for help on their own. I went last year and this year, and it definitely took some of the stress off finals because it allowed me to study without having to find the time on my own.” 

During Cocoa and Cram there was at least one teacher present from each subject to help with any inquiries students might have. “I think [Coco and Cram] is an awesome idea especially for students who haven't given their best effort all semester and have this nice chance with helpful teachers and a nice quiet environment to do some catching up,” said Mrs. Rosenfield, CHS English teacher and Cocoa and Cram volunteer. 

Cocoa and Cram has been proven very helpful to students at CHS who attended. “Without Coco and Cram I don't think I would've passed my calculus final,” stated Paige Runions (12).  

 “It was really nice to be able to talk to my teachers about any questions I had and get one-on-one help from them,” stated Allie Ward (10). 

The event was a success again this year and is sure to be repeated next year.