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2022-06-03

First Student Trip After COVID-19 Pandemic Began

I have led a student global travel trip for the last 10 years at my school. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, our trip to Australia and New Zealand was delayed/cancelled until 2021 in hopes of COVID being over by then. I had 27 students have to postpone traveling on this trip. In 2021, we came across the same restrictions, and our trip was cancelled again. As we we were planning our 2022 trip, New Zealand still had quarantine rules that would have kept us in the hotel for a week before we would get to go anywhere or do anything. Due to this, we changed our trip to one to France, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. My students wanted to travel again, but did not know what to expect. There were still masking rules in place in a lot of the places we visited, and everyone had to take a mandatory COVID-19 test to be able to leave Europe at the end of the trip and get back into the United States. This was the scariest part because if your test revealed you were positive for COVID, you were required to stay in the country until you were negative. Everyone on the trip dreaded the day of the test because we had heard so many stories about other schools on different trips that had students who had failed the test. The trip was extremely important to me because it represented these students being able to fully restart their lives and finally be able to be kids again. This is a picture of me from the Louvre waiting my turn to see the Mona Lisa. It was taken immediately after I took a picture of all my students in front of the painting. I can see the happiness in my eyes again, getting to see students do something they love to do.

2020-08-07

HIST30060: Food Relief Centre Queue

This is a photograph taken of a queue to enter a food relief centre in South Melbourne in August 2020. The queue was several hundred metres long. As lockdowns began to ravage Melbourne, most businesses were forced to close, resulting in many people losing their jobs. Where this food relief centre had services around 100 people at the start of 2020, this number swelled to over 2000 by the height of the pandemic. Among the most vulnerable demographics affected by the pandemic restrictions were international casual workers and students. Where citizens were eligible to apply for various emergency relief payments, such as Job Keeper or Job Seeker, migrants did not have access to these resources. This food bank only required a form of identification to register the recipients. Several pandemic related restrictions are shown in this picture. The recipients are socially distanced, standing on makeshift markings spaced 1.5 metres apart by government restriction. They wear masks; a government requirement both indoors and outdoors at the height of the pandemic in Victoria. The food bank volunteers wear neon orange high-visibility vests and hold QR codes for the recipients to register on their own devices. I have volunteered at the food relief centre since 2020, performing the same role as the volunteers in the photograph. Where mainstream historical narratives and media may focus on how the lockdowns affected citizens, it is important to remember how migrants too were affected by the pandemic and had little to know support from the Australian government.

06/08/2022

Flory Chacón Roldán Oral History, 2022/06/08

En esta entrevista Flory Chacón Roldán es entrevistada por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. Flory es profesora en la Universidad de Costa Rica, vive en San José. Hablan de los cambios del año anterior de la vacuna y de la gente que aun no se han vacunado. Tocan el tema del Ministerio de Salud, el uso de mascarillas y el regreso a las clases presenciales. Flory también habla de su empleo, los estudiantes y saliendo con su familia y pareja. Habla de la sociedad, elecciones, y justicia social. Terminan hablando del futuro.

05/24/2022

Silvia Azofeifa Ramos Oral History, 2022/05/24

En esta entrevista Silvia Azofeifa Ramos es entrevistada por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. Silvia Azofeifa Ramos trabaja para la Universidad y vive en San José. Ella habla del regreso al salón, las mascarillas, y las vacunas. Habla de gente conocida que se enfermaron, sus sentimientos de la inmigración y la xenofobia. También habla de la economía, su comunidad y el desempleo. En seguida, ella habla de su trabajo, lo político, y las noticias. Para terminar, ella habla de la gente indígena y lo efectos del covid para la generación del futuro.

2020-10-08

“Zoomed to Death”: Here’s the Science Behind Zoom Fatigue

Students all over Australia experienced struggles with the pandemic affected learning environments, one of the most challenging at the a University of Melbourne was the use of Zoom calls for learning and how it impacted motivation to learn and overall fatigue.

06/23/2021

Danitza Guzman Solano Oral History, 2021/06/23

En esta entrevista Danitza Guzman Solano es entrevistada por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. Hablan de los cambios que han ocurrido desde el ano anterior. De su trabajo como docente, los cambios que han ocurrido y sus estudiantes. Hablan del ministerio de educación, ministerio de salud y de las vacunas. También hablan de gente que no se quieren vacunar y cuenta de cuando se enfermo con el coronavirus. Danitza habla de gente conocida que se enfermaron y algunos que murieron de la enfermedad. Para terminar, hablan del gobierno, del futuro, de la salud mental y de las elecciones.

2020-03

Bells Continued to Ring

When the pandemic began, I was finishing up my last few months of student teaching. My mornings included talking to students about their day and weekend plans they had; however, once the pandemic started that changed drastically. The students were gone and the silence began. Highschools are customarily, a loud and busy environment; yet, overnight the students were gone and there was nothing at school but silence. The halls were empty, my classroom was empty, the whole school was empty apart from a small group of staff. For the rest of the year, I would go to school and sit in my classroom alone in almost complete silence. No face to face interaction with students or even other staff. As a teacher, this was taxing on my mental health. From one day to the next my entire occupation had been flipped upside down. I never saw my students again. I still wonder what became of them. The one thing that sticks in my mind from that period is the sound of dismissal bells at school. For some reason the bells continued to ring even though there were no students. Everyday when that first hour bell would ring I would remember that no students were coming. This was a reminder everyday that the world had changed. I recorded the sound of dismissal bells at my highschool. Two years after the pandemic started, this sound still reminds me of teaching during the pandemic.

05/21/2021

Flory Chacón Roldán Oral History, 2021/05/21

En esta entrevista Flory Chacón Roldán es entrevistada por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. Flory es profesora en la Universidad de Costa Rica, vive en San José. Hablan del cambio desde el principio de la pandemia, de la economía, y del ministerio de salud. También del gobierno, salud mental, y la vacuna. Flory también habla de su trabajo y sus estudiantes. Luego ambas hablan de la sociedad, migrantes y la xenofobia. Tocan el tema de la religión y la iglesia católica. Para terminar, Flory habla de sus fuentes principales de noticias y del futuro.

2022-05-06

'Zero-COVID' lockdowns cancel AP exams for students in China

This is a news story from ABC News by Carolyn Thompson. Due to China's COVID policy, the Advanced Placement (AP) tests have been canceled due to restrictions. Students are unable to visit for in-person tests that are used for AP tests. The College Board offered an online version of these tests, but that was only intended to be temporary. Some tests are being offered digitally, such as the ACT. The SAT remains impacted due to restrictions. Parents have accused The College Board of being indifferent to affected students that need these tests.

2022-04-21

Effects of COVID - even in April 2022

This a screenshot of a Twitter post. In the post, @DrumUltimA describes how even in April 2022, COVID-19 is still having major effects on different aspects of his life. He also points out that he disagrees with so many precautionary measures being dropped. These viewpoints are important as it shows that even though many mandates, regulations, and laws meant to prevent COVID-19 have been lifted, COVID-19 is still around and causing many problems for people.

2022-04-12

SMhopes and Civic Wellbeing Partners

Using a grant from Civic Wellbeing Partners in Santa Monica, teachers at the Virginia Avenue Park Spring Camp program asked their students, from grades 1 through 8, to envision their hopes for the future. The students responded with drawings (and one story). Facilitated by artist Paula Goldman as part of SMhopes, the students were also asked to rank how happy they were with their lives now, and how they view their future prospects, two indicators of well being.

2021-12-08T10:16

Christina Healy And Zehua Yin Oral History, 2021/12/08

This is an interview of two college students from a class over the History of Global Pandemics

2021-09-22

Helping Others during Covid-19 Pandemic

This is an excerpt from a video interview with Sister Grace that I and another student in my class did for a work project. Sister Grace is the Chaplin of the Law School at St. Mary’s University. Sister Grace graduated from St. Mary’s 1978 and worked in the undergrad Ministry and by 1993-94 in Law Ministry. Sister Grace has enjoyed watching students grow and succeed to becoming great people for the community. I used this excerpt because Sister Grace is someone who helps out the students and community and during the pandemic, she met a lot of people that ere going through hard times. Her and the church got together to help distribute food and clothing to the homeless, or whoever needed aid during the pandemic. She wanted to make sure everyone in the community was taken care of. Also, she even talks about how she got plenty of time to do more things during quarantine.

2021-09-09

DUPLICATE - Looking Back to Look Forward and Adapting to Overcome

These text stories are from St. Mary University's Rattler Newspaper. These articles relate to the pandemic and my theme because they are discussing how students are adapting from the previous year(s), whether it be dealing with changes to online vs. in-person lectures, new policies to promote safety, or anything else. This theme is important to me because I was still in high school during the start of the pandemic, so I had to go through lots of adaptations, not only because of my transition into college but also because of the ongoing pandemic. When I decided to attend St. Mary's, lots of things were still uncertain, for example, whether or not class will be held in person or virtually, mask and vaccination mandates, etc. The opinion editor is Seana Barclay and the photographer is Adrianna Mirabal.

2020-09-09

The smells of the campus silenced

The vibrant community around San Francisco State was the main factor why I decided to move into Park Merced. The ability to walk to campus each day or ride my bike with other students was exciting to see riding skateboards or bikes while smelling coffee or energy drinks was common. The smell on campus with the wide variety of food and snacks was common to every part of the campus early or late. However, this all changed once Covid was originally announced and students and staff started leaving the campus and area and the sights and sounds of people and food on the campus were silent. The campus now remained silent and the smells of burritos and coffee were gone along with students walking to campus. The residents who used to sit outside and occasionally sat outside reading papers disappeared. The air while cleaner breathing because of the lack of air was soon polluted by the fires in California leaving a red mist that made the air smell like burnt wood. The pandemic changed so many people's lives and it is important to recognize the impact mentally and physically people have suffered. The pandemic silenced the campus and the community silencing the site and sounds while removing the smells that the campus was known for.

2020-06

Some Graduation Memes and Photos During the Coronavirus Time

Graduations during 2020 were conducted remotely. This meant that the students missed out on an important and memorable ceremony to mark this milestone in their lives. All ages were affected. The students were mostly home, and some had videos either as a live feed or prerecorded. Families tried their best to make the occassion memorable for their kids. Some schoolz had car parades for their graduates to "march" in front of their school or neighbors.

2020-12-13

What Effect Does A Pandemic Have On a Relationship?

As this interview is part of a collection exploring relationships and the exploration of sexuality during the Covid-19 pandemic, I really wanted to get to know some more about what it’s like to have a relationship altered by the pandemic. Luckily, I knew just the people. I reached out to two of my best friends on campus and asked if they’d be willing to speak about their experiences, which they agreed to. I already had an interview set up with a friend who went through a whole relationship (began dating and broke up) during the pandemic, but I felt it was important to explore multiple different types of relationships. This interview to me shows something about my generation living under Covid, as it shows how many of us felt like we were stripped of the indepence we gained when we left for college, and how we now have to navigate living at home again. In the case of these two, they also have to navigate being intimate and romantic with each other in this situation.

2020-09-15

University of Western Ontario Student Outbreak

Three University of Western Ontario students test positive for COVID-19. Sadly, their movement around the city, visiting downtown bars and restaurants, and with students in neighbouring housing units, has led to a large outbreak.

2020-10-13

Students Sell Cloth Masks

A group of Canadian university students founded a mask making company in April 2020. In October 2020, they reached 25,000 masks sold. The masks are made in Canada.

2020-11-23

St. Mary's Student Oral History, 2020/11/23

________ is a sophomore at S. Mary's University. He was able to sit down over zoom and do an interview with me to talk about his experience of online learning during the pandemic. He goes into depth about the changes in the class structures and the changes in his college experience.

2020-08-01

#CoverYourFangs with Rattler Man

St. Mary's University are the Rattlers, represented by Rattler Man. St. Mary's used this image of Rattler Man masked up to encourage students and our campus community to #CoverYourFangs. This is the iconic image that I'll remember from this campaign.

2020-11-06

The Faculty Perspective

Both of my parents are teachers, one working as a fourth grade teaching assistant and the other an eighth grade math teacher/soccer coach. Though I have left home, and started my first semester of college, I have heard their rants, their grievances, and complaints regarding the ways in which the school system is "taking care" of their faculty. My mother and father are both paranoid about the coronavirus, rightfully so, however they were told they must return to the classroom to teach students in person. While there are rules and restrictions in order to carry out this plan safely, there is only so much they can do. Take my mother's fourth graders for example, they don't understand the concept of a pandemic or the need to socially distance. She must enforce rules upon these kids that they don't see as necessary and, more often than not, choose not to follow. This makes my mother, and teachers in general, feel as though their safety is not a priority and as if they are not being thought of by the school's administration. The same can be said for my father. Though his eighth graders may have a better grasp of the new restrictions, his soccer season was a mess. Socially distanced, masked, and with only three games total, it simply did not make any sense. What appears to be happening is the school is choosing to cater to students' parents' wishes, to obviously provide their children with as close to a normal schooling experience as possible; however, by doing so, they are ignoring the comfortability and safety of their teachers by placing them back in the classroom.

2020-10-01

TD3 20-21 School Plan

I chose a PDF file detailing Tempe Elementary School District’s (TD3) plan for the 2020-2021 school year. This details when and why the school district is pushing back in person start dates and what they are doing to help the students/staff during the pandemic. It’s important to me because this is the school district I work for so it has an affect on what I do.

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

2020-04-01

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