Politics, Pandemic and First-Year Prep

Starting fresh

For Bulega, who plans to major in law, the summer course was a welcome opportunity to start fresh after a final high school semester marked by disappointments, including a canceled prom and a drive-through graduation.

“I don’t know how I maintained my grades in the spring because I was just so done,” says Bulega, who graduated from the Pioneer Charter School of Science II in Saugus, Massachusetts. “I jumped at the chance to take this class and get back into an academic rhythm before college started.” 

The course helped junior government major Maddie McAloon re-connect with the Suffolk community after her spring study abroad experience in Prague ended abruptly back in March. 

Her role as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for a section of the pandemic course taught her to connect with and help other students in new ways–skills she’ll employ as a Resident Assistant and a mentor in the College of Arts & Science’s first-year experience class this year.

Building community

When McAloon first offered students “virtual office hours” she figured no one would show up.

She was wrong. 

Not only did students reach out, but the scope of their questions ranged far beyond the content of the course. 

“I answered questions about residential life, move-in, how to plan class schedules, use online learning tools,” says McAloon. “As they came to office hours more, I also saw them open up more in class.”

“At the beginning of the course students were relying a lot on Zoom’s text chat feature and they were hesitant to ‘unmute’ themselves,” she says. “We saw them grow more comfortable and participate more over time.”

TA Nancy Chammas, a junior political science major, measured her section’s progress in Instagram DMs. 

Students can sometimes be most comfortable interacting on social media, says Chammas, so she made her handles available. One incoming student’s most pressing question had nothing to do with the pandemic:

“She wanted to know how early she could show up to class once she got to campus without looking over-eager. It made me so happy that she felt comfortable asking me questions about the type of real first-year worries we have all had,” says Chammas.

A firm foundation

In addition to starting the fall semester with a network of peers, mentors, and faculty, students who participated in the pandemic course — and another summer course on writing for first years — had a technological head start using the University’s Blackboard online system, Zoom, and other learning tools. 

Alejandro Mendoza-Garcia, Class of 2024, is already putting those skills to use on the other side of the screen this semester as he works as a technology facilitator in one of Suffolk’s Hyflex classrooms. Hyflex classes are taught on campus, and students can attend in person or remotely. Student facilitators like Mendoz-Garcia assist with instructional technology and help manage the online cohort during HyFlex sessions so professors can focus on teaching. 

Mendoza-Garcia also learned many other important lessons that will serve him well throughout his time at Suffolk. 

“You can't really have a textbook about the coronavirus epidemic, because we're living it,” he says. “We were encouraged to go out and read the news and see what's going on for ourselves. It was a lot more hands-on and engaging.”

Representing the country of Sweden in a pandemic-response role-playing assignment taught him perspective; working with Professor Cosgrove to craft questions that generate discourse taught him the importance of preparation; and being able to ask those questions of experts who’d seemed like “celebrities” taught him to aim high and get involved. 

A lasting impact

“These really are extraordinary and challenging times and they call for extraordinary educational opportunities. This groundbreaking collaboration has allowed us to open up one of our virtual classrooms to the general public, and the response has really been overwhelming,” said Suffolk University President Marisa Kelly as the series drew to a close.  

Many students who took the course will cast their first votes in November’s general election, joining the politically-active Suffolk community in exercising their civic right. 

Mendoza-Garcia, who made the eligibility deadline by just a few weeks, says the pandemic course highlighted the impact elected officials up and down the ballot have on how government functions: 

“It just reinforces my opinion that voting is important and you should vote for everything.”