Author: paula.mcgrew@gmail.com

Good Old Days

During finals week of my freshman year of college, I wandered into the bookstore to procure the dreaded Blue Book. The empty pages between the blue covers were just waiting for me to fill them with all of the things I had learned during the semester.

While there, a sign caught my eye. It seemed like quite the opposite of what I was feeling.

I was in the middle of exams, and packing, and saying goodbye to new friends for the summer. 

However, I bought that sign. It was in my dorm room for the rest of my college career. It is still with me, and looks a bit worse for wear. It was with me:

  • When my college sweetheart and I were newlyweds in Chicago — and homesick for family and the hills of WV.
  • When our children were newborns — and we were walking the floor night after night.
  • When family members died or moved far away.
  • Through new jobs, moves, school activities with the children, and empty nesting.

From time to time I still look at this sign, but with a new perspective.

Yes, those college days were the Good Old Days — in spite of the exams.

Yes, those adventures in Chicago — even during the Blizzard of 1979.

Yes, those wonderful moments (in retrospect) of endless rocking and singing to babies. They turned out to be pretty amazing people!

Yes, when looking back at the great memories we made with family members.

Yes, during each day and in every time in life, there were good things happening.

Good Old Days at WVWC?

  • Probably was hard to think it was the Good Old Days when, as seen on this 1900 map, the campus consisted of only the Seminary Building and Ladies Hall. And when the main building burned in 1905.
  • Probably was hard to think it was the Good Old Days during World War I and soldiers were training on campus…and students shipping off to fight in Europe.
  • Probably was hard during the Spanish Flu Epidemic in 1918.
  • Probably was hard, during the years that Roy McCuskey was president — during the Great Depression.
  • Probably was hard, during the years of World War II, and Korea, and Vietnam.

In each of these cases, there were very good things happening at WVWC in spite of it all. There were people (Faculty, Staff, Students) stepping up and being creative, just as there are in 2020. Giants then…Giants now.

2020

It is hard to imagine that we are living through the Good Old Days in 2020.

Pandemics, quarantines, online classes and meetings.

Masks and sanitizers all around.

Maybe, in time, we will remember the time spent with family without all of the running around.

Or the people who were heroic.

Or the people who called to check on us.

Or the creative ways we found to do the things that are important.

Personal Perspective

This year, in our family, there is a brand new baby – born a week before Mother’s Day. We celebrated Mother’s Day 2020 by introducing the baby to family members via Zoom. A good time was had by all.

These may well be Good Old Days yet.

I think I will give the sign to my daughter for Mother’s Day so that it can inspire her as well.

p.s. Congratulations, also to Lauren Weaver (WVWC’s United Methodist Church Liaison and Spiritual Life Coordinator) and her husband Nathan Weaver (class of 2013) on the birth of Ezra Lawrence Weaver on May 2!  And to Dr. Katharine Antolini, who was featured on a BBC news story about Mother’s Day as a Mother’s Day Scholar. Yes, these may be the Good Old Days after all.

Virtual

Virtual

Our lives have been transformed lately.

Things that we have done for years, and taken for granted, are now being done differently.

We connect with family and friends differently.

We learn, worship, celebrate, consume entertainment, and explore the world differently.

The word Virtual is defined as being almost or nearly as described, or almost a particular thing or quality. Oxford describes the origins as in the graphic below.

In many cases, the nature of what we are trying to achieve does not change: teach, learn, celebrate, support, enjoy, explore and so on. It may not be exactly the same. In some cases it is close, nearly, or almost. In some cases it misses the mark completely. In some cases it is just different — maybe even better!

Usage of the word has increased greatly in recent years, and my guess is that this has been especially true in the past few months. It seems that right now all of life has been impacted by the word Virtual.

Virtual Commencement

This past Saturday was a historic day at WVWC. The first ever Virtual Commencement happened. It was obvious that doing things as they are usually done was not possible. Travel was not possible for families, and groups over 25 people were not permitted as per orders from the governor. 

With creativity, interaction, and keeping the goals of celebration and interactivity in mind, I think that this virtual effort was successful. Parts of it were really nice! The nature of the college and the celebration of the graduates were captured very well. There were no limits on tickets, no hard bleachers for families to sit on for hours, and it is all available to watch again if you’d like! Later in the day, graduates were sharing the link and other photos from the event with family and friends. The celebration that was happening in all of the comments were not Virtual. They were very real! 

Click here to watch the recording.

It was almost as described. The essence of the celebration was strong. While not what most graduates and their families had envisioned, it did a great job of including participation and celebrating relationships. Students were invited to submit photos from their college years. Many submitted photos with friends, faculty, groups, teams, or activities that had been especially meaningful to them. Some chose not to submit photos, and that was ok too. Various campus folks included short video congratulations.

The ceremony ended, as it does in person, with the singing of My Home Among the Hills. But this time, the choir members sang it together while apart. The tears that came to my eyes were not virtual. My eyes were a bit moist.  Click here to watch it — over and over again if you’d like!

 

Litany of Commission for the Class of 2020

Litany of Commission for the Class of 2020

Davis, Sidney T. portrait

Since 1978, the Baccalaureate Service has included a Litany of Commission written by Dr. Sidney T. Davis, Professor Emeritus of Religion and Christian Education and former Dean of the Chapel.

Dr. Davis, himself a student of Dr. Ralph C. Brown, Class of 1915 and a graduate in the class of 1936, has been an inspiration to many throughout the years. A faculty member from 1947-76, Dr. Davis mentored and inspired many church leaders. He continues to inspire present and future graduates of the college through the use of this Litany of Commission.

This is one tradition that does not have to be missed this year even though the COVID-19 pandemic has caused such upheaval in this time of celebration. In fact, as I went through the litany this week, it struck me that it only needed a mention of the situation at the beginning and at the end in order for it to apply to the class of 2020.  Here is the litany with those slight additions in italics.

The President:

Members of the graduating class of 2020, the Wesleyan of today: administration, faculty, staff, fellow students, families; are not able to be together physically in Wesley Chapel for Baccalaureate Service or in the Rockefeller Gymnasium for your Commencement exercises as we would all love to be. However, you are surrounded by an unseen cloud of witnesses – wherever you may be – who have given to all of us a rich heritage in love of learning, devotion to truth, concern for people.

Graduating Seniors:

We gladly take this heritage as our own this day. We pledge ourselves to its preservation.

Wesleyan Community:

We rejoice in your commitment to the excellence of great traditions. We support you. We pray for your success.

The President:

You have lived and studied among people of faith. Without the undergirding, strength and courage of faith in God, the Wesleyan community would never have been born and could not survive. Take faith and let it daily be your companion.

Graduating Seniors:

We take heart for we have seen faith at work. We would be people of faith and receive it as our own: Faith in God, faith in our fellow human beings, and faith in ourselves as persons of God.

Wesleyan Community:

We, too, are people of faith and know its sustaining power. May it be yours: Faith to keep you strong, steady and serving

The President:

Go then, for there is now a noble commission given to you. Because of the special gifts with which you have been endowed, because of the nurture of those gifts by the spirit of Wesleyan, you are hereby commissioned to go out into the world to make a difference to change it for the better, to enrich it with your own brand of creative goodness, to redeem it when it falters. Go then, and God go with you!

Graduating Seniors:

We accept our commission. We dare to go because we must. Indeed, circumstances have required us to go long before we were ready. God grant that we shall be of good courage, and be faithful to the trust invested in us by our families, by Wesleyan, by the Church, and by God.

All:  Amen

This Litany is not virtual. Yes, we would have preferred to say it in person. No, it is not changed because of the circumstances. In fact it may be more true today than ever! You are commissioned by generations of the Wesleyan community who have come before you to go out into the world, to make a difference to change it for the better, to enrich it with your own brand of creative goodness, to redeem it when it falters. 

Earth Day

50 Years Ago

The first ever Earth Day happened April 22, 1970. 

It happened all over the world. It happened at WVWC. 

In 1970, more than 20 million Americans participated and advocated. Thousands of colleges and universities held protests, environmental teach-ins, and petition drives. By 1990, the movement was global. This year, on the 50th anniversary of its founding, more than one billion people will be involved in more than 193 countries. (Virtually, of course, with Social Distancing)

Pharos Coverage

For weeks before the big day, the Pharos was abuzz with plans. 

The full text of Cherie Nick’s article can be read here.

The text of the petition:

A Common Goal For This Millennium

The Family of Man in Balance with Its Environment In A World of Peace

UNITED NATIONS PETITION FOR THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT

To the head of the Member Nations of the United Nations, to the General Assembly, and to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In recognition of the great urgency of our need to find solutions to the global problems of environmental deterioration and overpopulation, we urge you:

To formally declare a Common Goal for the People of the Earth, to be achieved within the short period of time that now remains before the THIRD Millennium, of bringing the Family of Man into balance with its environment, i a world of peace.

To add to the formal structure of the United Nations a Population an Environment Council of coordinate rank to the five major organs that now serve the General Assembly.

To accelerate planning for the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment that is now being planned for June of 1972, and to schedule it for the earliest reasonable date in 1971.

To work together in advance of the Conference to formulate and informally agree upon specific plans for unified world-wide action to solve our major environmental problems.

To formally adopt these plans at the 1971 Conference of Human Environment.

To use this Conference to launch a unified assault upon those problems of our common environment on this small earth that demand, and will only yield to the common will and concerted efforts of all men everywhere — all races, all creeds, all economic classes, all ages — all over the world.

They Even Had Earth Day Pins!

The Wesleyan community was also invited to purchase a pin to show support for the movement. Proceeds went to the Balance Fund Foundation at the United Nations.

Advocacy: Then And Now

There were several wonderful descriptions of events on the campus by student writers, Cherie Nick (1971) and David Grubb (1972).

The April 14, 1970 issue of the Pharos had an article about the Ecological Teach-In and an article entitled Give Earth A Chance, by David Grubb. The opening paragraph sounds hauntinlgy current:

Earth Day was not just given lip service. There was follow-up. David Grubb also had an article in the April 28th issue entitled Where Do We Go From Here? The article began:

Earth Day, 1970, was more than just a pretty day to sit on the chapel steps and contemplate the potential and eminent dangers that face the world and the United States. It was, in fact, a time to look at the deeper social, political, and economic questions that lie at the very foundations of the crisis. The ecological destruction that has swept our finite planet can not simply be written off as a by-product of the population explosion.

David Grubb, class of 1972, when he went on from here, indeed continued the work that had been started. He dedicated himself to making a difference with a life of public service. According to his profile on the website of The Grubb Law Group, he was recognized as the National Consumer Advocate of the Year in 1983 by the Conference of Consumer Organizations, worked for a time with Ralph Nader in consumer advocacy, served in both the West Virginia State Senate and the House of Delegates, as the Deputy Attorney General in charge of West Virginia’s consumer protection office, and founded and served as the Executive Director of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group. He has received the Public Service Achievement Award from Common Cause of West Virginia, the Mother Jones Award from the West Virginia Environmental Council, and the Environmental Initiative Award from Sierra Club. 

Progress Has Been Made – But There Is Much More To Do

Click Here To See How You Can Participate on Wednesday, April 22, 2020

UPDATES!

Since this blog was published on Monday, I have had a great email visit with David Grubb. He enjoyed looking back at all of this.

Also, here are some great photographs of the event in 1970. Howard Hiner was the campus photographer, and he captured these (and more) images. Thanks, and a shout-out, to his son-in-law Danny Green ’74 for sharing them.

Dr. Joseph Mow and his Philosophy class
Part of the display in the Social Hall on the third floor of the Benedum Campus Center
Long view of the Benedum Campus Center — many new buildings since then!
Signing the petition!
John Wesley dressed for the occasion. David Grubb tells me that this was a World War II mask which was procured at the Upshur County Emergency Squad
The Chapel Steps – always a great gathering place

Joy In The Morning

Since 1977, the majority of Easter mornings in my life have included the singing or hearing of Natalie Sleeth’s Joy in the Morning. In fact, it hardly seems like Easter at all if that song is missing from my day – so I have been known a few times to go out and find it on YouTube!

Besides being a very beautiful, powerful, and meaningful song, I have a strong connection to both the song and the composer. Natalie Sleeth wrote it in Buckhannon, and it was first sung by the WVWC Tour Choir at the inauguration of her husband, Ronald Sleeth, as the thirteenth president of West Virginia Wesleyan College. I was present at that debut.  Since that time it has sold more than one million copies and been performed all over the world.


In 1987, Natalie Sleeth wrote a book called Adventures for the Soul: 35 Inspirational Poems and the Stories Behind Them in which, in her own words, she shares her thoughts, inspirations, and motivations for 35 of her best-known pieces including Joy in the Morning.

This small, but mighty, volume is available to borrow on the Internet Archive Open Library (free to sign up). In it, she tells about the inspiration for and development of Joy in the Morning. I would like to invite Natalie Sleeth to be the guest bloggist this week to share her thoughts with you.

Joy In The Morning

Ronald Sleeth, 13th President of WVWC and First Laday, Natalie Sleeth
Ronald Sleeth, 13th President of WVWC and First Lady, Natalie Sleeth

This piece “happened” one August weekend in Buckhannon, West Virginia and began with the phrase, “Joy In The Morning” — which, it turns out was from Psalm 30 though I didn’t know that at the time. I may have gotten it out of thin air or from a book I once read by that title; but whatever the origin, the phrase kept recurring to me, and I began to ponder it. As I worked with the idea and with developing the text into a full “statement” (of related ideas) it began to generate more excitement for me, particularly when it “allied itself” to a strong, minor melody with a sequential section in the middle.

I remember working on it all weekend–until very late at night  (since I was by myself) and beginning again early in the morning–and enjoying the challenge of working with four parts rather than just the two I often stop with. Perhaps at the back of my mind was the hope that it might prove suitable for an “inauguration anthem” for my husband’s inauguration as President of West Virginia Wesleyan College, but that was not uppermost in my mind at the outset. The best (most satisfying) part of writing the whole piece came when I had the idea for the ending with the delayed final major chord. I remember feeling excited at the effect it seemed likely to produce. I also enjoyed the realization that the second time through the material, to avoid a total “repetition” (albeit in another key) I could slow down one part by doubling the note values and achieving a contrast this way–especially by making it (virtually) a capella. So, the nature of the idea itself, plus the wrestling with it, brought about its ultimate form. It was not all conceived from the start by a long shot…but that seldom happens anyway.

I wrote out a piano accompaniment and then showed the manuscript to a few people at the college with the idea of its possible use at the Inauguration. But it seemed there would be no keyboard instrument at that occasion and someone suggested “translating” the accompaniment into brass instruments. I did this, with the help of the director of the band at the college, Mr. Dave Milburn, and it was performed at Ron’s inauguration on October 22, 1977 with a brass ensemble (two trumpets, two trombones) and the Tour Choir, under the direction of Mr. Jamie Schuppener.

I had listened to a choir rehearsal or two early in the fall (from manuscript) and made a few minor amendments in the score as a result (for better balance of voices and instruments) and the piece was finally published in the spring of 1977. I dedicated it to the W.V.W.C. Tour Choir, and put a footnote into the piece, giving credit to Jamie Schuppener as the director of the choir.

This piece has somehow traveled farther than any of mine, except perhaps for Baby, What You Goin’ To Be. It has been sung (many times, I understand) by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir over their regular radio broadcasts and by many other choral groups as well. The publisher made available a tape of the accompaniment (no voices), using brass and organ, so that small churches without these resources readily available can still sing the piece.

The cover (front) is very colorful and exemplifies the idea in the text but the back cover is uniquely appropriate to the “place of birth” of the piece, since it is the picture off the college catalog of W.V.W.C, taken in West Virginia not too far from Buckhannon. (The area looks like that!)

Something Worth Singing, and Something Worth Singing About 

In the book, Natalie Sleeth ends her preface (which she calls Sharings) with this:

I would somehow like to think that the messages of my texts, especially the “inspirational” ones, have the potential for educating, enlightening and enriching people (rather than simply entertaining them), and perhaps of making them somehow better than they were before they encountered my song. That is a lofty goal, to be sure, but I continue to seek it and to try to write “something worth singing, and something worth singing about.”

This Easter in particular, during the Pandemic of 2020, this song seems even more relevant than ever before. Not just for Buckhannon, or West Virginia, or the United States. For the entire world. With that in mind, I leave you with this video of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church Choir of Singapore singing Joy in the Morning in July 2014. Well done, Natalie Sleeth!!

Wesleyan Goes Goo Goo

Murmurmontis 1999

The Rockefeller gymnasium was packed with 2700 people for a concert featuring the Goo Goo Dolls. This group had been nominated for two Grammy awards that year for their hit song, Iris.

Murmurmontis 1999

At the Grammy Awards (February 24, 1999) they lost in both categories to Celine Dion for My Heart Will Go On, so that was pretty stiff competition!

Alisa Lively, Campus Activities Director, was responsible for bringing this event to campus. That evening they sang their top hits Name (1995), Slide (September 1998), and Iris (April 1998) for the appreciative crowd in Buckhannon.

Murmurmontis 1999

The warm-up band that day was The New Radicals, who opened for the Goo Goo Dolls on this tour (which started on March 30). Their only album,  Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too, had been released on October 20, 1998 and included the song You Get What You Give. 

Murmurmontis 1999

The New Radicals must have been having some internal conflict, though, because they ended up canceling their tour of the U.K. which had been scheduled to start on May 17. On July 12, they made the announcement in a press release that they were disbanding.

I don’t know what the New Radicals played on April 5, 1999 in Rockefeller Center, but here is the Set List from the Goo Goo Dolls!

Due to the magic of technology, you can enjoy the setlist from that April 5, 1999 concert in Rockefeller Center. Setlist.fm includes not only the list of songs that were played, but links to videos of the songs (although not necessarily from that night).

As I write this, it is April 2020. Social Distancing is important right now, and our campus is empty due to the pandemic.  It is hard to even imagine 2700 people gathered into Rockefeller. But Click Here to Hear The Music From That Concert!

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.  

Photo by Howard Hiner

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.

Pharos, February 12, 1975

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. 

Sundial News, May 1977

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.

Annex Building Then and Now

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

CDC

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.