Officials and students have reflected on what they considered to be defining moments of the 2020-21 school year.
Dr. Levi Harrel, dean of students and member of the Emergency Operations Center, said there were many changes that set this year apart from others.
“We have so many wonderful and memorable things that have happened this year, whether that be ushering in a new first year class in COVID mitigation and welcoming them into the college environment or the use of surveillance testing,” he said. “We’ve ended our semester at thanksgiving break, something different we needed to adjust to.”
Harrel said other notable moments were the ice storm in October and the snow storm in February, but he said most importantly, he has seen campus come back to life spring semester.
“We came back at a heightened alert level, but at that point, something seemed to shift in our community, and there was the desire to do more, to be more engaged, to play within the boundaries of the policies, practices and procedures we have on campus, but to bring campus life back,” he said. “We saw that with Student Affairs bringing Alyssa Edwards to campus with more than 140 people participating both virtually and in person. We have seen campus come back to life with what will be ten vaccination clinics on campus this year.
Harrel said being able to experience the resiliency of campus has given him hope.
“The biggest takeaway that I have from this year is that resilience is possible even when you think it is not,” he said. “We navigated this year, came into the unknown together as a campus community, and we figured it out a little bit as we went. We learned what we were doing right, what we were doing wrong, and adapted, and campus life is coming back to life and beginning to thrive again.”
Joey Croslin, vice president for human resources and member of the EOC, said a defining moment for campus was seeing the transmission of COVID-19 cases slow down after a high amount of cases in October and November. She said she was thankful the EOC planned for a condensed semester which ended after Thanksgiving due to the elevated amount of cases at the time.
“It takes all of us to do our part to keep each other safe, and our campus community really demonstrated how much we respect each other and care about each other and did our best to keep each other safe during that time,” she said.
Croslin said another defining moment was when COVID-19 vaccines became available to campus.
“When the vaccines became accessible to us, I think the community coming together and the wonderful folks at the clinic really taking the lead and making sure the OCU community had access to vaccines for those who wanted it, and all the volunteers that have come out to help support the clinic week in and week out, has been another testament to the spirit of our campus community,” she said.
Croslin said it was incredible to see the health and safety protocols working across campus in light of many unknowns.
“My takeaway is that you cannot underestimate the resiliency, the creativity and the commitment of our faculty, staff and students who accomplished a huge mission. You can’t underestimate it,” she said.
Croslin said she enjoyed working with other faculty and staff on the EOC.
“That was a really rewarding experience, to get to work with and know people from other areas across campus you wouldn’t have otherwise worked with,” she said.
Kendal Willis, religious education senior, said one of her most notable moments was the return of Religious Life events.
“I think one of the most notable moments of the semester was getting back to in-person chapel. Even though it looks different, it was nice to be back and get a feel of normalcy,” she said.
Willis said her takeaway this year is the campus community works together, and though things may be different, they’re able to adapt.
“I feel OCU has done the best it can in the middle of a global pandemic, and I am thankful for how they have been creative in thinking of ways to keep the student body safe,” she said. “Honestly, we all should be proud.”
Harrel said the EOC is actively discussing next year and what that will look like, what alert levels we might be in, and possible adjustments to campus policies, practices and procedures.
“While we haven’t announced anything and we haven’t decided that, some of that is because it’s in flux. We’re assuming what August is going to look like in April, but we are very hopeful in that planning that campus life will be much more normal than it has been this year,” he said.
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