Athletics

A fall season that was supposed to be filled with two-a-days, conditioning, and the excitement surrounding the start of games for soccer, volleyball, and cross country quickly turned to nasal swabs, temperature checks, and uncertainty.

Ursuline College and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference have made the health and safety of student-athletes the highest priority. Every tough decision made by the conference, school presidents, and Athletic Directors has been made with that in mind.

On August 10, 2020, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference announced that soccer and volleyball would have their seasons postponed until the spring 2021. Cross Country was the only fall sport that would compete on its regular schedule.

The first competition of the year took place on September 12 when the Arrows traveled to Hillsdale, Michigan. The shortened season also featured meets at The University of Findlay and Tiffin University, and concluded with the Great Midwest Championships late in October.

At Hillsdale, senior Gabrielle Post knocked 30 seconds off her personal best time and finished in a time of 26:55. The team finished sixth overall in the opening meet of the season after a limited pre-season.

The conference announced spring schedules for soccer and volleyball late in the fall. Volleyball season began in late January while soccer began competition in March. Both teams played shortened seasons and all student-athletes were given the opportunity for an extra year of eligibility.

The start of basketball season was also pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team started practicing on October 15 as normal, but games would not begin until early December. The early portion of the season featured a five-game winning streak that saw the Arrows defeat Findlay twice in a matter of two weeks, a win over Hillsdale on the road and a win at

home against Lake Erie College. The Arrows capped the winning streak with an 87-66 win over then second place Ohio Dominican at home on January 9.

The Great Midwest basketball tournament began the first week of March and the NCAA Tournament followed.

Even given the multitude of schedule changes, the constant testing, and truly not knowing what the next few hours might bring, let alone the next day, our student-athletes have persevered through this exactly as we would have expected. They have handled all the changes with class and they have demonstrated a tremendous amount of strength during uncertain times. Their passion to compete and represent Ursuline College in the classroom and on the field, court, course, or track is always on display.

As busy as spring semester was, we were excited that our student-athletes had opportunities to compete in the sports they love. Volleyball and basketball overlapped in the winter, while soccer, softball, lacrosse, tennis, and track all started in the spring. It was a hectic race to the finish line but one we took gladly… and carefully!

Special congratulations go to Arrows Lacrosse Coach Lauren Simko, who was named GMAC Coach of the Year, and Grace London, who was named GMAC Freshman of the Year!

Story by Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz Photos by Robert Muller and Matt Shiffler

Lab manager D’Arbra Blankenship was a non-traditional student with a young daughter when she entered Ursuline. She had little confidence in her abilities until her professors helped her see herself through their eyes. They drew attention to her accomplishments, helping set her on the road to success.

Biology teacher Janett Korb was the single parent of a young son when she started at Ursuline. She grappled with a learning disability that made it hard to read well and manage numbers, but Ursuline’s small class sizes and one-on-one attention provided the immediate feedback and support she needed to thrive.

Women’s Imaging Radiologist Katie (McConnell) Davis came from a blue-collar family, and neither of her parents went to college. Ursuline’s dedication to educating women drew her to the college, which prepared her well for the rigors of medical school. She credits her devotion to her patients to the core values she learned at Ursuline.

Podiatrist Erica Witherspoon had planned to become a doctor from a very young age. She chose Ursuline for her undergraduate work because, after a brief visit, “the place felt like home.” Professors really “knew you,” she says. “It made things intimate in a way where you didn’t fall through the cracks.”

These women took different paths to Ursuline and went in different directions after graduation, yet they speak as if in one voice, describing a faculty dedicated not just to their success but also their enrichment; not only to their learning but also their love of learning; and not simply to their growth as people, but also their development as engaged members of a larger community.

love of science blossomed soon after she started at Ursuline, extending even to “the vocabulary of science.” It was so much fun, she says, “like learning another language.”

She used technical terminology so often in class that her professors privately wondered if she knew what all the words meant. So, they banned her from using any scientific jargon, “unless I could explain what I was talking about in common language.”

It was just one example of how her professors “really saw who we were, and they would often challenge us in a way that was specific to what we needed,” Blankenship says.

Equally important was the faculty’s approach to teaching biology, which had students applying their learning in real-world lab settings.

“We didn’t just memorize information; the companion lab work really emphasized hands-on application,” Blankenship says. At Ursuline, she cultured samples and learned to use and care for lab equipment properly, which prepared her so well that she landed her first lab manager job at Case Western Reserve University during her junior year.

Blankenship delayed completing her degree by a decade as she worked full time, finally finishing at the direct urging of Ursuline faculty who had stayed in contact.

Over nearly two decades at Case, Blankenship has managed projects ranging from research into new uses for existing pharmaceuticals to the development of a rapid testing device for malaria. She is now working toward a master’s degree in positive organizational development and change.

She credits Ursuline with playing a pivotal role in all that she has achieved, and she remains connected to Ursuline as an active member of the Alumnae/i Board.

D’Arbra Blankenship

Janett Korb Ursuline was such a great fit for Janett Korb that, after earning her bachelor’s degree in biology, she came back to complete her master’s degree in education.

She says the support of peers and professors was critical to her success, and that even the design of the biology facilities at Ursuline supported cooperative and engaged learning.

Korb and her classmates would congregate “right in the middle of professors’ offices,” she says. Whenever she encountered a stumbling block, she says, help was always available: “I would just get up and knock on somebody’s door.”

In class, too, Korb got the support she needed to succeed. Professors “provided immediate feedback and a lot of our lessons were roundtable discussions,” she says, rather than traditional lectures that would have made learning harder for her.

“It felt more like an apprenticeship,” Korb says, and, in a way, it was exactly that for her. She takes the same approach to teaching biology at Heights High School that she experienced at Ursuline – creating a hands-on learning environment, where kids can learn “to love science through just doing it.”

There is yet one more connection between then and now – the relationships forged between Korb and Ursuline’s faculty have held strong. Faculty “still reach out to let me know how I can get my high school students involved in Ursuline programs,” she says, and she knows that if she ever has a question, they will be there for her, ready for her knock on their door.

Katie Davis credits Professor Lita Yu (who asked her mid-way through her first-semester microbiology class to consider changing her major) with her decision to switch from nursing to biology.

“Her very small suggestion made a huge impact on my life,” ultimately leading Davis to become a doctor and educator at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she educates women on their own health and trains medical students, radiology residents, and women's imaging fellows.

Professor Yu “embodies the values, as an educator, of developing really strong female professionals,” Davis says, but her approach to teaching was no anomaly.

Across the college, Ursuline professors were “passionate about our learning and invested in our personal success,” Davis says, and it showed.

She remembers the time her biology professor took students outside for a botany lesson, having them mark off a plot of land and identify all the tree species within it, and the time her music history professor organized a field trip to Severance Hall, so students could enjoy a performance by the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra.

However, Ursuline did not simply educate women well, says Davis. “There was an underlying desire to give them their own voice in society.”

Since graduating and becoming a doctor, Davis has risen to a place where her voice is widely heard, and she is doing what her time at Ursuline trained her to do, “finding those who need a mentor and elevating them,” she says, “always trying to pay it forward.”

Katie (McConnell) Davis

Erica Witherspoon

on becoming a doctor early in life, so getting on the pre-med track at Ursuline was a straightforward decision to make.

Like other students, Witherspoon loved Ursuline’s small class sizes, in part because they “really made you accountable,” she says. “If you were out sick, professors would check on you and make sure you were okay.”

Those close relationships with faculty were important in her day-to-day life as a student, but they proved vital for Witherspoon when she faced a situation that devastated her and her family.

During her time at Ursuline, Witherspoon’s brother got into “a really tragic car accident,” she says. “I had assignments due; it was a really difficult time for me. Having that close relationship with my professors and being able to talk with them – that really helped me through.”

Such a terrible event is exactly the kind of thing that could easily derail a student, for whom focusing on coursework would not only be terribly difficult but might even seem irrelevant given what was going on in their family’s life.

It is the “grace” that the Ursuline community provided that helped Witherspoon stay on track and graduate, which set her on the path to completing her medical education.

Witherspoon recently established a mobile podiatric practice, traveling to nursing homes and assisted living facilities to treat her patients, her career quite literally on the move.

Although well behind her now, her time at Ursuline remains present, Witherspoon says. People are “automatically intrigued to hear more” when they learn she graduated from Ursuline.

The Ursuline name “holds value and brings a sense of pride,” she says.

“I’m grateful for everything I learned there.”

A Q+A with Professor Jenise Snyder, chair of Ursuline’s Biology Department.

There are really two things. One is incorporating service learning and community engagement. We currently have students working on a variety of service projects. One student is creating TikTok videos to teach viewers about environmental issues. Another made educational pamphlets on wastewater treatment.

The more big-picture change is in how we teach our discipline; it’s becoming more holistic. We’re not changing learning outcomes but are incorporating broader conversations, for example, about why we are learning what we’re learning.

Most of our labs have been renovated over the past four years. Having updated facilities and equipment for our students is a big deal, and we are very grateful for the funds that came through for that.

When we were notified that we were being bestowed these wonderful gifts, we were given the choice in the design. For the most part our designs have involved updating equipment and making sure to keep lab safety up to date.

It really comes down to community. Our classes are small, so we get to know our students and they get to know us. Being small also allows us to be flexible. If a student needs advanced microbiology for a pre-requisite, for example, we can make sure to provide that at Ursuline.

Also, because we are so small, our students get to use the real deal equipment, the appropriate equipment for the field, so they get to really hone their skills. It helps them train for jobs and gives them the skills they need to move to the next level.

Super Cool Professor – Associate Professor and Biology Department Chair Jenise Snyder, PhD, participated in “The School of Ice: Ice Cores and Climate Change,” in 2016. This professional development program was developed by the U.S. Ice Drilling Program Office, a National Science Foundation-funded organization providing oversight of US scientific drilling efforts at both poles, in partnership with the American Meteorological Society. Snyder and fellow participants processed ice cores at the National Ice Core Laboratory (above), among other activities.

Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz is a writer and professor of communications at several Northeast Ohio colleges and universities. She lives west of Cleveland.