Spring Break 2020 was one of those “Where were you?” moments in life. Myself, I was driving to visit my mother in Mt. Lake, MN. Dominican faculty had just been informed that we would be moving all our courses online on Monday. I stopped at Best Buy in Madison, Wisconsin and bought a touch screen laptop. Arriving in my hometown, I started contacting my colleagues and students in my courses about what we could and should do next week. I had taught online courses before, so I had some idea about how to organize an online course on CANVAS. But my knowledge of educational technology was limited. “Zoom, what’s Zoom?” I thought to myself. I ended up opting to make Khan Academy style video lessons in place of my lectures: the so-called non-synchronous online format. What to do about chemistry labs were a big issue. How could we move experiments online? There was really no time to explore simulation software. I ended up videoing experiment procedures for several experiments. I had my COVID partner (wife) hold an iPhone while I performed the experiments with narration that I had planned for the students to do in the lab. My social/emotional mental health was sustained during this time by continuing to meet online or outside with my church family.
Brent Friesen
Professor of Chemistry
To put mildly, the past year has been challenging for everyone. A year ago, I thought that quarantining would be fun. In high school, I remember how enticing Henry David Thoreau’s solitary cabin seemed to be. No more waking up early for classes. But as the weeks went on, the monotony set in. Who knew how long the pandemic would truly last? The events of the last year have not all been negative. I have learned the antiquated art of calling my friends just to see how they are doing. Also, there is an increased recognition of BLM after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other people of color by police. While the struggle against racial and social inequality continues, because of the downturn the quarantine caused, people had the time to watch videos and form their own opinions. With the recent tragedy of the mass-shooting in Atlanta, the need for combating hate, white supremacy and misogyny remains. With the weather getting warmer and vaccines becoming more available, there is more hope in the air. Who isn’t excited for the summer? But we have to remember the progress and lessons learned from quarantine. No one is on an island.
Evelina Podkowa,
Class of 2022,
Natural Science Major
Theology minor
Besides me dyeing my hair with red hair dye to be an auburn color like every other basic girl, my quarantine was an eye-opening experience. First, I saw which one of my friends reached out to me the most during quarantine and I also saw myself grow as an individual. Overall, quarantine made me a better person and made me try new things. I learned to be more confident and assertive with presenting projects and speaking up in Zoom classes. Being back home all the time wasn’t the best thing for my mental health and reliving memories that I wanted to forget but it made me forgive and move on from the people who hurt and betrayed my feelings. I can’t believe it’s already been one year since the whole world shut down, I hope that everyone stays safe and will soon be able to get the vaccine so we can go back to normal life sometime in the future.
Caleigh Monahan
Class of 2022
Fashion Merchandising Major
Minoring in Fashion Design and Marketing
I will never forget that night back in March 2020 where I had to leave DU to finish the semester virtually at home. Being a senior at the time who lived on campus, that meant saying goodbye to my friends two months early. The night before I left, my friends and I talked about memories that we had from college as we cried and hugged.
However, I am thankful that my circumstances improved after I graduated from Dominican in May 2020. I got hired as a preschool teacher’s assistant in August. While working at the preschool, I’ve developed great relationships with the 4- and 5-year-old children in my classroom, as well as with my co-workers. I have also improved my event planning skills by assisting in lesson planning for the kids. This job helps me to develop my public speaking skills and shows me how to talk to children about COVID-19 in a simple manner.
Although my job will end this June since it is a temporary position, I am confident that this preschool experience will help me in future jobs and in graduate school. I am excited to see what my future holds.
Emily Sanabria
Class of 2020
B.S. in Psychology
Minor in Health Communications
I took a lot of photos this year.
In March of 2020 alone, I took 75 photos of food as we hunkered down and tested recipes at home, careful to use all of the ingredients and random spices we had on hand since there was a shortage of certain items at grocery stores. It was fun (initially). We developed a new family favorite, bran muffins with frozen blueberries, Greek yogurt, honey and nutmeg. (Bran muffins? Wasn’t there a toilet paper shortage? Alas, all was well … )
I have 250 photos of our new puppy, Lenny, adopted in May – a distraction for our daughter, who’d been plucked from her first year at college and thrown back into her room to finish the year with online classes – her life with new friends, her summer job and apartment away from home all canceled within days. She was shell shocked and sad, and it was difficult to know how to help her. For months, she only came out of her room to eat, until Lenny arrived. The shelter referred to him as a rescue pet, but honestly, they rescued each other.
After that the photo documentation is scattered. There are photos of books I read, my husband and I learning to play chess, and our living room miniature golf putting green.
I am choosing to reflect on the positive outcomes from this year, and not to share with you the heartaches, though there have been many.
Something important I read this year that I return to frequently, is this lovely piece from author Jen Hatmaker:
“If you carefully and consistently build the right things into your life, into your soul, into your relationships, into your very character:
Integrity
Loyalty
Trustworthiness
Goodness
Compassion
Healthy community
Honor
Faithfulness
Love
Self-control
Kindness.
…it will all hold when your life unravels. Every bit of it. Crisis doesn’t destroy it; it reveals it. What has sat gently and softly inside your heart will come roaring out like a lioness when called upon to save your very life. The faith you tended? Holds like the Rock of Gibraltar. The healthy relationships you nurtured will be your anchor. Your good character keeps you true to yourself, true to what is noble and right, even as the waves crash over your head.
If it wasn’t there in the light of day, it will certainly not be in the dark night of the soul. Crisis reveals that too.
Build it all while you are in the good cheer of daylight. Tend it all well, sisters. Though I don’t wish the severe testing of your integrity, you will face your test sooner or later, and whatever you have built is what will show up.”
To build in the good cheer of daylight.
Christina Reilly
Staff from University Advancement
Masks up. Hands washed and sanitized. And yet, the enemy invaded my household anyway. Husband, daughter and I were down for Thanksgiving break. My coughing fits were like nothing I had ever experienced — and yet we all had different symptoms. I skipped a Dominican Star production day because of a fever, not knowing I was in the early stages of COVID. I taught classes over Zoom, not realizing that the double shot of COVID/pneumonia was what made it so difficult to take a deep breath. Standing in glow of a bathroom nightlight, holding a thermometer in my hand and praying that I could keep that number under 101 degrees is a feeling I’ll always remember. I lost most of my writing gigs as restaurants shut down. Husband lost his job one week into the pandemic and found a new one a few weeks later that kept him WFH permanently. Daughter adapted to the disruption of her high school years with a shrug and, “I don’t really think about us making history. It’s happening to everyone all over.” It looks like we’re coming out on the other side, and as I write this with a sore arm from my second vaccine shot, all I can do is look ahead to the future and normalcy.
Shonda Dudlicek is the editorial/design adviser of the Dominican Star
The past year went by like a dystopian nightmare. Sometimes when I woke up in the morning, it took me a while to realize that it’s no longer normal to go outside without a mask, without staying two yards away from passersby. Even when my family called from China in early March, I never would have thought the virus would spread this far. But I think what’s equally upsetting is the hatred that resurfaced. The conspicuous kind that makes it uncomfortable in your own skin. The hate that will continue to spread. Maybe it will fester like a stereotype. A justification for harm.
I called my family almost daily in February and March, worried about how they were handling this. But by late March and early April, they were calling me daily when America reached the highest case numbers.
The past year did teach me to be grateful. I am so thankful for my friends, co-workers and professors at DU who supported me through this. They were there for me when I felt alone and I thought of their kindness as I faced another day. Especially the Dominican Star, we have worked so hard to keep the print and social media posts going. Isabelle, Thomas, Shonda, and I were the only ones who remained in 2020 and this year we have added new staff. I still appreciate our shared tenacity in reporting, editing, and writing.
Chelsea Zhao
Class of 2022
Digital Journalism and Informatics major
French minor
