“For me the biggest thing I’m struggling with is physical distance: a lack of proximity to my community. Not being able to take a stroll through the commons and make small talk to people as they’re studying or working in groups. Not seeing my co-workers. .
The other side of that though, is that I feel—the whole idea that antidotes tend to grow in very close proximity to toxins. While the closeness of our community has made this difficult, it’s also kind of been the balm on the wound because I feel like everyone is making such an effort to work on each other, check in on each other…
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I think it was that first week of remote classes—when we’d more or less been in quarantine mode for two weeks, Genille [Anderson], Ken [Rogerson] and I each got a care package from the class of 2020 with cookies in them, like amazingly delicious cookies and there was a note from the class saying, ‘Thank you so much for all you’re doing, for trying to make this normal and make this right, and keep things working.’ It was kind of amazing because while we’re all running ourselves ragged, there’s always this feeling that you could be doing more—you just so desperately want to be there for your people. And then to receive this incredibly generous gesture, this acknowledgment was just dumbfounding.”
—Mitch Moste, Program Coordinator for Academic Programs and the MPP Program #Staff