RECONNECTING: A DIFFERENT LEVEL OF ENERGY
9/21/2020 2:45:00 PM | Student-Athlete Center for Excellence
Return to Campus Uplifting to Student-Athletes and Staff
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
No generation of students has been more qualified in adapting to the virtual classrooms, meetings and tutoring sessions that started last spring due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"I would say our students have adapted better than we thought, probably quicker than our staff has and how campus has," said Deedee Brown-Campbell, Assistant AD for Academic Services. "That's the generation they're in, they're a technology-savvy group."
At the same time, there was a noticeable boost in the spirits as Baylor's student-athletes started returning to campus this summer and then began the fall semester with a mixture of virtual, in-person and hybrid classes.
"Sometimes it's in the office, sometimes it's in passing, sometimes it's in the grocery store," said Cori Pinkett, Assistant AD for Character Formation, "but the joy you see when the students see you and you haven't seen them in months, it's awesome. And it creates a different level of energy than the energy you have when you're talking to them through a virtual platform.
"I think we navigated well when we were forced to be completely virtual, but all of us are excited about the opportunity to be back in the office and be able to meet with our student-athletes, even if it is in a limited capacity."
While the transition to 100 percent online classes and tutoring sessions was difficult at times, the end of the spring semester helped prepare staff and students alike for the return to campus and the start of another semester.
"I think in the spring, there were some things thrown at us that we may not have had the time to prepare for, because we were going through it for the first time," said Chris Johnson, Assistant AD for Academic Services. "This is something we had more time to game-plan for and put some things in place that we really didn't have time to do in the spring. We just had to adjust as situations presented themselves. Now, we've been able to be more proactive."
One of the discovered benefits of virtual tutoring, as opposed to in-person, is the student-athletes not having to travel to the Simpson Center.
"They can jump right on, versus, 'Hey, I'm at the gas station and it will take me 15 minutes to get there. Sorry, I'm going to be late,''' Brown-Campbell said. "What we've found is they're able to adapt and they've gotten used to it. So, there are some perks, for sure, but I know a lot of them still yearn for that personal interaction."
The onboarding process began this summer as the fall sports' student-athletes went through testing before starting their workouts and continued with parent and new-student orientations led by Pinkett.
"This was our third year doing the orientations," Pinkett said, "and I'm glad we decided that was important early on so that we weren't scrambling this summer trying to determine how to educate parents on specifics for COVID. What I appreciate is the opportunities we had to provide information on the front end to help ease some of the potential concern or confusion or even anxiety for students and parents."
One change this fall was a drive-thru book pick-up in front of the Simpson Center to "limit the amount of people in our facility and eliminate any kind of bottleneck that we had from just a traffic standpoint," Johnson said. The book distribution was led by Director of Academic Services Aaron Tebo and "allowed our students to get their books in a safe and timely fashion."
Through collaboration with Kenny Boyd's health & wellness team, Student-Athlete Center for Excellence (SACE) has also used the tent between the Simpson Center and Beauchamp Nutrition Center as a study hall space.
Johnson said there are plexiglass dividers between each work station and seats are "already socially distanced and set up in a way that allows for the students to work comfortably and to utilize their WiFi access in order to get work done. That's a space we've been able to take advantage of and use in addition to the areas that already exist in our area."
Since Character Formation had finished the majority of its programming before the COVID-19 shutdown, Pinkett said this summer was "our first run at virtual programming and gave us a good opportunity to begin exploring different ways that we need to adjust our programs."
"We had some success and we also noticed some things that we need to adjust to make sure that our fall experience was what we wanted it to be for our student-athletes," Pinkett said. "We saw some things that were difficult, but we also saw some things that made us scratch our head and wonder, 'Should we move this program to being virtual form here on out,' because it was such a success."
Fall programming for Character Formation includes a strategic learning course for new students, career seminars, financial literacy sessions and a leadership institute. There are also community service opportunities offered, including recording reading segments for the elementary schools in Waco.
"We're finding ways to still get our students what they need, help our students develop and provide opportunities for them to engage in the community," Pinkett said, "despite the restrictions that we have with needing to socially distance and, in many cases, needing to be completely virtual."
Other than one-on-one sessions with the learning specialists, all tutoring remains virtual as well.
"That's the beauty of dealing with the students in this generation is they know how to adjust," said Brown-Campbell, whose staff uses 80-100 student tutors. "They might complain about it for a second, but they know that we have adjusted our resources as well as made sure our academic coaches are available, just like they've always been. Whether or not we're physically in the office, we're available.
"We've always taken great pride in building relationships, and this is definitely not the exception. We're continuing to continue to focus on the importance of relationships with everyone involved because we understand that this is a transition for campus as well. And we want to make sure we're supporting the instructors just like we're supporting our student-athletes."
Collaboration – both within the department and with other areas of campus – has been key, Johnson said.
"We've collaborated with campus quite a bit just to make sure our students had all the resources that they needed to have in order to be successful and to continue to perform at a high level from an academic standpoint," Johnson said.
That includes a laptop lending program, which essentially earmarked "200 brand-new laptops for students that are in need of one," he said.
Because of COVID-19, Johnson said, there is a "pretty elaborate checklist of things students or anyone entering our facility are having to do just to check in and go to an assigned spot."
"Those are all things that we took a lot of time on and collaborated with other units to determine best protocols to follow," he said. "That allowed us to create an environment that is not only safe for our students but also one in which they felt like they had everything they needed to perform at their personal best."
Baylor Bear Insider
No generation of students has been more qualified in adapting to the virtual classrooms, meetings and tutoring sessions that started last spring due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"I would say our students have adapted better than we thought, probably quicker than our staff has and how campus has," said Deedee Brown-Campbell, Assistant AD for Academic Services. "That's the generation they're in, they're a technology-savvy group."
At the same time, there was a noticeable boost in the spirits as Baylor's student-athletes started returning to campus this summer and then began the fall semester with a mixture of virtual, in-person and hybrid classes.
"Sometimes it's in the office, sometimes it's in passing, sometimes it's in the grocery store," said Cori Pinkett, Assistant AD for Character Formation, "but the joy you see when the students see you and you haven't seen them in months, it's awesome. And it creates a different level of energy than the energy you have when you're talking to them through a virtual platform.
"I think we navigated well when we were forced to be completely virtual, but all of us are excited about the opportunity to be back in the office and be able to meet with our student-athletes, even if it is in a limited capacity."
While the transition to 100 percent online classes and tutoring sessions was difficult at times, the end of the spring semester helped prepare staff and students alike for the return to campus and the start of another semester.
"I think in the spring, there were some things thrown at us that we may not have had the time to prepare for, because we were going through it for the first time," said Chris Johnson, Assistant AD for Academic Services. "This is something we had more time to game-plan for and put some things in place that we really didn't have time to do in the spring. We just had to adjust as situations presented themselves. Now, we've been able to be more proactive."
One of the discovered benefits of virtual tutoring, as opposed to in-person, is the student-athletes not having to travel to the Simpson Center.
"They can jump right on, versus, 'Hey, I'm at the gas station and it will take me 15 minutes to get there. Sorry, I'm going to be late,''' Brown-Campbell said. "What we've found is they're able to adapt and they've gotten used to it. So, there are some perks, for sure, but I know a lot of them still yearn for that personal interaction."
The onboarding process began this summer as the fall sports' student-athletes went through testing before starting their workouts and continued with parent and new-student orientations led by Pinkett.
"This was our third year doing the orientations," Pinkett said, "and I'm glad we decided that was important early on so that we weren't scrambling this summer trying to determine how to educate parents on specifics for COVID. What I appreciate is the opportunities we had to provide information on the front end to help ease some of the potential concern or confusion or even anxiety for students and parents."
One change this fall was a drive-thru book pick-up in front of the Simpson Center to "limit the amount of people in our facility and eliminate any kind of bottleneck that we had from just a traffic standpoint," Johnson said. The book distribution was led by Director of Academic Services Aaron Tebo and "allowed our students to get their books in a safe and timely fashion."
Through collaboration with Kenny Boyd's health & wellness team, Student-Athlete Center for Excellence (SACE) has also used the tent between the Simpson Center and Beauchamp Nutrition Center as a study hall space.
Johnson said there are plexiglass dividers between each work station and seats are "already socially distanced and set up in a way that allows for the students to work comfortably and to utilize their WiFi access in order to get work done. That's a space we've been able to take advantage of and use in addition to the areas that already exist in our area."
Since Character Formation had finished the majority of its programming before the COVID-19 shutdown, Pinkett said this summer was "our first run at virtual programming and gave us a good opportunity to begin exploring different ways that we need to adjust our programs."
"We had some success and we also noticed some things that we need to adjust to make sure that our fall experience was what we wanted it to be for our student-athletes," Pinkett said. "We saw some things that were difficult, but we also saw some things that made us scratch our head and wonder, 'Should we move this program to being virtual form here on out,' because it was such a success."
Fall programming for Character Formation includes a strategic learning course for new students, career seminars, financial literacy sessions and a leadership institute. There are also community service opportunities offered, including recording reading segments for the elementary schools in Waco.
"We're finding ways to still get our students what they need, help our students develop and provide opportunities for them to engage in the community," Pinkett said, "despite the restrictions that we have with needing to socially distance and, in many cases, needing to be completely virtual."
Other than one-on-one sessions with the learning specialists, all tutoring remains virtual as well.
"That's the beauty of dealing with the students in this generation is they know how to adjust," said Brown-Campbell, whose staff uses 80-100 student tutors. "They might complain about it for a second, but they know that we have adjusted our resources as well as made sure our academic coaches are available, just like they've always been. Whether or not we're physically in the office, we're available.
"We've always taken great pride in building relationships, and this is definitely not the exception. We're continuing to continue to focus on the importance of relationships with everyone involved because we understand that this is a transition for campus as well. And we want to make sure we're supporting the instructors just like we're supporting our student-athletes."
Collaboration – both within the department and with other areas of campus – has been key, Johnson said.
"We've collaborated with campus quite a bit just to make sure our students had all the resources that they needed to have in order to be successful and to continue to perform at a high level from an academic standpoint," Johnson said.
That includes a laptop lending program, which essentially earmarked "200 brand-new laptops for students that are in need of one," he said.
Because of COVID-19, Johnson said, there is a "pretty elaborate checklist of things students or anyone entering our facility are having to do just to check in and go to an assigned spot."
"Those are all things that we took a lot of time on and collaborated with other units to determine best protocols to follow," he said. "That allowed us to create an environment that is not only safe for our students but also one in which they felt like they had everything they needed to perform at their personal best."
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