Items

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  2021-08-16

  Fall 2021: Another Semester of Transition

  Returning to campus in Fall 2021 after three semesters at home has been interesting, to say the least. It has been a semester of transition and relearning for students, faculty, and staff. Fall 2021 semester has required learning to be away from family again, living in dorms, being in a classroom, etc. As a first-time resident assistant during this time of great change and uncertainty, there has been a learning curve. Being a resident assistant and working for the office of residence life has made it clear that covid-19 changed the way students experienced college. It's evident that the current student population (first-year students to fourth-year students) do not share a “normal” first-year experience. Fall 2019 first-year students never experienced a complete spring semester on campus. Fall 2020 first-year students had the option to live on campus but all classes and all or most campus resources were virtual. Fall 2021 first-year students are the first group to experience St. Mary's as it is now with its current policies. As a resident assistant during this time, it is imperative to take these unique experiences into account when serving as a campus resource. Covid-19 has also required the implementation of policies to keep the community safe. For the dorm halls, resident assistants are the ones to uphold and enforce policies that require residents to wear facemasks outside of their personal living spaces. So, in an already complicated and uncertain time, resident assistants must hold each other and their peers accountable.
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  2021-09-09

  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. Chloe Presley is the contributing writer, and Adrianna Mirabal is responsible for the graphics.
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  2020-03-17

  Taking my plants home for a month

  On March 17, 2020 I drove to the university campus where I work to retrieve materials from my office and to rescue my plants. The WHO had just declared the pandemic. My university administration had sent an email in the late afternoon saying that the campus buildings would be closing for a month starting at midnight that same day. So I rushed to campus to grab some essentials. It was surreal to enter my office and pack it up when just days before things felt normal but there was a growing sense of dread. I saw this artwork in my office - I keep it to help me remember that hard times can be turned around through a shift in perspective. It cheered me up as I packed up my plants. I posted about it, saying that I was packing up my office for 'a month at home'. I've been working from home and teaching from home for over a year now. Campus remains closed to non-essential activities. My plants have taken over our unused guest room in the ensuing year. When I look at this I am viscerally reminded of that day and how much uncertainty there was - and naiveté about what we were in for.
• 2020-03-10

  Cause of the Virus

  On March 10, 2020 I heard of a virus. It was called COVID-19 or coronavirus. I heard many conspiracies on how this virus started. The one who standed out the most was that the virus started in China and someone ate a bat that had a bad virus. The person who ate the bat then spread it to people around china. It just kept getting worse and spread to the entire world. The next one is more political. People in China wanted revenge on president trump because he closed borders and industries with them. Since China wasn't getting any money from selling stuff to America they created a virus. They started spreading the virus to America. People started to blame president Trump and wanted to impeach him. The last one is also very political. Democrat's did not like Trump being in office and they wanted to get rid of him. They teamed up with China to start a virus so they could get Trump impeached. Since that didn't work when the election came they added more votes to Biden so he would win. Personally I believe the second conspiracy. All in all, I do not think we will ever find out what actually created Covid-19 but it still caused harm to many people.
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  2020-10-05

  A barista's pandemic story of retribution.

  This is a short viewpoint from a Starbucks barista in a city setting and gives an idea of some of the panic that set in initially during those few days leading up to lockdown.
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  2020-09-24

  Do You Have ‘Zoom Fatigue’ or Is It Existentially Crushing to Pretend Life Is Normal as the World Burns?

  We each experience the pandemic in different ways but this article hits home for so many. While I personally am okay most days because my life is rather project based, which provides me something different from time to time, I still have days where it all seems so useless. My husband struggles daily. The stress and monotony has resulted in him napping, like a toddler, mid afternoon everyday. We're lucky that his job is such that he hours are flexible right now and his company does not use software to monitor his time working. If he didn't have this flexibility to nap or take a mid afternoon break to get outside I believe his mental health would be worse than it is just by existing right now.
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  2020-03-18

  Panic

  The article is published on March 18, when Italy suffers the most from the COVID-19. The article summarize the severity and the uncertainties of that time.