8 minute read
From the Acting Co-Presidents
Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends,
We are thankful for the opportunity to pause, reflect, and share our gratitude for everyone who has contributed to the success of this community during a challenging time. We also share our excitement as we embark on a new year and new semester together.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Block Plan. CC’s distinctive academic program is more relevant than ever, and other schools have taken note. The Block Plan has allowed us to pivot block to block as we re-evaluate the impact of COVID-19 at the end of each block. We are grateful for the flexibility of the Block Plan, and look forward to being a part of its evolution in the years to come. To mark this historic milestone, the release of the Block Plan documentary and historical book is scheduled for Valentine’s Day 2021, and we are excited to celebrate virtually with you.
The pandemic has affected our many communities near and far, and we continue to respond to this ever-evolving situation. We are grateful to CC students, parents, and families for your continued engagement, feedback, and patience as we implement best practices and procedures to mitigate risk to our community. As we welcome additional students to campus this Spring Semester, community safety and well-being remain a top priority.
Our distinguished faculty continue to provide safe and engaging classroom experiences, whether in-person or virtual. While our students and professors miss in-person roundtable discussions and hands-on group projects, it has been inspiring to hear the many ways that students and faculty are innovating in the classroom. Students have made backyards their geology classroom, have tuned in to livestreamed dissections, and have participated in virtual field trips.
Students also have found new ways to engage with one another through dynamic virtual and socially distanced activities. Student government, clubs, and organizations meet regularly on Zoom, connecting peers who are living on campus with those across the state, nation, and even the globe. They have countered “Zoom fatigue” with responsible, socially distant activities, including practicing on Autrey Field for the biannual Dance Workshop production. Civic engagement was a top priority for students in the fall, and they debated key issues, encouraged one another to vote, and organized shuttles to the polls for November’s presidential election. We extend our thanks to CC Votes for their time and dedication.
A silver lining from virtual events has been new opportunities for collaboration and connection across the miles and across generations. Many of you have joined us for CC Conversations, an ongoing series of panel discussions led by CC faculty and alumni, exploring key issues of our time. And while we had to postpone in-person celebrations for Homecoming, we came together for a virtual dance party with student DJs and Fine Arts Center Director Idris Goodwin, and heard from Professor of History Emerita Susan Ashley and Professor of English Steve Hayward about the history and future of the Block Plan. You can see pictures of one of our student DJs spinning music from CC’s student radio station sound booth at the top of this page.
Diversity, equity, and antiracism remain central to our work. In November, CC joined the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center’s newly established Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance. As a member of the alliance, we will participate in virtual monthly gatherings with other member institutions and will receive college-wide access to educational materials. This fall, we also received a generous gift from the Colorado Springs-based Sachs Foundation to support Black students pursuing careers in education.
We also are grateful to the CC community for its support during the college’s presidential transition. In 2021, we look forward to the arrival of the next president of Colorado College, L. Song Richardson (see p. 8 for an introduction). It is an honor serving as acting co-presidents, and we look forward to continuing in our role until President Richardson joins us in Summer 2021. We then look forward to returning to our prior roles at the college, Mike as dean of students/vice president for Student Life and Robert as senior vice president for Finance & Administration.
We want to share our thanks to you, CC alumni and friends, who continue
As a part of the 2020 Virtual Homecoming, DJ Sai (Pranav Sai ’22 pictured) and DJ Bichonfrisé (Ben Shumlin ’21) play sets for an online dance party that was livestreamed to alumni and students who tuned in. The event was hosted by the Office of Alumni and Family Relations and the student-run Sounds of Colorado College (SoCC). Photo by Chidera Ikpeamarom ’22
to support and inspire our students through your volunteerism and financial generosity. You have spoken with prospective students, advised current students, and given selflessly to COVID-19 relief efforts and financial aid, among other worthy causes. We appreciate your support, and we are grateful for the many ways that you are engaging with this community.
Wishing you connection, joy, and good health in 2021!
Sincerely,
Mike Edmonds, Acting Co-president
Robert Moore, Acting Co-president
To the Editor:
AFTER READING “50 YEARS ON THE BLOCK PLAN” IN THE SUMMER 2020 EDITION, I BEGAN REFLECTING ON MY EXPERIENCE ON THE BLOCK PLAN AND THE IMPACT IT HAD ON ME.
It was introduced in my senior year at CC. During the Fall Semester, I was student teaching, so I couldn’t take advantage of the plan. Finally, in January 1971, my last semester, I could try it out. I had managed to avoid science classes in my first three years at CC; my high school experience in sciences was dismal and I didn’t want anything to do with science if I could help it. My major was humanities with an elementary education emphasis. In January, I must have found that I had some science requirements to fill, so with my love for camping, I signed up for John Lewis’ geology class. I loved it! For the same reason, I took Jack Carter’s botany class. I loved it! Here were science classes like none I had ever taken — taught outdoors in the real world. Alas! I graduated soon after. But I began a career in teaching — first in outdoor education centers, then with National Audubon Society, then as a third- and fourth-grade classroom teacher at The Colorado Springs School. Soon, I was hungry for more science background — it was so much fun to teach — so I got a master’s degree in science and environmental education at Cornell University. More recently I have taught at a Waldorf School and at Colorado Mountain College, where I taught preschool teachers how to make science come alive for their students. So although my one semester of the Block Plan was brief, it turned me in a new direction. I just wish it had started several years earlier. I wonder in what other ways I could have blossomed.
Kate Friesen ’71 I REALLY ENJOYED READING YOUR SECTION ABOUT THE 50-YEAR REUNION MEMORIES
FROM THE CLASS OF ’70. Not only was it fun to read their memories, it brought back many of my own; it was wonderful to see the collage of faces from that class, many of whom I remember.
The articles related to the development and implementation of the Block Plan were fascinating to read as well. I was a political science major. My classmate Sally Nash and I interviewed every member of the faculty for the better part of a year before the faculty voted to move forward with it. We met over lunch at Rastall Center with each member of the faculty, asking them what they thought were the positive and negative aspects of the plan. We reported a summary of our findings to our Political Science Professor Glenn Brooks. I recall being so impressed with the commitment and enthusiastic endorsement by practically every faculty member, even though every one of them would have to drastically revise their lesson plans. It really was a reflection of the faculty’s commitment to deliver the best educational experience possible to students.
One interesting fact about my four years at CC leading up to graduation in 1971 was that my transcript reflected three different grading systems. The Block Plan went into effect my senior year. My transcript was such a mess of A/B/C/D, Pass/Fail, and No Credit systems, I jokingly tell people the primary reason I was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School was the admission officers there couldn’t make sense of my transcript!
Bill Oman ’71
PHOTO BY JENNIFER COOMBES
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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