Project Components

My first objective for this project was to gain a better understating of how this community is being affected by COVID-19, and find ways to encourage and foster support and relationships within the school. I wanted to capture the ways in which members of the community could make contributions and what they would like to benefit from their peers. To gain this insight, I collaborated with staff and students in the Masters and Doctorate programs to create an anonymous survey which was shared with students and staff in the Undergraduate, Graduate, and Doctorate departments of the school.

The results of this survey led to confidential discussions with peers in the community to discuss ways to offer personalized support, the creation of an interactive resource map, the development of affinity based support groups run by student & staff volunteers, and the establishment of a student-run community webpage. This online space offers students and staff a place to connect others to immediate resources, forward opportunities they come across, and share personal skills and talents. I felt that it was important to remain available to community members who wished to discuss support needs privately, but ultimately decided that an accessible platform for community members to discuss and share resources, as well as better student-to-student contact, was the best method to build a stronger community that spanned the departments of the school.