It s been almost a year since COVID-19 forced college leaders to shut down on-campus classes. At SUNY New Paltz, that meant figuring out how to bring study abroad students home, move 3,400 students out of residence halls, and transitioning to a virtual learning model. Spring break was extended by a week to give professors time to prepare to teach online. There was no playbook for making such sweeping changes. Through guidance from SUNY central, other institutions, and adaptation on the go, New Paltz brought just about half its students back to campus in the fall and relied on a mix of remote and in-person instruction. In January, I caught up with Donald P. Christian, the president at SUNY New Paltz. We recapped how the last year has played out and the promise of the coming semester.
click to enlarge All images courtesy of Clarkson University For families and schools in the Hudson Valley, the last year has been tumultuous to say the least. With the introduction of full-time remote learning and limited in-person classes, creating meaningful educational experiences for students has never been more challenging. Despite it all, the team at Clarkson’s Beacon Institute remains committed to providing educational programming for students and school systems that help ignite interest in science in kids of all ages. “New York and the US face a shortage of millions of STEM workers,” says Asher Pacht, Director of Environmental Programs at the Beacon Institute. “Our goal is to inspire young people to enjoy, pursue, and s
In 2015, I founded the Liberi School in Hudson, a vibrant independent school encompassing students from Pre-K through Grade Eight. Last winter, the Liberi School was a bustling hive of integrated, hands-on activity an idyllic space where children and educators could enter and immediately feel liberated to teach and learn located in an inspired conversion of a former gourmet grocery store, with a spacious central room and smaller classrooms connected by glass walls. As the pandemic wave reshapes the educational landscape of this country, school leaders are being challenged to forge new pathways into uncharted waters. In an era of masks and social distancing, I realized that the relaxed openness, freedom of movement, and dynamic exchange of ideas that drove Liberi s vibrancy could not be sustained. Yet, I also understood that, in having built the school, I needed to embrace the way of thinking that we instill in our students a comfort with the unknown and a willingness to take