This is not the spring semester that any of us had in mind.
Our students are scattered across the US and the world. We are all being thrown into technology in ways many of us have never experienced (or, frankly, desired to experience.) Instead of working in our offices and our classrooms, enjoying the constant buzz and life of our beautiful building (or the peace and quiet of a closed door) many of us are tucked away at kitchen tables, couches, and basements.
But I want to remind you that Paul College is none of the things we're missing right now. Our community is not defined by the sunlight streaming through the windows in the great hall, or the comfort of standing at the front of a full classroom. It's about the people who make this a place students want to come to school. A place staff and faculty want to work.
Today, I want to ask for your help in keeping that community alive for all of us.
Over the past few months, I have been working to make Paul's Instagram account a place that accurately reflects day-to-day life at our college. We've featured classrooms, student life, outside opportunities, the sheer beauty of our building, and much more. It's quickly become a place for students to get a virtual sense of the community that radiates out of Paul.
But as the world continues to move more and more of our day-to-day lives online, the importance of maintaining a virtual community has become more forefront than ever before. Without the day-to-day physical interactions that make our community shine, I want to offer our students virtual ones. The instagram account can be a place to come together. To share things that make them laugh, help them study, and keep them connected to all of us. To remind them that, in the end, we're all in this together.
So, what do I need from you? Participation, mostly. I want photos of where you're working, how you're working, and what you're doing for your students and yourselves. Is your cat your new unofficial TA? Are you hosting a day where everyone comes to class in PJs? Do you have a ridiculously amazing, funny song about teaching online? (Probably not, but I just wanted an excuse to share that with you.) Let me know. Share screenshots. Give me the opportunity to let our entire community share in the experience. These are the kinds of moments that show we care and make us human.
And because of the recent successes we had sharing words of encouragement for our students and offering some great online learning tips, I'm also going to be making weekly asks of all of you to submit selfie videos on different topics. Our students want to see your faces. Since they can't run into you in the hallways, and some whose lives you've touched no longer take your classes, let's make sure you're still a presence in their lives.
If you have other ideas, I am more than willing to hear them. Please share. I am always reachable at micky.bedell@unh.edu (or via Instagram DM on the Paul account, if you're feeling especially tech savvy.)
So many people are already asking so much from you. I apologize that I am now one of them. But I can't do it without you–and even if I could, I wouldn't want to. You are what makes this community great.
I can't wait to show our students exactly what it means to have #paulpride.
Best of luck on the upcoming semester. I hope you stay safe and stay well.
