Community Interrupted - Q&A with Tom Kardel and Eric Russman

Academic Dean Tom Kardel and Dean of Students Eric Russman sat down – via Zoom – to talk about how KUA is fulfilling its mission to prepare students for the challenges of tomorrow’s world through the challenges of COVID-19.

 

Kardel: Well, I’m certainly not doing what I thought I would be doing, either this year or at this point in my career. But overall, I’m trying to keep to a routine: get up and ready for work every day, even if that means a dress shirt with sweatpants, and I make sure to get some exercise, eat right, and stay in touch with family and friends. Of course, I miss the life of the KUA community. Spring especially is a wonderful time on campus with the flowers and trees coming to life, and the campus buzzing with the end-of-the-year activities.

 

Russman: We are fortunate to live in such a supportive and caring community. The camaraderie amongst the faculty and staff and the resilience of our students is reassuring and uplifting. For every act of kindness, there is always an equal expression of gratitude. The word “together” is the single most accurate word to explain, despite our social distancing, what it has felt like to create and experience our Distance Learning and Community program these past few months, and for that, I will always be grateful.

 

Kardel: When we sat down in early March to plan for the spring our two main objectives were to provide continuity of education and maintain the spirit of community and belonging, even if we had to do those things from a distance. That guided our development of the academic schedule, for instance. KUA students are spread across the globe, and we had to think about them as being spread across a day. Our first students rise every morning in Japan and Korea, and, as the sun sweeps westward, they are followed by students in China, Thailand, and Vietnam. From there onward to India, the Middle East, and Europe. Finally, the physical community here in Meriden wakes to start its day, followed by the remainder of the United States and Mexico, finishing in Alaska. That’s an incredible span of time. Our hope was to bring everyone together even if for only a couple of hours each day.

 

Kardel: We have a faculty that cares deeply about the kids and their education. We leveraged momentum from our tech-savvy teachers who jumped in to help fellow teachers. Our faculty absorbed a semester of graduation-level education in distance learning in only two weeks. Each teacher took their discipline and identified and learned the tools necessary to deliver their coursework.

 

Russman: I’d say we’re also a school that is unbound by tradition. We’re always searching for ways to deliver an education based on the needs of the individuals. We’ve never been afraid of innovation and change and that has served us well in this environment. What we’re seeing is an accelerated example of how our faculty are predisposed to thinking through new ideas and perspectives.

 

Kardel: The vast majority of emails and calls we receive from parents are grateful and thankful. Some parents have shared that they’ve been listening into classes and have enjoyed hearing the engagement between teachers and classmates. We’ve received a lot of unsolicited positive feedback from students as well. We know we are truly delivering on our promise when we have students writing to share their appreciation for the efforts of teachers and saying the transition is as seamless as it could be. Anyone who works with, or lives with, teenagers know that’s really meaningful.

 

Russman: We’re helping students process the emotional journey that comes when the end of the year coincides with a global pandemic. We have honest conversations about mental health and wellbeing. Even before our distance-learning program began, Director of Counseling Services Coley Hapeman reached out to all students to offer mental-health support. Students could schedule a personal conversation, join group chats, or request a referral to a local therapist. She received tremendous response and heard from students who had not previously sought support. That’s actually a good thing. Students were able to identify that they needed help and were comfortable asking for it. The relationships we built with our students aren’t dependent on a physical campus.

 

Kardel: I’d add that some of the virtual social opportunities we’ve created for students have had an ulterior motive – to get more adult eyes on students. And from an academic perspective, teachers in the Gosselin Learning Center continue to offer structured and individualized support programs that help students overcome their existing challenges to learning but also account for how these challenges present in a distance-learning environment.

 

Kardel: Frankly, I think we overestimated all of our abilities. We didn’t want an underwhelming program – our students deserve more. But perhaps we overwhelmed them with the workload and we didn’t want to add additional stress to the lives of our kids. We’ve heard this from other schools as well. Even our most intellectually engaged kids are just saying it’s too much. We’ve used weekly surveys to students, parents, and faculty, to gauge our efforts and adjust workload and grading accordingly. Flexibility has been key.

 

Kardel: Our pre-coronavirus community is something cherished by students. I thought students would be dismissive of our typical on-campus activities, like virtual all-school meetings, but they

actually wanted more. We are always balancing what we’re giving them, and what they’re giving each other. We realized much of our sense of belonging on campus is a result of random interactions – a conversation over lunch, passing someone on the way to class. Instead, we’re manufacturing serendipity – putting random students and faculty together for group-based activities.

 

Russman: We’re constantly thinking of new ways to engage our community and keep them active. We believe that the health and wellness of our students requires a healthy mind and body. Coaches are still very much “coaching” their teams through group workouts, training programs, and instruction. My daughter, a senior at KUA, is up early three times a week working out with her lacrosse coach. We live in a nearly 200-year-old New England farmhouse, and the floors and walls shake with each push-up. Her experience is typical of so many of our students. Our athletic department also hosted its first all-school workout. It’s not something we’ve ever done in person but we ended up really enjoying it virtually. Everything is designed to be accessible for everyone without the need for specialized equipment or gear.

 

Kardel: This has shown me that we are resilient, confident, and secure in how our community works. I’m blown away by the incredible warmth in these spaces through this shared experience. The virtual moments are rich and vibrant and there’s more happening than you see on the screen. The bottom line is that these kids want to be here. While I’m proud of the faculty and students for rising to this ‘distant’ occasion, the experience has only reinforced for me the choice I made 24 years ago when I first started teaching at KUA. I love the everyday interactions with the members of the community because, as small as they may be, each one builds to create an environment that is greater than the sum of its parts.


Full Newsletter Article Listings