March 2020 – DreamersAndGiants.com

Nurses on the Front Lines

Nurses and hospital workers are playing a vital role in helping the world through the COVID-19 Pandemic. This week I would like to give them all a shout out and a virtual hug for all that they are doing.

Struggles and Frustrations

During my years in the library, I would watch the dedicated nursing students as they worked extremely hard, many times through the tears and frustration required to master all of the important information.

Many of those people are out there this week, all over the country, providing care and being heroes. I have no doubt that many of them are again crying tears of frustration over the situation that they are involved with. I find it comforting to know how well prepared they are, and proud of WVWC for the strong Nursing Program that has prepared them.

In particular, I want to honor and thank those who have founded, taught in, and been students in the Nursing Program at WVWC.

This summary is necessarily brief — to write the full rich history would take many books!

1961

In 1961, President Stanley Martin hired Miss George Rast a full year before the first students were admitted to the program. A nurse educator since 1937, Miss Rast developed the curriculum, made connections for clinical placements, and took care of all of the administrative things that needed to be completed.

1962

Eleven students enrolled in 1962, and five of these became the first graduates of the program in 1965.

Interest continued to grow. When the Admission reports came out in February of 1966 there were already thirty-one applicants for the program (second only to Education, which had 64).

Each year the students who have completed their first clinical program are honored at a capping ceremony. At the ceremony in 1974-75, there were thirty-four including a couple of males.

Stronger Than Ever

During budget woes in 2004 there were plans to phase out the program. An outcry from community and college alike was heard by President Pamela Balch who reinstated it in October 2006 as her very first act when taking office.

From that low point, the program has come back stronger than ever. In fact, it now includes degrees at the masters and doctoral levels. From 1999-2000 to 2018-19 (the past 20 years) Wesleyan has awarded 349 BSN degrees and 108 Masters degrees in Nursing fields

Advanced Degrees

2009 Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) – with a Nursing Education Focus. This was quickly followed by a Master of Science in Nursing with a Nursing Administration Focus.
2011 Master of Science in Advanced Practice (APRN) areas of Advanced Health Assessment, Pathophysiology, and Pharmacology. A collaboration was formed with Shenandoah University in order to make these degrees possible.
2013 Because of expressed desire, interest, and need from the community of interest, the MSN program received approval for the the degrees of MSN-FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner) and post-graduate APRN certificate (FNP with population focus of individual/family across the life span) in spring 2013, with the first cohort of students entering in fall 2013. Importantly, the decision was made at this time to utilize technology and adapt instruction from face-to-face pedagogies to hybrid distance teaching methods. This decision was in great part the result of input from our community of interest and it has been an important part of our work in the MSN program for the last several years.
2018 Doctorate of Nursing Practitioner (DNP) began enrolling students, and the first class will graduate in May 2020.

Facilities

The present-day Erickson Alumni Center was purchased as the home of the brand new nursing department In 1961, and remained the home for ten years until Middleton Hall was built in 1971.

The simulation lab is a state-of-the-art facility giving students plenty of hands on training on campus as well as in their clinical placements at hospitals and other health facilities in the area.

Great curriculum + Great faculty + Great facilities = Successful Alumni

The Winter/Spring edition of the Sundial told of the success of graduates. You can read the full article by clicking on the link above.

“Wesleyan alumni nurses are known for their level of expertise, sensitivity, and care. Many hold leadership positions in some of the nation’s best hospitals. However, all have a common goal – to be a caregiver to those who need help. Whether it is in administration, cardiac care, community health, emergency rooms, intensive care units, medical-surgical care, neonatal, oncology, or women’s health, Wesleyan nurses make a difference.”

Our graduates are out there making a huge difference. They are heroes.

And yes, a WVWC Nursing Grad works there……

HUGS!!

Many thanks to Tammy Crites, Director of Institutional Research and to Dr. Susan Leight, Professor of Nursing and director of the West Virginia Wesleyan School of Nursing and the MSN and DNP programs, for some background information and numbers!

Out of Control? Get Creative.

Things are not normal at the moment in Buckhannon, but this is not the first time that such disruptions have taken place. The last major one was in the 1970s.

1970s Oil Crisis and the Aftermath

Following the OPEC Oil Embargo (October 1973-March 1974) oil was scarce and prices were very high. Economies around the world were in trouble, suffering some of the worst losses since the Great Depression. This situation had repercussions for years on the campus finances, academic schedules, and the necessity of conserving energy in every possible way. President Jay Rockefeller had his hands full.

1975

At 3:00 on January 24, 1975, the Special Study Team on Energy Conservation met in the Trustee’s Room in the Martin Religious Center to begin their work: to find out how the college could survive. The team, led by Don Richardson, Vice President for Finance, worked for weeks to get the best possible information. They worked with conservation experts from Columbia Gas and researched all of the things being done all across the country to gather the best information.

The February 12, 1975 Pharos included this story on the front page. The recommenations were dire. Cut fuel consumption by 40% in non-residential buildings and a voluntary 15% in residence halls.

Faculty members also began using the college radio station to record lectures and distance learning took its place in college offerings. This, and another form of outreach, lectures via cassette tape, was something that would be welcomed in the following years.

This was not a crisis that was quickly solved. It took years.

1977

The May 1977 issue of the Sundial News included a story about the historic “Winter of 77” and the drastic measures that were taken. Click here to read the story.

WVWC closed for three weeks (January 26-February 21) due to the loss of gas heating supplies, and January term on campus was cancelled. The faculty got creative. During January one hundred and thirty-three students, eleven professors, and five staff members went south and held classes on the campus of Florida Atlantic University. Two hundred other students studied at home by radio cassette tape lectures, readings, and mailing in their work to the professors. President Ronald Sleeth worked tirelessly to try and keep everything afloat.

When everyone returned on February 21, faculty reworked their syllabi, and did the best that they could with the situation. Saturday classes were instituted for the rest of the semester to make up for the lost time. Strict conservation measures were in place throughout that time as well.

Major Life Events of All Kinds Require a Reset

Retirement, marriage, being new parents, moving to a new city, getting a divorce, starting a new job, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires: all of these can cause us to make major adjustments. It requires us to do a Control-Alt-Delete type of reset for our lives. Control what we can, find alternative ways to do things, and delete things that are no longer needed or relevant.

Pandemic of 2020

With face-to-face classes cancelled for the rest of the semester, WVWC faculty members are once again making major adjustments. They are doing an amazing job of transitioning to online instruction, and finding creative ways to connect with their students. They are also finding time to catch their breath from the frantic pace of the world. Although there is still a great deal to do, they can do it at a different pace.

Students are learning to cope with the realization that in addition to the course content, they must conquer the technology and the needed discipline to remember that they are still in the middle of classes. They are not on vacation. They, like so many people, are working from home.

Staff members have set up home offices, and are doing an extraordinary job of staying connected and productive. New initiatives are in the works, and there are new ways of having meetings.

Creative World

The entire world is being creative. People are singing from balconies in Italy, having youth group scavenger hunts, weddings, and finding ways to do extended family game nights via Zoom. They are learning American Sign Language and practicing with friends who are far away.

Museums are having virtual exhibits. Authors are reading their works on Facebook and YouTube. People are reaching out to share their talents and gifts with others. Churches are making their services available via Live Streaming and archiving them on YouTube, having virtual Sunday School via Zoom, and being sure to call and care for those who may be needing attention and company.

Some of these things have been there for years, but we haven’t taken the time to notice. At this time of being apart, you can take the time to explore, to be involved, to be entertained, and learn new skills. Time is something that many of us have generally found hard to come by — but now that is different for at least a few weeks.

Try some of these!

Here are just a few examples of what you can find from the comfort of your own home.

Book of Kells Online from Trinity College, Dublin

CLIO – when you can’t travel, check out this amazing website. Try searching for WVWC, your own home town, or somewhere you’ve always been curious about.

Google Arts and Culture –More than 1,000 virtual tours, museums, and cultural treasures. Even a whole section on dinosaurs! A few examples include Tour the Palace of Versaille, Vincent Van Gogh, Walk Around Yellowstone Park

Hogwarts Digital Escape Room – The Peters Township Public Library in McMurray, PA has created this.

Internet Archive has enough to keep you busy exploring for several hundred years (billions)! For example: 307 items that WVWC has included, The Wayback Machine, Movies, Audio, Software, and even Classic Video Games

Israel Museum has many exhibits including the Dead Sea Scrolls

Things to Do:

Besides the great collections at the Library of Congress, you can also participate in a Crowdsourcing Project called By the People to transcribe materials. Sign up to help transcribe Letters to Lincoln, Rosa Parks in Her Own Words, Suffrage materials, and more all from wherever you are. Click here to see what it’s all about.

Creativity and Survival

During this time of distancing to slow the spread of the COVID-19 Virus, I wish you some time to stop, think deeply, and be creative.

Brains and Hearts and Courage

In the fall of 2016, I taught a First Year Seminar course called Over the Rainbow and Other Journeys. It was counted as a Literature course for General Studies, but my ulterior motive was to help the students learn more about themselves at a time of great transition, and that more transitions would be required of them over the course of their lives.

Our texts included the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Coraline. Three books with strong female characters — each of which were grappling with a change in the way they perceived the world. (Perfect for first semester college freshmen!)

Wonderful Wizard of Oz

We read the actual book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as well as watching and discussing the movie version that is so familiar to everyone.

Brains
Heart
Courage
Friends are important
There’s no place like home….and seeing it from a new perspective

Alice in Wonderland

We also read Alice in Wonderland.

In this book, the confusing world around her shifted from familiar to downright bizarre. At times she wanted to control it. At times she wanted to understand it. She had moments of wanting to be small and moments of wanting to be big. The students could relate to these things! She also grappled with thinking things through, caring about those around her, and having courage.

Coraline

The third book we read was Neil Gaimon’s Coraline.

A bit more modern, this young lady had to choose to go to the dark “other world” which looked like reality, but was actually not. In the end, she outsmarted the villainous “other mother” and used her caring and her bravery to save her real parents.

The students in this class took it all to heart.

They became leaders on campus in multiple areas: Sports (Tennis and Soccer), Enactus officers and award winners, Religious Life leaders, Band and Choir members, Dancers, Tutors, and Wesleyan Ambassadors are among them.

They have found lifelong friends and life partners during their WVWC Journeys.

They have also had to find a lot of courage. They have lost classmates, faculty members, staff members, family members, and now they find themselves suddenly missing out on their final semester traditions due to the Pandemic sweeping the world.

On the first day of class, they felt as if they had been transported by some type of wild tornado from their familiar homes to the strange new land in Buckhannon. Over time, that place became home. Their friends and faculty became family. Over time, they truly discovered their Home Among the HIlls.

Robbie Skinner Rainbow over Chapel 2019 — Photo by Robbie Skinner, Class of 2011

On the last day of class, I told them that there would be future storms in their lives which would require them to use the things they had seen in Dorothy, Alice, and Coraline. They would need those brains, hearts, and courage to face those storms. They would need friends. They would rely on family. These future storms could include natural disasters like tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, and fires. They will also include things like graduation, marriage, new babies, new jobs.

None of us expected that their time at WVWC would be cut short by a Pandemic. I grieve with them for the loss of these last few months in Buckhannon.

The entire Class of 2020 is dealing with all of these emotions. Facebook posts have been full of grief and longing for “normal” times as well as a new-found appreciation for things and people that they had started taking for granted. The fact that it all happened so suddenly and unexpectedly adds an extra layer of sadness. They thought that they still had several months before having to encounter this particular storm.

But, I know that they are strong. They have brains, hearts and courage to endure it all. I miss them already.

Deja Vu – All Over Again

You can hardly go an hour these days without a news report, Facebook post, Tweet, or other reminder about the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We have all heard the importance of washing our hands, staying out of large crowds, cleaning and disinfecting surfaces of all kinds. Much of this we have learned (if we have been paying attention) from those who have come before us. They have also experienced masks and quarantines!

This blog post is a reminder of another kind. The world has been in this situation before — many times. And, in particuar, the voices of WVWC folks will tell us what life was like on campus during the 1918 Spanish Influenza.

1918

On September 30, 1918, the Student Army Training Corp (200 strong) was sworn in. They were here to study and to train for World War I. Here is the first part of the article. Click here to read the rest of it as well as the story about preparations for the S.A.T.C.

S.A.T.C. Inaguration — Pharos, October 7, 1918

The day this article was published, October 7, there was also a notice that Chapel was not being held due to Spanish Influenza. On the 9th, the S.A.T.C. students went into the barracks under two weeks’ quarantine. The barracks were in the Gymnasium, with cots placed at a standard 18 inches apart. The mess hall was in the basement of the gym.

October 1918

A notice on page six of the October 21, 1918 Pharos mentions that the S.A.T.C. boys had donned gas masks, but that this did not prevent some flirting with the girls in the Hall.

Here are some of the other notices from that issue, which indicate that there were many students (and their families) who were suffering from this illness:

About twenty of the Hall girls sent the week end at home hile the flu scare was on. Among them were Hazel Metheny, Vera Reitz, Faith Craig, Ruth Vn Camp, Pearl Robinson, Trella Linville, Bonnie Ray, Grace Wilson, Ada Vanderhoff, Alta Gatewood, Margaret Blair and Mary Shay.
The S.A.T.C. men had planned a preaching service for Sunday evenig, also, but on account of the sudden outbreak of influenza in the barracks, their meeting was called off.
Four cases of influenza developed at the Hall last Wednesday. Misses Orpah Haymond, Floy Gamble, Mary Maxwell and Louise Schaffer were the fashionable girls.
All students are requested by college authorities to wear gauze masks in class rooms as a preventative of influenza.
The Flu has not manifested itself much in the faculty as yet. Miss Ryder is the only one.
Miss Irma Workman, ’17, who has been teaching at Sistersville High School, was at home last week – another victim of Flu. Three other members of the Workman family were ill of the same disease at the same time.
Miss Pearl Grosse, ’18, has returned to her home while the Huntington schools are closed on account of influenza.
Miss Anna Reger, ’15, who is teaching at Clendenin, is home while the epidemic of flu is so prevalent.
Aubrey Carl Smith, ’18, answered the call of his country in July, when he went to Camp Meade to be trained for service abroad. And on October 7, 1918, he answered the last roll call in response to the Captain of all men. He was nearly 26 years old.

At the height of the epidemic and the quarantine, the Music Conservatory (which we now know as the English Annex) was turned into a hospital for housing those who were quarantined.The building you see in the background is the Old Gymnasium.

November – A Bit of Good News

Everyone recovered and the Conservatory turned back to the Music Faculty — Pharos, November 4, 1918

December 1918

The soldiers may have recovered, but the Influenza lingered on. As World War I came to an end with the Armistice on November 11, the troops disbanded and their time on campus came to an end in the middle of December

The Pharos issue of December 15 indicated that WVWC students and faculty were still quite in the middle of the health issues of the day, including the only student death:

The Happenings column in that issue of the Pharos mentioned:

Misses Virginia Arbothnot, Elizabeth Hartley, and Delphia Bond have joined the class that has the flu.
Prof. Gotwald is able to be back to school after having the flu.
There were five cases of flu in the Hall last week. The victims were Zillah Short, Lucille Ferguson, Marie Turnbull, MargaretSigaoose, and Gladys Herold.
Miss Margaret Blair is in of influenza.
Miss Pearl Smith, substitute for Miss Harding during her illness, is ill of influenza.
Professor Ernest Stutzman, who has been very ill of influenza, is slowly recovering.
Ernest M. Pritchard is able for duty after about ten or eleven weeks of illness. He is at Camp Lee, Virginia.

January – The Flu Goes On

The January 20, 1919 issue of the Pharos tells us this about students and alumni:

Misses Carrie and Louis Boggs have returned to school after having been ill of the flu.
Gladys Haught, of Mannington, who has been qite ill of influenza, is improving, but is not yet able to return to school.
Ruth VanCamp has returned to school, after having had an attack of the flu.
Alice Thacker is still confined to her home at Franklin with the flu.
Louise VanCamp, Normal ’16, has had a severe attack of the flu.
Anna Reger, ’16, has returned to work at Clendenin High School, after an attack of influenza at her home here.
Floyd Ressegger, ’18, employed by the International Harvester Company at Akron, Ohio, is now at home recovering from an attack of the flu.

February

The February 3, 1919 issue of the Pharos tells us that it is STILL continuing.

Pearl Robinson was very ill of influenza last week.
John Post, who was in the aviation corps in California has received his discharge, and is now quarantined with flu.

March

The last mention of the struggles of the Wesleyan community with the Spanish Flu was in the March 31, 1919 issue of the Pharos.

Dr. MacWatters, who spent the winter at Daytona Beach, Florida, recovering from a serious case of pheumonia following influenza, has returned to Wesleyan.

Lessons Learned: Keep Calm and Wash Your Hands

It is important to take precautions. But, this is by far not the first time the world has experienced global health issues. The vast majority of voices from the Pharos went on to have a positive impact on the world for many years to come.

Katherine Johnson: Inspiring to Remember

Photo by Sandi Phillips Miller, Class of 1976

This week, we learned that Katherine Johnson had died at age 101. The photo above appeared on Facebook — launching me into an exploration. Although I knew the basics behind this statue, and the woman it honors, there was more to discover!

I won’t go into depth here about her life, as it has been well documented in many places, especially this week. A few great examples can be found here.

Johnson’s death occurred at an interesting point on the calendar. Right between Black History Month and Womens’ History Month. She is the ultimate example of the reason that we need to know more about both.

Katherine Johnson

Although Katherine Johnson did not attend West Virginia Wesleyan, there is a statue of her on our campus. She stands between Christoper Hall of Science and the David E. Reemsnyder Research Center as a daily reminder of the possibilities within all of us.

Her Alma Mater, West Virginia State University, also has a statue of her on their campus. Both were inspired by the movie, Hidden Figures. Katherine graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1937, at the age of 18 years old with majors in both Mathematics and French.

The Power of the Pen (and Art)

If not for author Margo Lee Shetterly, all of the power of Katherine Johnson’s story would likely still be unkown. Her 2016 book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, inspired the movie of the same name. Margo has also started a project called The Human Computer Project to find all of the Human Computers from those early days of NASA and to remember their contributions. She wrote about four, but there were hundreds.

If not for the movie, Ellen Mueller would not have been inspired to commission this statue to be created by Andy Thorne. Ellen, who taught in the WVWC Art Department from 2012-17, wanted to celebrate a West Virginian who had overcome challenges to reach excellence. When she saw Hidden Figures, she knew she had found the perfect person! And also that this story needed to be shared. Ellen noted that:

Since 2011, WVWC has had at least 14% of the student population from a minority. This sculpture is a way to help minorities on campus know that they are welcomed and honored here.

Andy Thorne, a native West Virginian and a sculptor, worked as a Visiting Artist with Ellen and her 3-D Design Class to show them how a commissioned sculpture progressed from idea through the steps of making it a reality. This weekend I had the chance to talk with Andy, who has since moved to Florida, and he is so happy to have had the opportunity to work with Ellen and her students — especially on this project which highlights such an amazing West Virginian.

If not for the statue, the photograph at the top of this page would not have been taken by Sandi Phillips Miller (class of 1976) and shared on Facebook this week upon the death of Katherine Johnson.

If not for the photograph, I might not have written this particular blog.

It is my hope that someone reading this blog might be inspired by Katherine Johnson all over again. She is still teaching us that it is possible, no matter who you are, where you were born, or the odds that are seemingly stacked up against you, the potential in every person is something to be recognized, mentored, celebrated, and advocated.

Month: March 2020

Nurses on the Front Lines

Struggles and Frustrations

1961