Items

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  2021

  Saint Anselm College HI363 prompt

  Saint Anselm HI363 student prompt, Spring 2021, instructor Beth Salerno.
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  2021

  Saint Anselm College HI199 prompt

  Saint Anselm College HI199 assignment prompt, Spring 2021. Instructor Beth Salerno
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  2020-03-13T15:10

  The Unexpected Closure of Saint Anselm College

  These were a sequence of emails I received as my college prepared to shut down on March 13th, 2020. This created an immense amount of stress and chaos for myself, my family, and my friends. We were concerned about being isolated on campus away from our families during such a scary, life changing time. The emails embody the idea that we would be able to remain in person, continuing our education in a normal way. This indicated that we truly did not understand the full complexity and severity of the issue. There was a lot of chaos and uncertainty during the weekend of the 3/13/2020-3/14/2020. Earlier in the week, a trusted professor indicated to us that it was only a 50% chance we would actually be sent home so we were absolutely shocked at the decisions.
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  2020-08-27

  College During a Pandemic

  Friday, March 13th, 2020 I received an email from President Favazza of Saint Anselm College that the whole campus was being shut down and we had until Sunday to move out of our dorm rooms and go home. We stayed in lock down for months- zoom, tiktok, family, boredom, walks, and eating are what my days consisted of. We got an email that we would be returning to campus in August we new protocols- masks, family units, hybrid classes. We did not care about the rules, we were just happy to be back and see new people. We got sent home second semester of our freshman year, what we thought would last a couple of weeks has now infected more than a year of our college experience. Masks, remote learning, social distancing, and COVID testing is our new normal. The photo above shows my friends and I on the Alumni quad at Saint Anselm College. It was a summer Friday night and we were trying to make the most of our time at college. My friends and I often spent a lot of our time outside. We ate lunch on the quad, spent our weekends on the quad, and did our classes outside. We realized that we needed to make the most of being outside because we had been locked inside for 3 months. We adapted to a huge change in what is supposed to be the best years of our lives.
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  2021-02-17

  My At-Home Gym

  During this drawn-out pandemic, I have had the misfortune of living alone in my apartment, essentially stranded. This was not helped by the fact that I have recently been left without a car. I have no family that lives close by and I have relied a lot on my friends' willingness to carpool with me if I need to get anywhere. I generally must walk to and from the grocery store and have many things shipped to me. Additionally, my commute to work is always on foot. These minor inconveniences are not as unbearable, however, as my inability to travel to the gym. The gym had become a daily routine for me pre-pandemic. On occasion, I would drive to the gym twice in one day to stay occupied. My lack of transportation was, thus, a major hit to my daily routine. About a week had gone by without exercise before I hatched an idea. I purchased a simple, $20, 25 lb weight to be shipped to my apartment. This weight would become the nucleus of my workout routine for the next year. With This 25 lb weight, I can mimic virtually any exercise that exists at the gym. Instead of 20 lb shoulder raises, I do 25 lb shoulder raises for a shorter set. Instead of 35 lb dumbell curls, I do 25 lb curls for a longer set. If an exercise would usually be done on a bench or mat, I could simply set down a few pillows and achieve the same effect. The transition was a bit awkward but easier than I expected. My pandemic-grade, simple, at-home weight room may appear underwhelming. It is, indeed, cheaper and of lower quality than gym equipment. However, my make-shift gym has kept me busy throughout the entirety of this pandemic. I am now back to my daily "gym" routine, sweating just as much in my apartment as I would be at a gym.
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  2020-07-22

  Funerals of Family Abroad: Losing a Grandfather in the Heat of the Pandemic

  Covid-19 has taken many things from me over the almost year that it has been running rampant around the United States, however, the biggest thing that Covid-19 has taken away from me was the opportunity for me to attend my Opa's funeral this summer. He, unfortunately, passed away from complications related to a stroke and my grandmother was able to see him in the hospital, but it was heartbreaking to not be able to attend his funeral in person. His death was rather sudden and so my family had not really been expecting it. When I first heard of his death I immediately thought about the fact that I would not be able to go to his funeral and that the last time I had seen him the year before would be the last time that I would be able to see him.