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St. Mary's University
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11/08/2020
Jacoby Mena Oral History, 2020/11/08
Jacoby Mena, a 9th grade student, shares his views on staying home, the BLM movement, anti-maskers, and staying safe during the pandemic. -
2020-03-30
Sewing Masks for Friends and Family
There was a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the start of the pandemic. I was anxious for my family and friends, especially for the nurses in my life who didn’t have any face masks. Once my mom and I saw on the news that cloth masks were an acceptable form of PPE, we knew exactly what to do. We busted out our library of fabric that we had collected over the years and dusted off our sewing machines. My grandma taught my mom to sew, and my mom passed the skill down to me. We started off making free masks for my friend’s sister and her fellow nurses. None of our other friends or relatives knew how to sew and when word got out that we were making masks, the orders started pouring in. My mom, brother, and I relied heavily on our crafting skills in order to fill custom orders. During the first month of the mask making craze, it was difficult to buy fabric that our friends were requesting. Solid black, Spurs, Cowboys, and dark colored fabrics as well as elastic were hard to find. Furthermore, Joann’s had limited hours and their best fabrics were sold out online and in-stores. My brother printed custom images on heat transfer vinyl that I would then press onto the fabric, and I bought bedsheets and dyed fabric to create colors that we didn’t have in stock. My mom and I already had a bad habit of buying fabric for no reason, and now that we have an actual purpose our collection has grown even more. I look for fabric that suits the personality of my friends and try to find prints that are cute and festive for each season. My friends and family will own wear masks that my mom and I have made. I think they take comfort in knowing each mask was made especially for them. As for my mom and I, we are relieved in knowing that our loved ones are protected with masks that fit their personalities. -
2020-11-12
Oral History Interview with student Chris Vazquez at St. Mary's University
This oral history interview was conducted on Thursday, November 12, 2020, with Chris Vazquez, a student and Residential Assistant at St. Mary's University. In the interview, the narrator discusses how life on campus has changed during the pandemic, how he has adapted to virtual learning and his hopes for campus life after the pandemic. -
2020-03-30
From Dine In to Takeout: Staying Connected With Thai Dee Restaurant
For my friends and I, Thai Dee is our most cherished gathering spot. It is a local San Antonio restaurant that is tucked away in a small building next to a convenience store. The restaurant is centrally located and 15 minutes away from where we all live and work. Thai Dee is the community dining room for my family and friends. We celebrate all our special occasions here in addition to frequenting the restaurant on a weekly basis. It is both a treat and a part of our daily lives to eat at Thai Dee as it is for hundreds of other customers. These last few months have felt strange not being able to eat inside their restaurant. The pandemic hit Thai Dee hard at first. In March they had to lay off all their waitstaff and close their busy dining room. I was laid off from my full-time job too, but I continued to support them with the little money I earned from my part-time job. I turned my weekly dine-in visits to takeout orders. I did my best to support them, but instead I found that they wanted to support me. The family who owns the restaurant has always treated me like a member of their family. When they found out that I had been laid off, the owner sweetly yet sternly told me not to leave them tips anymore. She advised me to save up all the money I had and assured me that they were okay. She would not process any tips I tried to leave on my card. Her son then told me that if I ever got to a point where I was hungry and had no money that I should call him. He would never let me go hungry. I thanked them and started crying as soon as I exited the building. I felt so loved and cared for in that moment. When I opened my bag of food, I found a complimentary order of mango and sweet sticky rice—my favorite dessert. They have since done this for me several times. Back in March I didn’t know if I would be able to return to my job, or if the company was just going to fold. I never shared these anxieties with them, and yet they helped ease them with their kind gestures. The closure of Thai Dee’s dining room saw business slow down at first. When this happened, I sent a text to my friends who immediately went and ordered food. My friends and other regular customers are now back in the habit of ordering Thai Dee’s on a regular basis. Thai Dee has many other loyal customers who love the restaurant and family as much as I do. The walls are adorned with Christmas cards, postcards, and photographs of newborn babies all given to them by devoted patrons. Even former San Antonio Spur, Sean Elliot, has several photos with the Thai Dee crew on the wall. For myself and other regulars, not a week goes by where I don’t go to Thai Dee. My visits give me a sense of normalcy. Even though I miss the social gathering space their dining room provided, I still get to eat the best Thai food in San Antonio and check in with my dear friends who own the restaurant. If I did not have regular access to them my pandemic experience would be miserable. Thai Dee is an icon of San Antonio and they have helped me through this time more than they know. Although Covid-19 disrupted my dining experience, it only strengthened my patronage and bond with the Thai Dee family. -
11/08/2020
Christina Mena Oral History, 2020/11/08
Christina Mena, a nurse in San Antonio, shares her experiences of working in a cardiac clinic during the pandemic. -
11/07/2020
Miguel Ramirez Oral History, 2020/11/07
Miguel Ramirez, a St. Mary's University student, shares his remote learning experiences. -
2020-11-05
Hurricane Eta: Tragedy in Honduras
This is a video that has surfaced on Instagram the night of November 5th. Hurricane Eta has hit Honduras bring flooding and catastrophic damage to the country. This is a video of Toncotín, Tegucigalpa's International Airport. This video is alarming for many St. Mary's International Students from Honduras because of the implications this destruction has on their future. For many students studying remotely in Honduras, this means that they may not be able to come to the United States to study next semester, and for those on campus, it means they may not be able to return home in December. With all the uncertainty that the pandemic has caused, this hurricane has created yet another enormous challenge. -
2020-06-18
St. Mary's Response to Racial Injustice: Email from President Thomas Mengler
The object is an email from St. Mary's University President Thomas Mengler recognized Juneteenth stating that campus will be closed that Friday, June 19th, 2020, for prayer and reflection on racial justice and racism in the U.S. In the email, President Mengler acknowledges the murder of George Floyd to reflect on during the summer of mass protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. The campus community is also called to action with upcoming initiatives to create an "anti-racist" university. Dialogue and action are said to occur and relate to the Mariniast belief and tradition to act for the common good. The email represents a significant time within our pandemic year, which was the death of George Floyd that influenced mass protests and greater momentum for the existing Black Lives Matter, demanding the police be defunded. The email portrays how St.Mary's as an institution has reflected on the national issue and its influence on Marianist culture and call to action. -
2020-07-22
How it started v. How it's going: How StMU planned to incorporate COVID-19 precautions for the Fall 2020 semester and how that's played out
These images are screenshots of emails from St. Mary’s University detailing how the university will adapt for the Fall 2020 semester, updating students on the ongoing changes to in-person classes, tracking the number of COVID-19 cases throughout the summer and into the fall, and showing how St. Mary’s slowly begins to open up and allow in-person gatherings. In the beginning of the semester, St. Mary’s University was very cautious in thinking of how and when to resume in-person classes and welcome students back to campus. The first couple of weeks were strictly virtual, and this virtual learning was even extended in response to a mild spike in cases across San Antonio. Classes resumed in person one week after the Labor Day weekend, and St. Mary’s didn’t experience a significant outbreak in those initial weeks. Towards the end of September, the number of COVID-19 cases began to mildly grow. As of right now, the University has had 25 COVID-19 cases since March 2020. In October, keeping up with Halloween and other events to come, St. Mary’s began allowing small in-person events. These events were usually outside, with the exception of some indoors. All events have a maximum number of students allowed to participate, and some even require temperature checks and confirmation of negative tests. I, at first, thought it was concerning that as the number of COVID-19 cases in the St. Mary’s University community grew, campus began and continued to organize and advertise on-campus gatherings. I was afraid that St. Mary’s was giving in to the celebratory attitude across the city for “Spooky Season” and fall weather, but neglecting the health of students. However, I think St. Mary’s has been doing the best job they can to provide the “college experience” within the safety parameters set by the CDC. Our mild number of cases may be considered an accomplishment when compared to larger outbreaks at a number of universities such as Baylor, Angelo State, Sam Houston State, Texas Tech, and Wayland Baptist (to name a few). The New York Times breaks down campus outbreaks for most campuses in each state linked in this post. The number of COVID cases began slowly rising towards the end of September, which is also when campus organizations began hosting in-person events. Despite happening simultaneously, there has not been a major spike following these events (so far). In speaking with resident students, the attitude shared on campus seems to be one of caution, which starts at the top. St. Mary’s is not just implementing social distancing and capacity limits in classes and events, the university is maintaining these standards within all campus facilities and student are complying. Reflecting on these emails and thinking about Texas universities all together, I consider myself fortunate. I’m thinking that because San Antonio has a harder history with COVID-19 in the city, our universities are more diligent than those situated in towns or cities that are not. It can feel like campuses are a completely different town within a city or town, but I think St. Mary’s sees themselves as part of the larger San Antonio community. -
2020-04-15
stmarysstulife Instagram posts from Student Development & University Programming Council
These two posts are from the @stmarysstulife account. The Student Development and University Programming Council (UPC) made Tik Tok videos to the Full House "Everywhere You Look" song and the @stmarysstulife posted them. I think they posted this to show we're all in this together at St. Mary's and there are multiple people we can go to for help and support. -
2020-03-21
stmarysstulife Instagram posts
This is a series of Instagram posts from the @stmarysstulife account when St. Mary's University began adjusting to COVID-19. -
10/24/2020
Julian Dziuda Oral History, 2020/10/24
This is an interview with Julian Dziuda. He is a student athlete (soccer) with St. Mary's University. -
10/22/2020
Gwyn Hartung Oral History, 2020/10/22
This is an interview with St.Mary's University Public History Graduate Student Gywn Hartung. Gwyn recently graduated from UTSA with an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and classical studies. She is currently in her first year of graduate school and began it entirely online. In the interview, Gwyn described her first semester of graduate school and how her mental health has been impacted by the combination of COVID-19 and transition to online school. Gwyn's experience is significant because many students in the fall 2020 semester face various obstacles with maintaining their social lives, productivity with school, and staying physically and mentally healthy. -
2020-07-14
Registering for Graduate School While Serving in the Military on COVID-19 Orders
While serving in the Texas Army National Guard on COVID-19 Relief Mission orders, I decided to apply to graduate school at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX. While on these orders, I ran into registration issues. I was trying to register as a full time student with nine graduate credits, but St. Mary's had born forced to redo their entire Fall 2020 course scheduling due to COVID-19. This is described in detail in the email. At first I asked the registrar: "I am trying to web register for a third course in the fall. When I go to register in Banner, it states “No terms available for this option.” I seem to be in good standing and lack any registration holds that I can see. Is there any way to get my registration unlocked in Banner?" They responded: "We have temporarily closed registration so we can begin to make changes to the course schedule to accommodate the different modalities that will be offered. We will reopen registration on August 3. In the meantime, if you need to make a change to your schedule, I am happy to assist. Let me know if I can help." I had to ask them to manually enter me for this course so that I was signed up for a full time course load in time to meet my funding date commitments. Luckily this situation was sorted out and I was able to attend St. Mary's University full time during Fall 2020. The Fall 2020 semester was interesting though, as St. Mary's as a whole went almost entirely online. -
2020-07-25
COVID-19 Military Service Leads to Scholarship
I decided to attend St. Mary's University while on the COVID-19 relief mission with the Texas Army National Guard during Summer 2020. The attached email is the email I received when I was notified that I had earned a scholarship that would lower my costs of attending graduate school. I was overwhelmed. I applied to the scholarship with the following essay: I am currently a graduate student completing my Graduate Certificate for Dual Credit Teaching in U.S. History. I am on track to graduate in May 2021. I work as an Anthropology Instructor at Blinn College. I currently serve as the Anthropology Instructor to RELLIS Campus for the joint Texas A&M Engineering at Blinn Program. Students are co-enrolled in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University and Blinn College. Given the expansion of the Blinn RELLIS Campus, there is a need for instructors who are certified to teach in multiple disciplines. Though my Ph.D. is in Anthropology, I possess a B.A. in History. I decided to go back to school in order to become certified to teach History courses so that I could further advance Blinn’s vision for the RELLIS Campus. I have a proven track record of academic excellence that I intend to continue at St. Mary’s University. I finished my undergraduate studies and previous graduate studies with GPA’s over 3.90, receiving various awards along the way (see C.V. for details). The most important thing in my life is not my job or academic achievement, but my family. I am married to a loving and supportive wife, Helen, who works as a high school math teacher. We have two amazing daughters – three-year-old Annie and one-year-old Rose. Though difficult, I have decided to surrender some of my limited time with them in order commit to and finish this graduate certificate online by May 2021. Finally, in addition to my work at Blinn College and my family obligations, I serve as a Commissioned Officer in an Airborne Company with the Texas Army National Guard. Most recently I was activated for the COVID-19 Relief Mission, leaving my wife behind with the children. My orders ran from 18 April-18 July. While on this mission, I initially served as a COVID-19 Mobile Testing Team (MTT) Officer-in-Charge (OIC). Subsequently promoted to 2nd-in-Charge/Executive Officer (2IC/XO) of Texas Region 6, I led a staff of 18 Soldiers in personnel management and logistical resupply for 12 MTTs, encompassing 229 Soldiers and Airman. In all, my region served 8.2 million people in 25 counties - 29% of Texas. Working with multiple civilian agencies, including the Texas Department of Emergency Management, Texas Emergency Management Task Force, and Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, I managed the resupply of 546,825 medical supply items and the testing of 58,550 COVID-19 patients at nursing homes, assisted living centers, meat packaging plants, drive-through sites, and walk-up sites in the region. Thank you for making this scholarship fund available to non-traditional students like myself. Additional funding would significantly lighten the overall family burden of completing this graduate program. Thank you once again for your generosity. It was very uplifting that my hard work with the military also allowed me to attend school full time upon returning from duty. -
2020-10-28
Excitement of Graduation Dimmed By COVID
Dave Ruff is a military veteran and recent graduate of the PhD program in Anthropology (Nautical Archaeology) from Texas A&M University. Dave was working in Croatia on a Roman shipwreck for his dissertation project. Dave is a really great friend and mentor. He is always willing to talk about his life experiences - in and out of the Navy - especially when it comes to money and investments. Dave is a hard-working individual who takes his role as an academic very seriously. I was extremely happy for Dave when I found out that he would be graduating in May 2020. He started in the program at Texas A&M a year or two before I did, but he moved from Texas to North Carolina to be closer to his grandchildren and this pushed him back a little. Dave and I had been planning graduation for a few months. We helped each other check all the final boxes on the graduation checklist and buy robes. We were both really excited for the event. I hadn't seen Dave in about a year, so I was excited to see him in person at the graduation. Graduation in May 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19. This email details a conversation between Dave and I. I was serving on the COVID-19 mission with the Texas Army National Guard and used the money I earned from that mission to pay off my house. I thanked him for his money mentorship throughout the years. The email goes on to detail how all of Dave's summer plans for research had been cancelled due to COVID-19, but that being a grad and being locked down had given him time to work out and lose some weight - a goal that we both had, but he fulfilled better than I! I wanted to highlight this email chain, as I feel that it brings humanity to the experience of Veteran PhD students, recent graduates, and researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic. -
2020-05-09
Graduating in the Age of COVID-19
I graduated from Texas A&M with my PhD in Anthropology in May 2020. The graduation was in early May. I had defended my dissertation in late January and was working as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M and as an instructor at Blinn College when the COVID-19 came to Texas in March 2020. My jobs went online for a month, then I was activated with the National Guard on 18April2020. In this photograph from early May, I am attending my remote graduation ceremony from my workspace at the Region 6 COIVD-19 Response headquarters in Houston, TX.