By Margaret Smith, SAA 2020
I was going to write this blogabout the assessment work my colleague, Karlee Garcia, and I conducted thisyear at our graduate assistantship, the MSU University Activities Board (UAB),but the world turned upside down this week. Graphs, stats, and Canva reportsfeel a bit empty at the moment.
At UAB we work with eleven student directors and five student front desk workers to plan large-scale events and programs for the student body. On Thursday all of my students’ hard work was, understandably, halted. Hosting gatherings of over 100 people is literally the definition of our work and we could not safely continue. While the decision was absolutely the right thing to do, the sudden cancellation of all of our students’ events felt like an unceremonious loss. I think I will imagine these events for a long time to come: The Wonderful World of Brody, Harry Potter night, Spartan Games, the Big Concert, the Drag Show (among others).
Our students left some of the most challenging work to the last two months of school. They wanted to push themselves to think bigger and get more creative in the Spring semester (a fact I am so proud of). Instead, they inherited a new and unprecedented kind of challenge nobody could have expected. The fact that I got to support my advisee Madison in our Great Spartan Bake-Off event right before Spring Break now feels like a gift.
Eventually Karlee and I will work on an end of year assessment report. We will look for evidence that our students made learning strides across our 11 learning outcomes. This process is valuable and necessary. But this week I didn’t need carefully formulated assessment techniques to see what my students learned in their co-curricular activity of choice. I saw them snap to action, coming up with creative and safe ways to give out the 30 dozen cupcakes without a home after our Planetarium event was cancelled (the college sanitarian would have been proud!). I watched them make ethical decisions by choosing to avoid public gatherings and choose to go home if they were able. I saw them take care of their peers, offering support even in the midst of their own emotional struggles. I watched them gather and spend nearly two hours coming up with creative remote programing ideas that they could still offer their Spartan community, despite the social distancing measures now in place. In this conversation they centered inclusion and UAB mission to be an accessible resource for all Spartans. I saw them trying their best to practice self-care. I witnessed them asking for help from their UAB Advisors. We even found room to continue to make connections between this experience and their professional development, a small silver lining reframe. They acted like the mature, empathetic, innovative, caring leaders I know them to be.
This coming week our students whohave decided to remain on campus will work with the UAB staff to try and answertough questions. What is an activities office without activities? If all ourstudents decide to go home, my fellow staff members and I will join ourcolleagues across the globe wondering, what are student affairs professionalswithout our students? I recognize technology still connects us, but I know itwill be uncharted territory for many. I miss my students already and our lackof proper closure makes me ache inside a little. In the wake of the sadfeelings, my student affairs professionals like my UAB colleagues and I willmake every effort to continue to support our students as whole people. We willoffer care, help solve problems, try to put things in perspective, and reassurethem as best we can. We will also get creative, step up and help the universityoperate should we be called to do so, and undoubtedly grow that (ever elusive)ACPA/NASPA technology competency (J).
Perhaps a positive outcome ofthis truncated school year will be a renewed appreciation for the in-personcollege experience. Online learning certainly has utility, but I hope throughthis very unfortunate deprivation the world will recognize that in-personclassroom and co-curricular learning and engagement are truly spices oflife. I hope campuses will fill back upin the fall with students like mine who are committed to helping their peersfind connection. I know my SAA colleagues will be at campuses across thecountry supporting and spearheading similar efforts. I can’t wait to see thegreat work we all will do. I think students will need quality co-curricularprograms and student affairs services, in particular, more than ever.
