Items

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  2020-08-24

  First Day of School Picture

  The picture I chose to add to the archive is my first day of school on August 24, 2020. In this picture, I was laying in bed with my laptop because everything was online. If you were lucky, you got a professor that taught class on Zoom. That is the closest to being in a regular classroom as it got. You were able to see your classmates (if they turned their camera on), you could have discussions with everyone, ask the professor questions and get immediate answers. On the other hand, you could get stuck with a professor who chose to use youtube videos and websites instead of teaching. These were the worst, poor to almost no teacher-student interaction, just discussion boards and Google. It was impossible for me to learn like this, I felt like I was not being taught! It was always stressful when trying to do assignments for classes like this because I did not understand the curriculum. If I needed to contact my professor, I just had to send an email and hope they would email me back soon with answers. Sometimes, I would not get a response until days later, a few times I never got a response. After a while of this, I started to feel miserable, stressed, and depressed. My grades started getting lower and lower and knowing how much school costs, knowing that I was going to lose my grants and scholarships because I was failing, I started having anxiety attacks. In my head, I kept saying, “I cannot learn like this, I know I am going to fail, so why keep trying?” Things got to a point where I would open my laptop, look at my assignments, cry, and then just close my laptop back up. I lost all my motivation and I lost sight of my dreams to be an optometrist. I remember the day that I dropped out, the defeat that I felt, feeling like a complete failure.
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  2021-12-03

  Jorge Martinez Oral History, 2021/12/03

  Student Jorge Martinez relates how his experience as a St. Mary's University student living on campus for the first time in Fall 2020 amid the pandemic. Jorge was able to contact the office of student retention and Student Life to support the challenges he was facing during the pandemic.
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  2021-10-27

  Economic Student Support

  The Student Emergency Fund at St. Mary's was part of an economic relief through the CARES act; where students got financial support via the university. I personally used this fund to help pay for school and basic necessities, like food and bills. It was a relief that students, like myself, were able to obtain this financial support throughout the pandemic and it's still available for all students.
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  2021-03-21

  "The American Rescue Plan Act – the largest bump in child care funding since World War II."

  The pandemic has created an increasing issue in employment rates, and those with children to care for have continued to struggle. "Black and Brown women have lost the most economically, and women in general have been forced to leave the workforce." These women are forced to sacrifice even more just to have basic child care. Hopefully, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) can help financially support these families and services with "nearly $4Billion in child care funding" headed California's way. These funds are being split into two categories. One is towards the child care industry (including staff salaries, safety practices, and supplies), while the other is towards families and child care providers. The legislators are aiming to provide more equal policies and services to all Californians. It's in no way going to solve everyone's child care problems, but it's a start.
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  2020-07-20

  Nunavut to get $18.9M from feds for COVID-19 response

  Health and Finance Minister of Nunavut George Hickes announced the federal government's plan to give $18.9M for testing, PPE, paid sick leave, and COVID relief.
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  2020-11-07

  First Sign of VA Benefit Contact During COVID-19

  My first steps to contact the VA for Voc Rehab benefits started in the summer of 2019, I was denied, – even with 6 hours to finish my undergrad the councilor wanted me to start construction education and career. If it wasn’t for my new VA representative at St. Mary’s University that showed me much interest, I would not have perused the program again. This email comes after my initial conversations with the StMU VA office back in late April of 2020. Realizing that this email was from another state, I worried if the counselors would be “just” to me being located in Texas. Covid-19 was making things almost impossible to complete quickly, and now I am emailing with people across the country. How long will the process take?
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  2020-11-04

  Libya Covid assistance

  After the Obama administration intervened in Libya and removed Muammar al-Gaddafi; Libya's entire infrastructure of hospitals, emergency services, and universities became totally decimated by US airstrikes. Libya is currently experiencing a civil war post-United States intervention and it has left the population in a refugee crisis. The country most likely would have been able to handle the COVID-19 pandemic considering they had arguably the best healthcare and university systems in Africa pre US intervention. However, it is good to see the US and UN donating money to help the war-torn country currently experiencing civil war and total humanitarian collapse. The money is being given to the US-installed regime so it will be interesting to see how it is spent. Ironically in a country that was totally decimated its oil enterprises are back online and producing crude, which before the US intervention, the money went to the people first, but now is being divided up by BP, Shell, and the US installed regime.
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  2020-05-25

  Young reindeer herders will be provided with payments for the purchase of housing (Молодым оленеводам предоставят выплаты на покупку жилья)

  "Young reindeer herders in Yakutia received the right to social benefits for the purchase and construction of housing, the press service of the head and government of the republic said."
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  2020-05-07

  Flathead Reservation Offers Financial Relief Grants

  Grants offered for business assistance, housing, food programs, financial relief, public health programs, and local food production.
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  2020-05-02

  Living through Covid-19: 05/02/2020

  This is a journal entry that specifically focuses on the transition to online learning and the practice of social distancing. *anonymous *This was intentionally a journal/diary entry therefore it was done through a word doc.
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  05/01/2020

  #EssentialNotDisposable

  Families in New Bedford & Worcester showed up today to demand dignity for undocumented workers. While many citizens are receiving stimulus check, have access to healthcare, and are able to access public resources, undocumented workers continue to demand compensation, dignity, and aid during the COVID outbreak.
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  2020-05-04

  Refund

  This took place earlier this week as the Cares Act refunded college students a certain dollar amount based on the amount of class we missed due to Covid-19. This was was especially great for me as money is tight and this will be put to good use to pay off student loans starting in the fall. *Belmont Abbey (my college) Financial Aid
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  2020-04-03

  Stimulus package Tiger Meme

  It is a meme in response to the government efforts for financial aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also combines the current trend relating to Netflix's latest release: Tiger King #FordhamUniversity #VART3030
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  2020-03-23

  We Won! Facebooks post from the National Union of Students

  Facebook post relating to financial stimulus offered to university students in response to COVID-19; capture on 23/03/2020 at 20:52.