Items

• 2020-12

  Hawaii - December 2020

  In March of 2020 my family and I were supposed to go to Hawaii for our spring break. When I was at work around St. Patrick's day, the school administration announced that all sports were postponed because of covid-19. A couple of days later I found out that we would be moving to virtual learning until spring break. During this time I remained hopeful that we would be back in the classroom after the break and that I would still be able to visit Hawaii. As the weeks went on it became clear that this was not the case. Eventually we moved to permanent virtual learning and the airlines canceled and refunded my ticket for Hawaii. As 2020 continued on I became more and more frustrated over the impact of covid, especially as what seemed like 3 weeks at home, turned in to several months without travel and in person interaction. In December of 2020, after completing a semester of half virtual, half in person learning I was in need of a break and a change of scenery. On Christmas my family and I found really cheap flights to Hawaii, however these flights were leaving the next day. Since I was a teacher on Christmas Break I had the time off, the only issue was that we needed to get a negative covid test before landing in Maui. We quickly booked the flights and scrambled to find a place we could get a covid test. In order to get off of the plane in Hawaii we needed to take a covid test 12 hours before arrival and our results needed to be negative. We did not have enough time before our flight to have a test shipped to our house nor did we have enough time to wait 2-3 days for results. Luckily we found a place 45 minutes from where we lived that had an opening for four rapid tests. After acquiring our test, 18 hours before our flight we eagerly awaited the results. All four of us had a negative test and we were able to board our flight to Hawaii. When we landed in Hawaii, in order to get off of the plane we had to show our negative test results. If someone did not have test results they had to remain on the plane and wait for it to return to the mainland. After showing our tests, we had our temperatures taken again and and our visit, including our accommodations, had to registered. The remainder of our trip to Hawaii was relaxing. Although it was weird to walk on the beach with a mask and sit far away from other guests, it was nice to get away. While we were in Hawaii I remember talking to a waitress we had that explained that from March to July residents were not allowed to enjoy the beaches. She described how lonely and isolated she felt stuck in her small apartment by herself. Even though it was difficult to get to Hawaii during covid, we needed a getaway and the hospitality workers in Hawaii were glad to see things slowly picking up again.
• 
  2020-03-19

  Eating Food in Class

  This is a video my friend shared with me at the beginning of the pandemic of him eating food in class when he believed his camera was off.
• 
  2021-04-15

  COVID-19 Changed Education in America

  The pandemic has completely changed education. Students' views and attitudes towards school has changed, as well as been impacted by trauma and lack of normal school routine. School districts and teachers have been scrambling to accommodate to the new change while also trying to maintain a feeling of being "normal" during a pandemic.
• 
  2022-04-03

  Teachers reflect on covid struggle

  This article details the reflection of a few Arkansas teachers as we reach two years since the beginning of the pandemic. The teachers highlight the drastic changes not only in safety precautions, but also the adjustments in order to provide meaningful learning in an entirely new landscape. Many of the teachers reported excitement at the prospect of a return to normalcy, however they desire some aspects of the pandemic adjustments to remain in place. Flexible learning, new and creative ideas of conveying topics, and more individualized learning methods have seen an increase in retention of material, which is fundamentally what education is all about. The teachers would also like an end to the stigma surrounding the covid learning adjustments, primarily the notion that education is now "entirely computer based". This notion is quite the contrary, according to educators, rather the new methods not only encourage flexibility and invite individualized learning but also promotes computer skills which will be vital for adulthood. I think this article is interesting because it highlights the fundamental change covid has made and continues to make on society. In order to promote public health and safety, teachers were forced to adjust and were forced to rework how they educated. This compelling of behavior has rendered some positivity. I think it is critical that children are able to have the safest and most effective education, and while covid seems terribly negative, there is a small glimmer of improvement from the pre-pandemic world. This article was published in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
• 
  2020-07-22

  Technology Pick-up at a High School

  This is a screenshot of a Twitter post originally posted by a high school in the Deer Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Arizona. From March 2020 to August 2020, the schools in DVUSD were entirely virtual. Therefore, during the summer, the high schools offered a drive-thru style opportunity for students to pick up their district-issued Chromebooks. This was done in order to help ensure that all students had access to class prior to school starting.
• 
  2020-09-14

  High School Return to Learning Phased-In Opening

  This item is a screenshot of an Arizona high school's return-to-learning plan. When public schools were able to reopen, this high school chose a phased approach. For this, different grades would start in school at different dates. For the grades that were not in school yet, they would continue to attend online. Teachers were to teach students virtually and in-person at the same time. This method was used so that the schools could monitor and adjust for social distancing and disinfecting with less students on campus.
• 
  08/21/2020

  Caroline Birks Brown Oral History, 2020/05/31

  In this interview conducted by Christina Lefebvre, Dr Caroline Birks Brown describes the drastic changes she saw while working in a hospital. She discusses patient care, the hospitals rapid response to converting floors to ICUs, and the way the hospital delt with staffing enough nurses to provide sufficient care to patients. She discusses how Spanish speaking doctors and nurses were asked to volunteer to work to avoid depersonalization and how other branches, like social workers, stepped up to provide the best care possible under the circumstances. Dr Caroline also touches on the possibility of young people getting covid and her thoughts on the patterns of the groups of people getting sick. She reenforces her appreciation of nurses and also discusses the politicization of the virus. The interview ends with her thoughts on what could have been done differently, politically and socially, to control the spread of the virus. As a mother, she talks about distanced learning and its effects on children and the importance of socialization. The last topic is about lessons she hopes we have learned.
• 
  05/05/2020

  Erika Franco Quirós Oral History, 2020/05/05

  En esta entrevista Erika Franco Quirós es entrevistada por Carmen Kordick Coury concerniente al covid-19 en Costa Rica. Erika es una orientadora en el Colegio Técnico Profesional. Ella tiene 42 años, vivia sola antes de la pandemia pero decidio moverse a Heredia para estar con su mama y hermanos. Hablan del momento en que Erika se dio cuenta de la pandemia por primera vez, de su trabajo y como le va en el teletrabajo en el colegio y de sus estudiantes. Habla de su familia y sus amigos, de la religión y la espiritualidad, y de la misa por television. Erika habla de como se siente pagando su propio teléfono y internet para poder comunicarse con sus estudiantes, habla del gobierno y la corrupción. Habla un poco de las fuentes de informacion donde ella recibe información y tambien de las noticias falsas. Tocan el tema de la violencia domestica. Termina hablando del futuro.
• 
  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.
• 
  2021-12-03

  Christian Sandoval Oral History, 2021/12/03

  An interview with Christian Sandoval, a UTSA senior who graduated during the pandemic, on how the pandemic affected his graduation and career options.
• 
  2020-08-12

  From Notebooks to Ipads and Chromebooks

  Following the reopening of schools through the virtual world a number of students across the country were faced with a new problem. They lacked the technology needed to attend their online class. Schools who fell under the title 1 classification , which is where children from low-income families make up at least 40 percent of the enrollment, were disproportionately affected by this problem. These families which often consisted of more than one child simply couldn't afford multiple computers. As a result many kids were still unable to attend their classes or do any work at all. This lack of technology was a problem that not only younger kids faced. Students ranging from all ages had to adapt and make due with whatever technology they had or were forced to go out to buy another computer.So in order to help fix the problem for younger students schools began to hand out chromebooks and ipads. By providing them with the technology to access their new classroom setting they could begin attending school again. While there were still other problems such as the lack of internet, handing out chromebooks and ipads definitely had a positive impact by providing a number of students with these new school supplies.
• 
  2020-01-05

  The Beginning of the International Journey

  During COVID-19 in 2020, some international students could not come to St. Mary’s due to closed embassies and lack of resources. In Spring 2021, international students came to continue their studies after studying online in their first semester. Days before coming to the U.S, international students received an email letting them know what they need to complete before arriving at the university. For some international students, this symbolizes the beginning of a new journey and the start of their experience at St. Mary’s University.
• 
  2021-10-09

  Final Semester as an undergrad student

  When the pandemic started a year ago, I was a residential student at my college. The news that we had to move out of the dorms was hard since we would have to pack everything up. The second half of the semester was all virtual with zoom meetings and not having that in person experience for the classes. Having to do that means not being able to see the friends that we have made on campus daily or being able to have study sessions together in small groups.
• 2020-03-11

  A week of Change

  March 2020 came to change everyones lives, March 11th 2020 was our last normal day on campus. Everyone on campus was so confused whether professors were going to cancel class or move it to an online class, some professors had already moved it online and most continued with their normal schedule. Wednesday March 11th, 2020 after my class ended I went back home and as soon as I sat down in my living room I went on my instagram and saw that cuny had posted that all classes were going online for the rest of the semester. For me that day was the beginning of a lot of changes. My dad was already coughing but we didn't think it was covid. That next Monday he stopped working because he didn't feel well, both my brother and I stopped going to school and my mom stopped going to work as well. That week was crazy for us, we went to our Costco near by and bought so many things, canned food to be specific, and toilet paper let's not even go there (toilet paper madness is a whole different story). My mother and I went to our local Mexican supermarket and stocked up on everything we thought we needed, we made like 2 trips with each carrying 3 heavy bags. We had bottled water, 32 toilet paper rolls, 48 eggs, 4 gallons of milk, canned tuna, canned fruit (we didn't get fresh fruit because my parents had heard them say in the news how "the virus can get on the fruit" and if we did get we soaked the fruit and deep washed it after). That week was when our sleep schedule changed, that week we started having zoom meeting instead of in person meetings, that week my dad started getting worse and we couldn't sleep knowing he couldn't breathe properly. That week I still remember clearly. We went to my cousins birthday on Sunday not knowing that was the last time we were going to have a family gathering in a while.
• 
  2020-03

  The Pass

  summary
• 
  2021-05-06

  Lian McMillan Oral History, 2021/05/06

  Self Description: “I’m a 21-year-old musician. I just recently graduated from U[niversity] of T[oronto] a week ago, and I graduated with a classical percussion degree. I play for a band called cutsleeve. We’re a group of east Asian, queer sound musicians. I’m a mixed race woman, my father is white, and my mother is Chinese. I’ve lived in Canada, the [United] States, and I lived in Shanghai for a few years. I’m a dog owner.”
• 2021-08-04

  Working From Home

  Every morning I would wake up at home smelling the coffee my mom just made and it felt strange having her there when I woke up, normally she would already be at work. We were all told we weren't allowed to go anywhere unless it was an emergency and it was scary at first. You kept hearing on facebook and the news about schools being shut down and everyone getting sent home because they came into contact with someone who had Covid. Then came summer and no body could do anything then, they couldn't go to the beach and feel the hot sun. We were like caged animals because we couldn't go anywhere. I remember begging my mom to let me just go to walmart with her because I wanted so badly just to get out of the house. Then the boarders started to shut down and the news started only reporting on how high the death toll was. Then were educing this fear into people, which eventually made some people go crazy. For example my grandmother never left the house, ever, she ordered all of her groceries online and would immediately sanitize everything. During all of this we weren't allowed to see her or my grandfather because of how scared they were. With me finishing my freshman year from home and my whole sophomore year from home i rarely got socialization. There was a point where the only escape I got from everything was going to work. Just being around my work family never fails to brighten up my day. They always have a new wax melt scent and you can always smell it when you first walk in, well that and BBQ. But overall covid affected everyone differently for me it wasn't as bad. But for all the people who lost friends and family they are the ones we all need to bring attention to.
• 
  2021-03-02

  Quarantine Silver-Lining Moments.

  It is quite obvious that the Class of 2020 all share a collective disappointment with graduating via zoom but I personally had no problem with it. I honestly believed that it was a blessing in disguise, I didn’t have to sit in the hot sun and wait for my name to be called, wait there awkwardly as the teachers give an mediocre speech about me, and lie to all my classmates face when I claim that’ll I miss them and promise to keep in touch. In the beginning of Virtual Learning, I was the happiest I’ve ever been, which was due to the majority of my teachers teachers that were having a difficult time adjusting to online learning and were only able to assign one work sheet per week. During the first week of the pandemic, I was able to actually find my true self, my dislikes and likes, my ambitions, and my fashion sense. Although it got tiring staying home for the majority of my time, I still preferred to stay home and keep my safe from this deadly virus compared to actually having a social life, I learned that I appreciate my company and being alone more than I thought. As some may find quarantine completely damaging to their mental health and are unable to spend their days inside, it did the opposite for me, It improved my mental health drastically and gave me time to begin my journey of self-love and because of this I honestly would not mind if New York implemented yet another lockdown. I believe it would be beneficial to everyone because it would not only flatten the curve but it could potentially allow us to have less restrictions during the summer.
• 2020-03-20

  The Start of a Shutdown

  The date was March 20th, 2020. It was my best friend's birthday. Our friend group was preparing to throw a big party for her with lots of guests and food. We were all so excited for her to turn 18, finally able to vote. We were all also happy to be seniors and were looking forward to graduation and prom. March 20th will be forever cemented in my mind as the day it all went wrong. We found out that "Covid-19" was truly something very serious and our classes became virtual, no more seeing our friends in school. We couldn't have an in person birthday party for our friend, we couldn't hang out either. That day was so pivotal in all of our lives. We didn't know we would be stuck in quarantine for the next six months, we didn't know our graduation and prom would be canceled. We didn't know how much our daily lives would change. Sometimes, I wish I could go back to the pre-covid days. Everything seemed so simple then. No major pandemic, no masks, no overfull hospitals. But at the same time, as I reflect, quarantine has changed who I am as a person and has caused a lot of internal reflection and introspection. I feel like having to only see your family for six months makes you a better problem solver because you have to stay in the house and figure the issues out instead of going out and trying to brush it off. Overall, Covid is horrible and has caused so much loss. However, we need to also see the somehow positives that have come from this awful situation.
• 2021-02-23

  How Covid-19 effected me

  Around March 2019 I was a freshman in college. At this time I was attending an HBCU in North Carolina 10 hours from where I live. Around this time Covid was relatively new and we didn't know much about it. About mid March the whole school received an email that we all had to pack up and leave campus by the following week and for some people that was easy because they lived either in North Carolina or in a close distance. After finding put this information I had to contact my parents and let them know of the situation. My family isn’t poor but we are not rich either so the finical stress that was put on them to call off of work and try and get some type of rental car big enough for all of my things without paying a bunch of money because we didn't have that to spend and rental companies already knew that this time was coming so of course they used it as a way to get more money my raising all the rental prices. So fast forward I come home and now were doing virtual school which was okay I really missed campus and my friends and class was so much more boring staring at a computer screen all day all the stores were closed it honestly felt like the world around me just completely stopped grocery stores closed no tissue or paper towels it was just everything happened so fast but I’m so grateful for my parents for coming to get me because they could of easily made me stay with a relative but they sacrificed a lot to get me home and I really appreciate it so much
• 2021-01-26

  Statistics about Covid

  The internet says there was been 99.9 million cases and 2.15 million deaths globally. But in the US the was been 25.3M cases and 421K deaths. I personally don't trust the Covid death count completely because there has been a lot of rumors that they are counting people who die from heart attacks and things like that to the count of the Covid death count. I am not sure why, but I have heard that the more covid deaths counted the more money the doctors get. My life through the pandemic was weird. I got a lot of time on my hands to workout and train for football and bulk up, but on there other hand school is so much harder for me. Everybody else loves because they can cheat, but my mom would kill me ( if I got caught ).
• 2021-01-26

  Covid-19 Statistics

  When Corona Virus started, there wasn't many or even any cases in America. The first case was on January 19th, 2020, a man from Washington State was traveling back from Wuhan, China. He experienced symptoms and tested positive only 4 days after he got back. Now in January of 2021, we have had 25,000 new cases in the past 5 days. The cases have been going down since the holidays are over, and I hope that it will be over for good soon. It's been a lot going through a global pandemic, and having to wear masks and stay at home. It affects a lot of people and their mental health as well as their personal health. Being back at school has helped me not repeat the same day over and over again, and get back to the new 'normal'.
• 2021-01-26

  Virtual learning

  Virtual learning was not a great experience for me. It was hard no being able to see my friends all day. I did get to wear whatever I wanted though. I enjoyed having more time with my family but I really missed school in person.
• 
  2021-01-22

  More Espresso, Less Depresso

  The item that I have chosen that connects to the pandemic was a Starbucks Coffee. The reason why I decided to choose this item is that there are days that learning over zoom is quite a challenge and that it gives so much pressure on me to be able to adapt to this kind of style of learning. With coffee on my hand, I can focus on class more and it makes me more energetic. When I drink coffee during my zoom classes, I tend to be able to participate more. I love caffeine, it encourages me to also be a positive person during these times because, without any coffee, I wouldn’t be able to learn anything from a monitor screen. Coffee best represents my current experience as a junior in high school because there are days that are sad and depressing, and there are days that are happy and bright. Online learning is a cycle, wake up and learn, after that you rest. I have been doing this since MARCH. Again, this is me with coffee because without any coffee, I am really tired and not energetic. When I have my coffee, I am always feeling refreshed and active! Online learning is something that I am not used to and I fear how with the difficulty of learning online, I am not able to understand the lesson which can lead me to bad grades. Hopefully, I will be able to accomplish my goals by staying determined and dedicated to online learning, resulting in a better grade for my classes, (with coffee of course). One word to describe my 2020 year is a challenge. It’s a challenge because there are things I have been through, like losing my grandpa who sadly passed away due to a heart attack and not being able to visit him because of COVID. COVID was mainly the reason why my 2020 was a challenge because I have to figure out new ways to keep myself happy and motivating. Online classes have made me less motivated because it didn’t feel the same and that everything was quite last minute last year. I wasn’t able to keep up with lessons, which discouraged me to continue and of course my grandpa’s sudden death. As from my experiences, the various holidays looked the same for me this year. Christmas and Thanksgiving were the same because I usually hang out with my family. When I do my online classes, I usually have a workspace. Since I know for a fact I am going to sit in one place for the next 9 hours, I have my coffee next to me to keep me up, I have my water, some chapstick, a big monitor screen, my textbooks, and my journals. I also have an office chair with a pad seat cushion for me to be comfortable! Even though those were the basic items on my quarantine workspace, I like to keep things simplistic. I only have things that are essential for me to use for working online, so I am not bothered by that. The three things that I would include in my quarantine survival kit would be some energy drinks, chapstick, and a pen with a journal. The reason why I chose these items is that for the first two, I cannot do anything without them! It’s great to have a lot of energy to do tasks, and some chapstick to have my lips not chapped. I also wanted to bring a pen and journal to describe my experiences in quarantine. I would also use that journal to write down things that bother me and things that I am appreciative of. Words do mean a lot, so I love to express my feelings in a journal to remind me that overall in time, things can get better.
• 2021-01-19

  Rules and Procedures of Covid-19

  Ever since the strike of Covid-19 we have had to make changes to our everyday lives. Some of these include wearing masks around people, sanitizing yourself and surfaces often, staying 6 feet apart from others, ect. Kids and teens also had to stay home and do school online (which I enjoyed). These procedures might be quite annoying or uncomfortable, but it makes it a lot easier to them when you know you're saving lives. Personally I think that the things that have changed or the things that we have to do are annoying, but i'd rather do that than have people die.
• 2021-01-15

  Learning virtually

  I woke up on a warm California spring day at 7:30 a.m. to my mother bantering on about something. I got up and walked to my dresser half asleep, ready to collapse. I put on a blue nylon t-shirt with some black shorts and walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Then I slowly walked downstairs pretty anxious and excited to start online. My Dad was already downstairs cooking my up some scrambled eggs and toast to start the new day. As usually my sister was complaining about something, I just tuned her out. My dog the lazy thing he is climbed onto the couch and my mom somehow found something to yell at me about. It might of been about getting on early, but I am not quit sure. any way after breakfast I walked into the living room to get on zoom. It was pretty boring trying to sit through math we were talking about pre-algebra, but I managed to get through it. My dad was super load laughing over the phone, I could hear him perfectly through 2 doors and in another room. My mom was on meetings all day and my sister was in the same boat as me. All the while my dog was sleeeping on the couch next to me without a care in the world. My next 2 periods flew by I don't know why because I had English as one of those. And my last period was rocketry which was fun in the fact that I got to build things, but it would of been a lot more fun in person. Overall the day went by pretty fast ending at approximately 2:45 p.m. After school was finished I slipped by with no homework for the day but I would much rather be in person. The rest of the day was fairly normal I turned on the Television to watch my favorite shows until my sister came down and started bossing me around that I need to get off the T.V and do something productive, shesh she is like a mini mom. Anyway I decided to go for a walk with the dog, and just my luck before I could slip out the door she saw me and made me wait 10 whole minutes to slip on a pair of shoes. When she finally got downstairs she snagged the leash from me and we were on our way. My sister is incapable of controlling a small 40 pound dog so you can only imagine how this walk went. I tried to take control of the leash, but she snatched it back and threw a fit, classic. My dog has a habit of peeing on 14 things in a trip so it delayed it even more. When we finally turned the corner to go up our hill it felt like we've been walking forever. We walked in the door took off the dog's collar and sat on the couch. mom walked in the room and asked us how it went, we said it was pretty good. And after that it was pretty much the end of the day we ate dinner sat in front of thee T.V. and then went to bed.
• 2021-01-14

  Online learning

  In the beginning, I got up earlier for school at 7:15 because school started at 8. In the end, I got up at 7:50, because I got so bored of looking at my computer and didn't want to get up. It was good because I could hang out with my mom or sisters during the day. That was also the worse too, I got so sick of seeing the same people everyday. I think that the worst part of online school was that you didn't interact with anyone. I also didn't like being on my computer/zoom all day, because it got so boring. Also if you had a question about homework you had to email your teachers and sometimes they didn't reply until after the homework was due. I have to admit that our school made it very easy, but stilll had us engaged the whole time. It had its pros and cons.
• 2021-01

  Virtual learning

  So basically my routine is to do school. My experience doing online is absolutely horrible. I’m pretty sure my laptop is cursed. I wake up around 7:50 I get on my laptop and get on Axis. Then I hop on zoom and not even 10 minutes in I get kicked off. It’s so bad we had to get an Ethernet cable for school. And it was still bad!! Overall online school had its ups and downs. I was pist that zoom kept crashing but I was happy that I was working out of the comfort of my own home.
• 
  2020

  I hated 2020

  I am failing all my classes because I am an extrovert. I need humans in interactions. And I am scared to talk to teachers over the internet.
• 
  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.
• 
  11/22/2020

  Kalin Morphet Oral History, 2020/11/22

  This interview is with one of my closest friends. Although we talk all the time, and are a part of each other daily lives interviewing her in this kind of almost formal format and asking her very pointed questions that I don't typically ask was a bit eye opening. I already knew a lot of what she said, but to hear it all laid out and not intertwined and in bits between the busyness our lives really opened my eyes to how much our lives has had to change because of COVID-19, even as we continue to chug along. I think this is important to know because so often we're bogged down with continuing to go though the motions and check boxes we forget to slow down and think about the circumstances of out situation with COVID.
• 
  2020-07-27

  Student reaches out to Professor asking to take Fall 2020 course remotely

  When the Fall 2020 course schedule was announced at St. Mary's I ran to see what type of classes I was going to have. There were 3 options either online, virtual, or a combination of virtual/in-person. My course with Dr. Root was scheduled to be a combination class. I had a lot of fear about going back to campus and especially going to class in-person. I reached out to Dr. Root with the hope that he would allow staying full virtual. Thankfully he was understanding of my situation. This email is the conversation that we had over the situation Screenshot of an email by Dr. Root
• 
  2020-03-13

  Rhetoric and Composition class has to adjust quickly to online teaching

  Before spring break in March 2020, our rhetoric class was very discussion and in-person interaction-based. When we were told that our classes would be moved to online for the rest of the semester Professor Delgado was the first professor that I got an email from. His email made me feel reassured that the transition was going to relatively easy. This email represented a professor acting fast to ease the worries of their students. PDF of the emails sent from Professor Derek Delgado
• 
  11/17/2020

  An Oral interview with St. Mary's University History Professor Dr. Gerald Poyo

  Dr. Poyo talks about the process of converting his classes online. Teaching these past two semesters has changed his opinion about online classes. Through the help of St. Mary's University and the History Department, he was been to tackle the difficult job.
• 
  11/21/2020

  Monserrat Garcia Oral History, 2020/11/21

  The freshmen experience has changed tremendously because of COVID-19, and this has forced the majority of them to adapt and change their routines in this new online learning environment. Attached is an interview with a St.Mary’s freshman’s experience as an online student, and how she has adapted to her environment in order to be successful in college during a pandemic.
• 
  11/21/2020

  Anonymous Oral History, 2020/11/21

  St. Mary’s University (a liberal arts college) is filled with students struggling to find a balance between a new online learning environment and the pandemic, and there is a group of students who in particular have had a hard time. The freshmen of St. Mary’s is this group. This interview tells the experience of a freshman, and how she is handling this unique college experience.
• 
  2020-10-06

  How acting changes during the age of COVID

  This document is a list of requirements and guidelines for the attendance of a an acting workshop I was a part of in October of this year, as a part of a larger project the Drama Department at my university, St. Mary's was and is attempting to create a new and safer theatre experience for the coming semesters. The workshop we attended was, of course, created with the intent for attendees to participate in-person. Despite this, however, as the requirements here show, the fact that that was impossible, or at least very ill-advised, not only wasn't enough to prevent it from happening, it may have helped it in a good number of ways. For a first example, the individuals in charge of the workshop, affiliated with The Tectonic Theatre, were situated in New York, as opposed to my university being located in San Antonio Texas. The fact that the workshop was held virtually actually made it much more realistically approachable as otherwise the distance would have complicated matters considerably, which was taken care of in that way. In the same vein, as the requirements hint at with the items that are required, is that each person who participated was able to use their surroundings, almost exclusively their own homes, which they were of course very familiar with, to great affect for the exercises that were given to them. In fact, despite the initial misgivings that many of us-myself included-initially had, the workshop was able to take place not only just as well as it would have had it been in person, but in my personal opinion, it might have gone even better. All in all, the workshop was a pretty impressive look at overcoming complications from this pandemic and working around them to make the virtual experience lose nothing from an in-person experience.
• 
  10/16/2020

  Valeria Rodriguez Oral History, 2020/10/16

  In this interview Valeria Rodriguez shares about her experience as a St. Mary's University Freshman studying virtually from her home in Honduras. She highlights the ways in which she has overcome challenges and continues to look at the bright side of things. I believe that Valeria's perspective is powerful because her story shows her resilience and can inspire many other International students going through a similar situation.
• 
  2020

  Meme - Transition to Online Learning

  HIST30060 This is a meme saved several months ago (approximately some time during late Semester One) about the transition to online University. What social media platform it came from, and who the original author is remains a mystery. I have chosen to upload this meme because I believe it serves as an example (albeit a satirical one) of how the transition to online Uni has effected students. As a person who struggles with learning difficulties even during the best of times, this meme was a relatable representation of how I felt about University this year, and how challenging the transition to online classes was.
• 
  2020-09-18

  Hanging Out With Friends

  My friends and I had wanted to hang out for a while, but wanted to be safe while doing so. I picked them both up and while wearing masks the whole time, we drove to Newburyport, MA and then walked around. We stopped to get coffee and treats and sat outside. We walked along the boardwalk and continued to talk about stuff for a couple hours. We talked about shows we binged during quarantine, how we felt about online school and how excited we were to be able to go back to living at school eventually (we're all sophomores at different colleges). This picture is important to me because I have missed being able to hang out with my friends whenever I want to, and it took us such a long time to plan how we could all meet up.
• 
  2020-10-29

  How the Pandemic Changed Us

  On March 13th, 2020, my entire life shut down with the rest of Massachusetts. My public school job closed, my university closed and my life began only existing in the four rooms of my apartment. My time became dedicated to my toddler, I became a stay at home mom, student and caretaker full time. The world around us had stopped completely, or so it felt. Quarantine was in full affect and people were stuck inside for months.Then, almost magically, our communities began to come together. I have witnessed some of the most beautiful things I for so long ignored because of the business of every day life, I witnessed nature and humanity again. I began appreciating the little things again. Quarantine had become a time to reflect, grow and appreciate the world around me. This horrible situation began to blossom into people supporting each other, clapping for the healthcare workers nightly, singing together out their windows, thanking each other. I share this image because I realized in the midst of everything that has been bad about this year, I’m reminded daily that there is always positivity in the world, even when everything around us feels negative.
• 
  2020-10-27

  How am I Supposed to be a Student When the World is Burning Down Around Me? A Student’s Personal Experience

  I wanted to share the kitchen table's image in my family's house because it has become my workspace and classroom. I have my laptop, water, and food in the image because the virtual college has become a non-stop task. As an undergraduate student transitioning to virtual learning, I have struggled greatly. The weekdays are filled with zoom classes, discussion boards, dozens of essays, and monotonous assignments that feel like busywork. Weekdays and weekends are the same. Universities and professors have maintained high expectations for students even though we are in a pandemic, economic depression, detrimental election year, and significant social justice movement. Most days, I struggle to want to be the best student I can be when I feel less like a person. It is difficult to get out of bed, especially as hope fades every day with an increase in COVID-19 cases and deaths, people becoming jobless, homeless, and the human rights of so many people being violated. It feels insane sometimes to log on for hours when the world seems to be burning down around me.
• 2020-10-26

  2020

  August 17, 2020 the first day of school. Years in the past for school i have jumped up excited to meet my new teachers, see my classmates and start sports. This year i felt something different, I was excited I was scared to start this virtual learning journey where my home becomes my school, my bedroom becomes my classroom and my family becomes my classmates. This life we are living is one that will be told for decades to come, so let’s tell it the right way. The very first mandate was to wear a mask, this was to keep others safe of your germs. Wearing a mask limited interaction with people because it was hard to hear them or know how they are feeling because we can’t see facial expressions. The second mandate was a country wide quarantine, two weeks in your home to clean your body of the Coronavirus. Many people didn’t believe or did not want to follow this mandate so they didn’t, so two weeks turned into four months. Not being able to see your friends, family, co-workers, and just the general public was really strange and was hard to get used too, however now as things start to open it is strange and hard to get used to this as well.
• 
  2020-10-20

  Responding to the COVID-19 crisis as a foreign exchange student: Ximena Barbagelatta

  This is an oral history with Ximena Barbagelatta conducted by Victoria Villaseñor. Ximena Barbagelatta is a foreign exchange student from Lima, Peru studying at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, TX.
• 
  2020-09-08

  Child Struggles with Distance Learning

  Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you. This story is important to me because while I do not have kids, I believe education is so important, especially the quality of education they are receiving. I have many friends that are teachers who are struggling with distance learning themselves and have also questioned the quality of education that children are receiving now as they believe any one-on-one help they would be able to give in a classroom is unavailable now to students who already struggle with learning in a regular classroom setting. It is difficult enough for adults to be self-motivated with online education and for kids this has been deemed to be extremely difficult.
• 2020-03-22

  Quarantine Day 7 - 22 March 2020

  It was only the seventh day of quarantine. While my two younger children, (then aged 6 and 3) were still enjoying the "newness" of learning from home, my oldest child (pictured here at age 10) was done learning from a distance. In these three photos, I captured my son physically crawling across the floor to the dog's bed in order to cry. He would eventually cry himself to sleep simply over having to learn virtually. He had had essentially no warning that his life would forever be changed when he left school on March 13, 2020. He went from school five days a week, hockey practice five days a week, and a constant stream of friends to play with to being shut in his house with his parents and two sisters. From Day 7 (documented in the picture), he did not cope well with the change. This is the first documentation I have of what would be later diagnosed as his depression.
• 
  2020-09-25

  How St. Mary's University Clubs are recruiting first time freshmen

  The flyer shows the new efforts St. Mary's clubs have to make in order to recruit new freshmen who may not know anything about the clubs at the university. It also portrays the disconnect the freshmen are feeling when they are not able to attend these meetings in person. Overall, the pandemic has played a significant role on students roles to meet students and join clubs. As a freshman myself, I feel like their is a huge difference between me and the upperclassmen. They got to experience things I couldn't including clubs. When I read the flyer, I definitely felt like I was missing out.
• 
  2020-08-25

  Teaching in a Pandemic

  My mom has always been an elementary teacher and is finally nearing retirement. The pandemic has been a great challenge for her to adapt to. Her school year started with online instruction before moving to in-person learning later on. As a lifelong teacher, the adjustment to online teaching has been incredibly different and difficult for her. Especially considering the lack of support from the school and the district. The setup in the picture was jury-rigged together using materials that were already owned in order to try and provide the best learning experience for the students. Arizona State University HST485
• 
  2020-04-01

  How Military Base COVID-19 Protocol affects Military Dependents- Presidio of Monterey base guidelines

  My husband is active duty Air Force. Most base housing is several miles away in Seaside, Ca. However, we were given the option to move into the historical housing on post, which meant my husband could walk to work and we have a stunning view of the Monterey Bay and Pacific Ocean. This also means that we must show our identification whenever we return home and obey base regulations. So must the thousands of language students attending DLI (Defense Language Institute). It means my daughter couldn't have a birthday party this summer. Students under my husband could head to a local pub or bar to celebrate their birthdays either. My daughter couldn't play on the playground with friends, and the students here had to collect their meals from the mess hall to take back to their dorms instead of chatting with classmates. My daughter couldn't go back to school after spring break and the language students had to begin distance learning and quarantine. As difficult as it was for my daughter to be without her friends, she could still play in the yard and hug her mother. My husband's students had to go months with no physical contact. However, these protocols were instituted to keep everyone safe whether or not they live on base. How difficult must it have been for base leadership to tell us families and students that we couldn't do the things that make us happy? That the mission must continue in spite of this pandemic? I don't envy their job.
• 
  2020-10-13

  Covid Affects Kids All Over The World

  Covid-19 has been affecting schooling around the world. It has shifted mainly online, with most kids attending via virtual schooling. Mix this with poverty and inability to access online school it has been affecting childrens mental health.