December 30, 2025
Celia Cruz’s New Normal: Upperclassmen Adjust to Growth and Change
By John Myers
By Dejennay Dehaney
COVID had a particularly large impact on education, with a majority of students transitioning from in person schooling to remote learning .According to The National Center For Education Statistics , 77% of public school students switched to remote learning and 73% for private school students. Covid led to a 6.4% decrease in student enrollment, as stated by the NYC Independent Budget Office. However, not as many people are aware of the progress schools like Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music have been making in recovering. With the introduction of new clubs, frequent college trips, and a freshman class of 114, the school has been bustling with excitement, opportunity, and sometimes chaos. With the influx of beneficial changes and opportunities, some juniors and seniors have found it hard to readjust, having grown accustomed to the way Celia Cruz had operated since COVID and the subsequent school closures and online schooling, with a smaller student body and overall slower pace.
Science teacher Soraya Abdelaziz states pre-pandemic class sizes were 30+; since then, class sizes have decreased. As mentioned previously, COVID has caused a decrease in the number of students attending New York City schools. For Celia Cruz in particular the student body steadily declined after COVID, fluctuating between 400 and 415. However, as of 2025, the student body is 425, just shy of the historical average of 430. According to David Fink, Celia Cruz’s principal, increasing the student population has been crucial in order to receive funding.
The increased student body has led to a marked contrast between the 2024 and 2025 school years in terms of available space, meaning that not everyone’s needs or demands are able to be met as easily as they were before. Math classes have been moved into science labs and classes take place in communal spaces like the computer lab and the advisory room. There are limited options for spaces where students can go during free periods. This limited space, paired with an increase in the number of clubs, has led to difficulties with finding available rooms that students can use to have club meetings.
More clubs mean more events. These events serve as social opportunities to strengthen the Celia Cruz community, but they can also cause challenges in terms of scheduling events. Callia Bell, a National Honor Society member and Newspaper Club coeditor, states, “It has been very overwhelming, especially in regard to planning things; previously there were not as many conflicts with scheduling days for events, but now if you don’t claim your spot for something weeks prior, there is no chance of you being guaranteed a day to have an event.”
For some, there are also challenges in regard to the sharing and distribution of resources. Jya Wilson, a junior at Celia Cruz, states, “When we come back from the Lehman College campus, we are about 10 minutes later than everyone else, and it leaves you with very few food options. Sometimes the school lunch runs out by the time we get there, which was not a problem for us last year.”
An announcement regarding the 2025 Annual Thanksgiving Feast made by Social Worker Micheal Rosa and the Celia Cruz administration reinforced this by stating, “Dear Alumni, Due to the increase in our schools’ enrollment, the cost of food and beverages, and limited space, we are unable to invite alumni to our annual Thanksgiving feast. We are deeply sorry for this, as we have always looked forward to having our alumni at this event.”
Despite the growing pains of the 2025 school year, there have been beneficial changes. According to Principal Fink, he and the Celia Cruz staff have introduced changes such as additional literacy classes. These classes aid ninth and tenth grade students whose reading levels are below grade to increase their reading comprehension skills so that they will be better equipped to take college-level courses.
They have also aimed to educate the student body on more internship and leadership opportunities. An example of this would be Celia Cruz’s partnership with Upstream, an organization that aims to assist students in taking care of their mental well-being, which gave restorative justice students like Carmelo Cardona the opportunity to be “openers,” a role that entails facilitating activities to help students be positive and cope with stress during their advisory classes. Celia Cruz has also improved the college trip initiative begun in 2024, with the goal being to give every student the opportunity to visit at least one college they are interested in.
This period has been a contradictory one for some in the Celia Cruz community. On one hand Celia Cruz has gained access to eye-opening college trip experiences and leadership opportunities, and on the other we feel like street cats fighting over food, space, and resources. However, as Frederick Douglass once said, “There is no progress without struggle.”
