{"id":3100,"date":"2020-03-19T10:32:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T14:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=3100"},"modified":"2020-03-23T08:18:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T12:18:40","slug":"lets-talk-coronavirus-reflecting-from-a-social-distance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2020\/03\/19\/lets-talk-coronavirus-reflecting-from-a-social-distance\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s Talk: Reflecting from a social distance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"CatherineAssistant to the President for Mission Integration Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos is organizing a series of reflections from students, faculty and staff during the coronavirus crisis. We thought alumni might like to read them, too. The letter below is dated Monday, March 16. We will share these as they are available. To keep up to date on the University’s response to the coronavirus, please visit\u00a0udmercy.edu\/life\/health\/health-advisory.php<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n
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My daughter is home after moving out of her dorm unexpectedly this weekend because of COVID-19. Out of an abundance of caution, I am staying home after waking up to what I would, at any other time, expect are simply\u00a0symptoms of\u00a0seasonal allergies I have not yet gotten under control. As I sit\u00a0and\u00a0look across the table at my daughter who is online for her morning class, I want to reflect on a few things I have been thinking about since she\u00a0got home and began sharing\u00a0stories\u00a0from\u00a0her\u00a0friends in Seattle.\u00a0They have been home for almost two weeks now.<\/span>
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One story I have found most striking is of a friend who had to leave the relative quiet of his dorm room to return home to a household with extended family that include\u00a0his little cousins who are home from school.\u00a0While my daughter and I have the privilege of being able to work in an\u00a0apartment with easy\u00a0wifi\u00a0access and relative quiet, the same is not true for\u00a0this friend and I suspect for many of our students.\u00a0Some of our students have gone home to families\u00a0with younger\u00a0siblings, children or cousins running around\u00a0after being made to stay\u00a0home from school. Finding a quiet place to log on for\u00a0classes\u00a0may not be as easy as\u00a0some of us\u00a0imagine.\u00a0Now I wonder if\u00a0wifi\u00a0and\u00a0hardware\u00a0access\u00a0is an issue.\u00a0I confess I\u00a0have been taking\u00a0these as givens\u00a0in all the conversations about moving to online instruction\u00a0I have had.\u00a0I am sure others at the University have been\u00a0considering these kinds of issues\u00a0from the beginning.\u00a0Until my conversation with my daughter, I had not even thought about the frustration that some students may\u00a0experience\u00a0because they want to continue their studies with all seriousness but their circumstances at home present major obstacles.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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My son, who has been home for\u00a0a couple of\u00a0weeks\u00a0now, will be taking finals this week. He goes to school in the greater\u00a0Seattle area.\u00a0His habit prior to the move to online instruction was to go to class, head to the library to study for a few hours, either alone or with friends,\u00a0before hitting the gym or going to throwing practice.\u00a0Classes were the first to go. In the beginning, group work and group study were still encouraged or at least permitted. Those were the next to go. At least he could still channel\u00a0his energies to going to the gym or out in the field with his throwing team. But that ended last week as well when Washington Gov. Jay Inslee declared the closure of schools in three counties until April 24, an order that has been extended in scope since and likely to be extended in time given the new CDC recommendation of no gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks.\u00a0He has found it a challenge to stay focused and engaged in courses that were intended to be face-to-face. It has become even harder to maintain the study rhythm he had when he had access to the library and study group. He and his friends did still try to study together at someone\u2019s house, but that seems to have ended as of this weekend. Parents began to discourage even small group congregation\u00a0and began keeping their kids home.\u00a0The social distancing is taking its toll.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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As\u00a0I type, I look back up at my daughter 30 minutes into her class. She is hanging in. She looks engaged. I suspect the fluctuating level of\u00a0interest\u00a0I see on her face\u00a0would\u00a0have been there even if she was in the classroom with peers and a professor.\u00a0Then I think\u00a0back to\u00a0her friends, remembering they\u00a0do not have a\u00a0study\u00a0space\u00a0where the only other person in the house is also working\u00a0quietly.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Detroit Mercy will relaunch classes online tomorrow to minimize the disruption of COVID-19 on our students\u2019 learning. Many who read this will have been working especially hard over the last\u00a0few days since the announcement of the move to this alternative mode of instruction to ensure the best possible experience for our students. I want to applaud and thank faculty and staff who have given so much of their energy to\u00a0make this transition. As we move into the implementation stage, I hope we continue to keep\u00a0the success\u00a0and learning\u00a0of our students\u00a0at the forefront of how we proceed. As we do this, let us remember that\u00a0some\u00a0of our students are not going home to the ideal isolated study situation others will have. Some may have to face some chaos with children at home or family members that may be demanding their attention because our students are present. While remembering our own efforts to continue to give them access to learning, the anxiety and stress that has come with\u00a0the\u00a0current situation is something they are likely experiencing.\u00a0They may not even be fully aware of\u00a0it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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True to who we are and who we aspire to be as a community bound by our shared mission to educate our students in the Mercy and Jesuit traditions,\u00a0let us continue to care for them as\u00a0whole persons, even from a distance.\u00a0In a period of social distancing,\u00a0I\u00a0know that we will work even harder to ensure good communication with our students to ensure they know of our commitment to them not only as learners\u00a0but as people who are likely struggling with the disruption and uncertainty they are experiencing. As we work together as employees of the university,\u00a0let us aim to hold one another even more closely in spirit and seek ways to let one another know we care.\u00a0I am confident that\u00a0compassion, patience and understanding\u00a0will continue to\u00a0mark the way we engage\u00a0with\u00a0one another, especially our students, as we seek ways to respond\u00a0to a rapidly changing situation. Adaptability is another\u00a0characteristic of Jesuit and Mercy education.\u00a0Let us all lean into\u00a0it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
As we continue to discern\u00a0the best way to attend\u00a0to the needs of not only our students and our colleagues\u00a0but\u00a0also\u00a0our families\u00a0and loved ones\u00a0at home,\u00a0let us not forget to take the time to care for our own mental and emotional health.\u00a0With the morning sunshine, maybe a brief walk to take\u00a0in some\u00a0fresh air and the singing of birds\u00a0can be an opportunity to\u00a0give thanks for\u00a0the\u00a0be part of the effort\u00a0to\u00a0create\u00a0\u00a0a\u00a0community of care and compassion\u00a0in these challenging times.\u00a0In the words of Catherine McAuley:\u00a0\u201ca\u00a0community in which this universal charity reigns is capable of surmounting all difficulties.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Finally, here\u00a0is\u00a0the link\u00a0to an\u00a0<\/span>Examen for Life During COVID-19<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0offered by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, to serve as a guide for daily reflection in this time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Let us all stay safe and healthy as we continue to attend to one another and our broader community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Holding our community in prayer,<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos<\/a>
\nAssistant to the President for Mission Integration<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Assistant to the President for Mission Integration Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos is organizing a series of reflections from students, faculty and staff during the coronavirus crisis. We thought alumni might like to read them, too. The letter below is dated Monday, March 16. We will share these as they are available. To …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":3101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2020\/03\/CatherinePunsalan_banner.jpg?fit=1280%2C744&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-O0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3100"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3123,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3100\/revisions\/3123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}