Virginia’s Community Colleges Find Creative Ways To Support Students Amid A Global Pandemic
DSLCC Lends Help To Area Hospitals |
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Richmond, VA (April 1, 2020) - Recent improvements have been made to the technology infrastructure at Camp Community College, improvements designed to maintain student engagement and ensure their success.
An expansion to the Wi-Fi network allows students with no internet access to use the entire main parking lot and the Regional Workforce Development Center parking lot at the Franklin Campus. Similar work at the Hobbs Suffolk Campus in Smithfield will soon be completed as well.
A college-wide call campaign has allowed our faculty and staff to reach out personally to each enrolled student to make sure they are safe and aware of resources available to them.
Additionally, the college has built a webpage where resources and timely information can be accessed by faculty, staff, students and the general public.
Dabney S. Lancaster Community College was able to provide much needed supplies including gloves, masks, wipes and gowns, to area hospitals from the stock it had in its lab settings.
“We typically feel as though we cannot thank our hospitals enough for the support they lend to us as an institution and for the ways they support our students. In this trying time, I am pleased that there is at least a small measure of support we can lend them,” shared Dr. Rainone.
Additionally, the DSLCC Educational Foundation is conducting an online drive to garner additional student emergency funds to helping students with food insecurity, transportation, books and supplies, and other necessary items to help students stay engaged and moving forward in their educational goals.
The Foundation currently has funds and gift cards available and ready for students in need. Students do need to apply and can contact their academic advisor or program head for more information.
Danville Community College has donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to SOVA Health: 300 masks and 40 boxes of gloves.
“The nation’s shortage of PPE has been at the forefront of many conversations this month,” said DCC President Jackie Gill Powell. “While DCC has suspended in-person class meetings to protect our students, faculty, and staff, we are grateful to have the opportunity to share these vital resources with our local hospital where many of our graduates are on the front lines.”
“This donation is a gesture of support from DCC’s administration, faculty, and staff in the hope that the masks and gloves will help to protect our valiant health care workers on the front lines of this pandemic,” said DCC Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Development and DCC Educational Foundation Executive Director Shannon Hair.
Sticking with the PPE theme, Germanna Community College has donated its entire stock of personal protective equipment to Mary Washington Healthcare (MWH). The final count was 250 N-95 masks, 100 booties, 250 isolation gowns, 200 head nets and 18,400 gloves.
Germanna’s Dean of Nursing and Health Technologies, Patti Lisk, tells the Free Lance Star their relationship with MWH goes way back.
“We’ve always been affiliated with Mary Washington Healthcare. MWH is all about nursing and Germanna is all about nursing. Mary Washington has been aligned with us for a long time, and a lot of our nursing program’s graduates work there.”
An average of 125 nursing students graduate from Germanna each year, and many of them are employed by MWH.
Lord Fairfax Community College has put together a free 30-minute webinar with resources and tips to help support area businesses. In this live online session, Jelise Ballon, corporate training product developer for the college’s Workforce Solutions, will share resources during COVID-19, strategies for communicating with staff and tips on how to maintain productivity from a remote workforce.
The college has also partnered with 4P Foods to host Taco Tuesdays. The tacos are free for families received SNAP benefits.
The Northern Virginia Community College Educational Foundation has launched a new emergency student aid fund to assist students struggling with the personal and economic fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 60% of NOVA’s 85,000 students work full- or part-time jobs. For many, what little income they have is diminishing rapidly. Financially vulnerable students face furloughs and layoffs as a result of the pandemic, and as child-care options and schools close, student-parents are facing extreme challenges in keeping any employment.
The goal is to raise $750,000 to provide at least 1,500 grants of $500 each.
The Patrick Henry Community College Foundation has also established an emergency student aid fund to help students facing economic challenges due to changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PHCC COVID-19 Student Emergency Response Fund aims to raise money to cover emergency needs related to food and materials for successful course completion as well as transportation and childcare. The PHCC Foundation is prepared to match up to $10,000 of community donations with a goal of having $20,000 in the fund.
PHCC has also completed an extensive Wi-Fi expansion project to convert three of its parking lots into Wi-Fi hot spots. When the college closed to the public and students were asked to work remotely, college officials quickly started this project to ensure all students would have a way to access the internet. Now, students or staff members who have no home internet can come to the campus and can work from their cars.
“Ensuring students have access to every resource they need to complete this semester successfully is a top priority for us,” says PHCC’s President Dr. Angeline Godwin.
At the college’s Fab Lab, where a 3-D laser printer is used to make solid, three-dimensional objects, production of face shields for medical personnel treating patients is in full-swing.
With the classroom experience now almost entirely online, Piedmont Virginia Community College is pulling out all the stops to keep students engaged.
Student resources are being made available on a designated web page. Students can find a plethora of resources here, including updates from President Frank Friedman and a variety of other pertinent communications.
Students can now park in designated areas to use the school’s wi-fi while Information sessions for prospective students have moved to ZOOM delivery.
PVCC is also making use of an internal newsletter to provide tips for coping as well as ideas for connecting staff and faculty members.
In the spirit of community, faculty and staff have also created a “Covid-19” playlist, with 19 songs.
As part of the Commonwealth’s COVID-19 Response, Reynolds Community College’s ASL&IE Faculty and Program Head, Carrie Humphrey is one of two interpreters chosen to stand on the podium with Governor Ralph Northam as he delivers his video news briefings during the COVID-19 crisis.
Humphrey, a Reynolds alum, served as an adjunct faculty member for two years before becoming a full-time ASL faculty member. Carrie has served as the Reynolds ASL&IE Program Head for the last two years.
Eager to help in their own way, a pair of enterprising Reynolds students recently collected and boxed more than a thousand of the college’s unused PPE items for distribution to healthcare workers on the front lines.
Joy Kolovich and Taelor Poindexter then transported the supplies to a nearby loading dock and helped load them on to a truck for delivery.
During the COVID-19 crisis, Assistant Professor of Paralegal Studies Melissa Ansley Brooks has been keeping an audio diary that was recently featured on a local PBS station.
You can hear Melissa’s complete audio diaries via VPM’s SOUNDCLOUD PAGE.
Rappahannock Community College has extended WiFi access to parking lots at the Glenns and Warsaw campuses as well as the Kilmarnock Center. It is strongly recommended that anyone using Wi-Fi in any of these areas maintain adequate social distancing for the safety of others.
The college is also making other student resources available via this WEBPAGE.
Students experiencing food insecurity are being urged to call the RCC Food Pantry at 804-333-6732 or email FOODPANTRY@RAPPAHANNOCK.EDU to discuss options for possible pick up.
Southwest Virginia Community College has created a WEB PAGE with comprehensive information to assist students, faculty, staff, and community members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That page features a chatbot that can answer questions about the virus and how Southwest is responding to the crisis.
SWCC has also posted a VIDEO to all of their communication channels, assuring the community that they are open, just operating a little differently for now.
The college’s outreach strategy also includes Facebook Live videos that are published several times a week. The videos feature different departments and explain how they are supporting students virtually.
And SWCC’s student engagement coordinator is setting up activities to keep students connected beyond coursework with online games like Kahoot! and Drawful2.
Thomas Nelson Community College has provided laptops to needy students and created campus wi-fi hotspots to help with the transition to an online learning environment. But the need has exceeded the available supply. The Thomas Nelson Education Foundation has made funds available to obtain more laptops, and the college is doing research to see if any companies on the Peninsula can loan or donate computers to students.
College officials have also donated all non-allocated PPE, including N95 respirators, isolation gowns, and medical grade exam gloves, to local healthcare and emergency response agencies.
“We’re all prioritizing patience and trying to think about what makes the most sense to do with this very unusual situation,” said Lauren Williams, associate vice president for Academic Affairs.
With the coronavirus pandemic interrupting students’ lives and schedules, it’s interesting to note that the Hampton campus food pantry recently received a donation of more than 1,700 pounds of foodstuffs from a nearby Food Lion to help low-income students dealing with food insecurity.
To help students without a computer succeed with remote learning, Tidewater Community College has turned to Computers for Student Success, a student club pioneered by faculty member Gary Noah.
In the week before the college transitioned to remote learning, more than 125 computers were given to students. Also, three non-profits with computer needs were served by the group.
Professor Noah can get them into a student’s hands in as little as 48 hours. Typically, students pay a nominal $25 fee; that’s been waived under these circumstances.
Club members and staff work together to restore old computers, making them “like new” to be donated to students.
TCC’s Culinary Arts program has successfully transitioned to remote learning, with chefs and students working in their home kitchens.
To start the home learning, college staffers, led by Dean Nancy Prather Johnson, purchased, sorted and pack up the ingredients students would need to continue their learning at home.
Students picked up their supplies in a “drive-by” setting while practicing social distancing and staying outside of college buildings.
TCC chefs Deanna Freridge, Carolyn Blackmon and Amie Burns went to work recording their labs including a demo on how to prepare your kitchen for home learning. During the first few days, they cooked up everything from cranberry orange scones, to cream of broccoli soup and potato and onion knish.
Students received a checklist on the skills they’d need to learn for each lab, and then record their videos completing each recipe. They then upload their videos to Canvas and get credit for their work.
“Students are learning to innovate by working in their kitchens and using critical thinking skills and creativity to get everything done,” said Prather Johnson. “After each lab, they have meals for their families, a big help for many of our students during this trying time.”
This week, Virginia Highlands Community College is hosting a Spirit Week. The idea is to promote off-campus activities that will keep students engaged during these challenging times.
Students and faculty are encouraged to participate in a variety of events including Wacky Hat Wednesday and Throwback Thursday. Submitted photos are being published on the college’s social media platforms. | | | | | |
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