Chock full o’ resources
Thinking of everyone in the Daily Deacdom and hope that you are all well. Dr. Hatch sent a message to the campus today with some inspirational words from our Dean of the School of Divinity, Jonathan Walton. Dean Walton talks about the interconnectedness of all of us, and to make haste to love and be kind. You can watch it here.
Resident students who are not currently living on campus received a message this morning from Residence Life and Housing about upcoming waste removal for their rooms. No one imagined when they left for Spring Break that the green bananas they bought (in hope they would ripen that week) are still in their rooms turning “green and furry,” as my P’92 would say. So our Facilities team has to go in and empty trash in students’ rooms and discard of perishables. Students should know that cleaning staff would only touch items in their room if they are 1) perishable (in microfridge or plain view), 2) in a trash can (or are obvious food waste), 3) need to be set aside for surface cleaning, or 4) if the placement of those items could cause mold or mildew. We ask everyone’s patience and understanding on why we can’t leave things mouldering away in students’ rooms. For the small number of students who are still living on campus, their rooms will not be touched (see message).
Onto better things. I’m on a few listservs on campus and it has been wonderful to see the ways campus offices are offering virtual meetings, hangouts, Zooms, and other ways to connect to their offices. I’ve seen everything from how to find internships during COVID-19 to managing/enhancing your home work space, to lunch together, to a virtual Seder and much more.
If your students were not already on an email distro list for their favorite campus offices, groups, or organizations, encourage them to look at their websites and/or social media posts to find ways to link in to these options. It’s amazing how helpful it is to be on a Zoom call and see the faces of other people – it really does create a sense of connection.
Here is an opportunity for your Deacs to become peer educators for Orientation:
The P.E.E.R. education network is now recruiting students to complete the NASPA certified peer educator program online. This certification allows students to be eligible to facilitate the Culture of Respect workshop for New Deac Week around intimate partner violence prevention. Participating students must be able to move in early and be present for the duration of Orientation. We are offering two versions of the certified class, instructor-lead through zoom as well as a self-paced version. Please encourage interested students to fill out the google form here.
I also heard from our excellent Wake Washington program. They sent an email to seniors they knew who were planning to move to DC (or hoping to move there) after graduation this year, or first-years through juniors who either have or hope to have an internship this summer in DC. There is a short survey these students are being asked to fill out so Wake Washington can be as helpful as possible to them. If you have a DC-bound Deac, urge them to complete the survey.
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inally, two things: 1) Deacon Dining has stood up a temporary grocery store for our on campus residential students. It started Monday, and they had processed and delivered almost 50 orders. The picture is a snapshot of orders in process. (In case you are wondering: yes, bins are sanitized between uses).
And 2) there are some reports of WF students still in Winston-Salem (living off campus) who are continuing to hold parties or social gatherings and are not maintaining appropriate social distance measures of 6′ between people. If your Deac is still living in W-S, please stress to them how important it is that they limit their contact with others and observe social distancing (stay 6′ away from people, don’t be in groups of more than 10 people, etc.). This is critical to help them – and the larger community – stay safe.
Stay well, Daily Deacdom!