When college closed up, a few students stayed

When COVID-19 first began, students at Ripon College wanted to go back home to be with their families.

However, not all students were able to return home. Travel bans prevented some from traveling to their home country; extenuating circumstances forced a few other U.S. students to remain and seek shelter on the campus.

Sixteen students were offered extended housing until the end of the term, and then 11 students through the end of the summer. Their meal plan funds have been refunded by the College for preferred meal purchasing. The student activities office is offering the students a once-aweek courtesy shuttle service for grocery shopping,” says Director of Multicultural Affairs Maria Mendoza-Bautista.

She explained she has been working closely with the international students, noting “they want to go home just like the rest of their peers have gone home, to be with their families. And so that is really where our work comes in and where we begin to assess the immediate needs.”

When the travel bans initially were put into place in early March because of COVID-19, Ripon College stepped up to the plate to help its students who were forced to remain on campus. MendozaBautista noted the Center for Diversity and Inclusion received food donations in a short amount of time including a collaborative effort with Traded Treasures and Community Food Pantry of Ripon.

“We put out a call to our wonderful Ripon campus community for food and goods donations, and my area started a mini food pantry. Then it just grew into sort of a real food pantry because we were overwhelmed with so many donations from everywhere, from faculty (and) staff dropping off goods,” she said. “The president’s office also supported us with funds for purchasing anything else that was needed in addition to the donations, and those funds went to purchasing hygiene products for the students.”

She added a local church, First Congregational, also donated to the College to support the students.

After a few weeks of providing the food pantry, the College received an offer from the community to provide warm meals for the students.

“In that spirit, we were able to accept about five warm meals that were provided to students for lunch, and it was sort of a grab-and-go (style because) they were safely packaged and ready to go,” MendozaBautista said. “It was a really nice effort from the overall Ripon community to be able to provide the students with a homecooked meal, being that our cafeteria had closed.”

She explained that she has lived in Ripon since January, after moving from California, and noticed right away the support the community has for the College and its students.

“I am from an earthquake state; you’re always doing basic needs assessment and preparing for the worst and the unfortunate destruction that earthquakes sometimes bring,” Mendoza-Bautista said. “... This was such a nice transition to come to Ripon and see the immediate response from a smaller community.”

The community support has helped the College to be there for its students and reassure them. Mendoza-Bautista noted that the shelter-in-place was challenging for students emotionally and her area is always assessing needs and new ways to uplift the morale of the students.

She pointed to one student who was able to purchase an airplane ticket to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to stay with the student’s brother who lives there.

“This particular student was happy because he had purchased his ticket. And then the next day this brother said, ‘You cannot come to Philadelphia because there is an outbreak here and we are all under quarantine,’” Mendoza-Bautista said. “It was important to be able to then assess that student in their emotional wellness and reassure them that they can still stay here, and stay safe in the Campus Apartments.”

The A.R.K. (Acts of Random Kindness) monthly initiative for summer break focused on gathering fun themed baskets for the students living on campus with donations from the campus community. The first themed basket in May focused on celebrating the end of term with baked goods. The themed basket in June focused on summer with activity books, supplies, Frisbees, pillow pals, snacks and ice cream treats. The basket in July focused on a collection of school supplies for the students as they gear up for the fall term.

HANNAH TETZLAFF ’18 RIPON, WISCONSIN

JAYE ALDERSON RIPON COLLEGE EDITOR (REPRINTED COURTESY OF RIPON COMMONWEALTH PRESS)