North Park Students, Faculty, and Staff Come Together While Staying Apart
Like every other university in the United States, North Park made the decision to close its campus in mid-March due to the spreading Coronavirus.
Since then, students, faculty, and staff have had to adjust to a “new normal,” with all learning happening remotely via videoconferencing apps, e-mail and texts, and even old-fashioned phone calls.
Professors said they learned as they went along.
“I think I’m learning more every day, just like my students,” Mark Gavoor, Associate Professor of Operations Management, said in March. “This is a system of continuous improvement. I am better at teaching online this week than I was last week. And I will be even better next week!”
Professors reached out to each other to offer assistance and encouragement.
“I consider this situation an opportunity for me to learn to be a better person and teacher,” Professor of Mathematics Education Dr. Leona Mirza wrote to a fellow professor as online instruction was beginning. “Consider it a gift in unusual packaging. Each of us is a special person in the eyes of our students, and we need to use this time to be positive role models.”
And, with many professors juggling small children who were suddenly homebound as well, and with students similarly returning to the nest with their families, flexibility was key.
Each day, the University Ministries staff would provide the campus with a devotional. In June, Campus Co-Pastor Laura Kraybill led a series on Praying the Psalms.
“How do we talk to God when our world has been turned upside down?” Kraybill asks in an introductory video. “How do we express our feelings to God when we’re angry?”
In a weekly blog compiled by University Marketing and Communications, the community received important updates from President Mary K. Surridge, while members of North Park’s musical community shared inspiring playlists.
In the April 23 installment of the blog, Annie Picard, who has taught voice lessons and classes at NPU since 1998, suggested both Luciano Pavarotti and R.E.M.
“I’m a Pavarotti junkie because it’s so obvious how much he loves to sing!” Picard said. “He radiates joy. The voice is glorious, also.”
R.E.M., she noted, is perfect when you “need help with those pesky household chores.”
In April, staff members in the Office of Advancement participated in a #BlueandGoldWednesday car parade around the North Park neighborhood to bring cheer to some North Park faculty, staff, and alumni who live in the neighborhood
The seminary got in on the fun by creating a TikTok video of faculty and staff singing (from their respective homes) “U Can’t Touch This,” a sly reference to social distancing.
Also in April, President Surridge offered thanks and congratulations to all the faculty and students who made online learning a success.
“The instant transition of our entire university to online learning in mid-March reflects remarkable commitment and execution,” President Surridge said. “This has taken a great deal of agility, collaboration and resiliency. Thank you!”