Campus update for April 8, 2020

April 8, 2020

Dear students,

Our campus calendar is starting to fill up again. Wednesday Chapel returns virtually at 8 p.m. today, plus, OSL Fridays are back.

You'll get an email link for the first Virtual Friday this week, starring comedian-magician Ben Seidman at 7 p.m.

Upcoming Virtual Fridays include bingo April 17, calligraphy April 24, and a Hogwarts Digital Escape Room May 1.

Want your event included in the calendar? Email covid19info@augustana.edu.

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Today's updates:

• Auditions for this fall's production of "Into the Woods" are going virtual. Here is the info.

• There will be no classes this Friday or next Monday around the Easter holiday weekend. Classes resume and follow a regular Tuesday schedule.

• You will get an email by Friday with your upcoming registration time. Don't forget to contact your advisor to clear any advisor restrictions before registration.

• Campus Cupboard will be open Thursday from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

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Today's podcast: Searching for Freedom from the Prison Industrial Complex: Dr. Yusef Salaam

Today's recipe: Augie S'mores Bars

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Blooming through a pandemic

Jane Bahls, Augustana Presidential Spouse

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a bit nutty about flowers. I love them all, and I’ve been known to interrupt my own sentence to point out a lovely magnolia tree or fine display of tulips.

And never so much as in the springtime, when the long winter ebbs away and the first tiny yellow aconite blooms by our garage. Daffodil and hyacinth sprouts poke out of the ground, stretch into leaves and buds and burst into bloom.

I wish you could be on campus right now to see all the daffodils blooming in the courtyard between Founders and Seminary. Steve and I go on a walk every day to maintain our health and sanity in these times, and we often walk through that courtyard. So beautiful! I’m sorry that most of you have to be gone from campus at this time, but I hope you have a chance to walk in your own neighborhood to see what’s blooming — a sign of hope.

Here’s the thing about spring flowers. Crocuses, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and many others grow from bulbs that you plant in the fall, knowing they’ll appear in the spring and keep coming up year after year.

But spring weather is unpredictable. I’ve seen times when a cold snap brings snow, and the first spring flowers just wait it out, blooming right through the snow and after it melts away. They’re adapted for wild variations in temperature, and they just change tactics until conditions improve.

All of you have had to switch tactics in response to this pernicious pandemic. It’s not what you bargained for nor what you expected, but I’m so impressed with your resilience. Augustana students, faculty and administrators are figuring it out.

We’re not known for online learning, but our faculty have adapted in remarkable ways to offer you the best education they can. You students are finding ways to connect with each other, and you’ve adapted to these new ways of learning. And I’ve seen Augustana administrators adapt to the ever-changing news, conferring on the phone, considering all the possibilities and making sound decisions. The college is in very good hands.

From all I hear, you’re doing very well. Bloom on!

 

Please send comments, questions or suggestions to covid19info@augustana.edu.