Virtual Student Center: Creating Community From a Distance

By Emily Johns, Assistant Head of School for Student Life

When the Office of Student Life realized that Foxcroft would need to quickly move to a virtual learning experience, we immediately began to brainstorm innovative ways to keep our students engaged in community life even though they were not on campus.

During the early days of distance learning, we held a Student Council meeting where the students expressed how much they would miss the community — those intangible moments that made Foxcroft feel. . . well, Foxcroft. They (and we) would miss hanging out in the Student Life Lounge, eating lunch on the Senior Porch, and visiting the Learning Center or the Club House to ask a question. They would also miss the election process — the speeches, the candidate profiles on the bulletin board, and the fun, celebratory announcements. technology and tools. Our teachers use Zoom but mostly as participants, so we needed to educate them on scheduling and running Zoom meetings. We also held a training in Loom, a tool that can record your computer camera and screen with voiceover. Faculty are using these tools very effectively to record short lectures that students can watch independently and then bring questions to their teachers during online tutorial periods.

The heart of our culture is in our community — the people, the values, the intentional events, and the programming that celebrate student voices and bring us all together. It was clear that we needed a place for gathering — both formally and informally.

Thus, the Virtual Student Center was born! Here students can fi nd weekly schedules, games, Zoom links, and even student videos. They can pop over to the “Club House” for virtual club events or to the “Leader Lab” for resources curated to teach and reinforce Foxcroft’s essential leadership skills. They can visit the “Wellness Center” for inspiration — from videos to challenges and tips for self-care. And for our seniors, we created the “Senior Porch” to celebrate college choices and watch heartfelt videos from New Girls to their Old Girls who are missing them and wishing them well.

While it is certainly not the same as seeing each other face-to-face, the Virtual Student Center has become vital in delivering some essence of the Foxcroft community and traditions to our girls. •