WE’VE GOT THIS: Working our way through the pandemic
It’s no secret that the pandemic of 2020 has introduced an entire new lexicon to the English language: COVID-19, social distancing, flattening the curve, and masking up are terms that, while never used until recently, are now part of common parlance.
In the world of education, that lexicon also includes hybrid and in-person learning, Zoom classes, and virtual performances, to name a few. At Ursuline Academy, the on-campus community of faculty and students is living daily the challenge of how to adapt an environment known for close personal relationships to a reality in which closeness can be hazardous to our health. With the second semester underway and our community weary from weathering a storm, there is a sense of hope that getting back to normal – or at least a new version of it – is not too far in the future. As the 2019–2020 school year ended, there were two main tasks facing Ursuline’s administration and faculty. One was how to deliver on one of Ursuline’s most cherished traditions, an inperson commencement ceremony, for the Class of 2020; and the other was how to reimagine education, the primary purpose of
2
our existence, in a world where six feet of space between students was imperative. Happily, the school was able to deliver on both of these important goals, albeit with some modifications required. Saint Angela Merici would be proud of the way we are soldiering on.
2020 Commencement For anyone familiar with Ursuline Academy, the word “commencement” instantly brings to mind images of white dresses, red roses, and rhododendrons in bloom flanking the convent steps. The Class of 2020 imagined nothing different. Through the spring of 2020, it became clear that the path of the coronavirus would make a graduation with girls standing shoulder to shoulder on the convent stairs in front of a crowd of family and friends an impossibility. Many schools were turning to
