Items

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  2020-08-11

  Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

  I think I speak for most students when I say that when we were sent home during Spring 2020, I was confused about how we were supposed to go about things from now on. Personally, that confusion increased when they announced we would be returning virtually for Fall 2020. What about the students with younger siblings? What about the students who had sick family members? What about the students who had to get another job when their parents lost theirs? What about the students who were not able to access the internet? The attendance policy created specifically for Fall 2020 displays the different accommodations the university was able to provide for students asking these questions as well as many others that pertained to their specific situation. It was a tough time for everyone and each of us had our unique circumstances. This is one of the ways our university showed their support in the best and only way they knew how.
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  2021-11-09

  Professor Perspective on University Changes

  Dr. Sara Ronis, a theology professor at St. Mary’s University, gives us a faculty perspective on how she believes the university handled the COVID-19 pandemic. She feels that despite being in such difficult positions, the university made the decisions they knew would be best for the St. Mary’s community. As a professor, she immediately thought of her students when COVID cases began to rise and the possibility of being sent home became an even more real possibility. She admires how St. Mary’s students, new and returning, have adapted to these new learning environments.
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  2021-11-11

  Commuter Student Perspective on University Changes

  Chelsea Osorio is a commuter student at St. Mary’s University and among the many personally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In her interview she highlights key points about what changes she noticed around the university that were used to protect our community. From a student perspective, she explains how safe she felt at school, especially with all the guidelines that were put in place. This goes to show how St. Mary’s students, faculty, and staff were committed to ensuring not only a healthy online environment but also making sure we returned to a safe and healthy community.
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  2021-08-17

  The New Normal

  As students and faculty returned for a fully in-person college experience, the university had to keep certain guidelines in place to ensure the safety of the St. Mary’s community. However, university officials had to keep in mind that we are still in the middle of a pandemic and students and faculty are still being affected. Fall 2021 was definitely a unique experience for everyone as we returned from a weird year and a half of hybrid courses. This semester was our little taste to going back to normal, or even more so, we got a taste of the new “normal.”
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  2021-01-10

  The Desperate Times Continue

  Students slowly began to return to campus and in-person classes as we moved into the second full semester during COVID. While policies were still place for things such as masks and attendance, they became more lenient as COVID “lessened.” This goes to show how difficult it could have been for the people in the positions to make these decisions. Their decisions were based on the new information that was being released by public health officials throughout the pandemic.
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  2021-08-17

  I have to do WHAT to my syllabus???

  This is a screenshot of my theology class syllabus including the newly included "face mask policy." I think this is important to include because even though all professors need to include the same information about mask policies, there are some who have just included what needed to be and other who have mentioned it in other areas of their syllabus. It's also interesting to see that this could be the first major change made to some of the professor's syllabi in some time. I submitted this item because it's a part of people's reaction to this pandemic and it heavily influenced changes in our "first-day of class routine." Coming back to school in-person after a whole year online, it was interesting to see how professors were now sharing more personal details about why they are being more careful, checking that students are wearing masks correctly, and some professors being more strict or lenient with the food/drink policy.