COVID through Your Eyes

LAST SPRING, TAUBMAN COLLEGE invited students and alumni to share how the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing quarantine affected their daily lives. This is a sample of the responses. “The pandemic started for me in January. I have a close relative who suffered from a life-threatening illness, and after the first case of COVID-19 in my hometown, her hospital went on lockdown. With God’s blessing, she survived, and I was able to FaceTime with her during the final week of class. I am thankful for the challenge that I received this semester because it is preparing me to become a stronger and better person … and I am grateful for the positivity of my close friend at Taubman and my studio instructor. Without them, I cannot imagine how I would have survived in school this semester.”

As commercial landlords, hotel owners, and about to open a flexible office “ space, my team and I face gray areas understanding what liability exists; coming up with protocols and communicating that to our tenants/guests/ members is very difficult for a small business.”

— Jamie Simchik, M.U.P./M.B.A. ’15 (Boston)

“[Alpha Rho Chi] decided to host a virtual game night via Zoom. We played a variety of games, and it almost felt like we were all back together again.”

— Jared Freeman, B.S. Arch./A.B.

International Studies ’22

— An M.Arch student from China who asked to remain anonymous

I landed my first architectural teaching job as a first-year “ studio instructor at the beginning of the year ... and all the ways that one usually acquaints themselves with a new city are unavailable to me. I knew it then, but even more so now: being invested in and truly knowing a place requires physically being there, having that experience of walking, seeing, opening doors, etc.”

— Megan Peters, M.Arch ’16 (Eugene, Oregon) “The most remarkable thing about

being able to make anything in the FABLab. This is my at-home fablab to attempt to continue work for advanced prototyping.” COVID response task forces related to our commercial real estate, food manufacturing, and sports and entertainment industries. The spread of misinformation and lack of coordinated response is straining our efforts to plan. We know we can’t reopen our offices or tenant spaces/venues until adequate and accurate testing and monitoring can occur.” teaching an average class of 86 (!!) yoga students via Zoom is that I feel the class is more intimate than when I taught a pre-COVID class of 36 in a rec center. I have not yet made sense of that. Strange times.”

— Clint Harris, B.S. ’72,

M.Arch ’74, with Priscilla Harris, B.B.A. ’71, M.B.A. ’77

The biggest challenge has been being in three fabrication classes and not “

— Mackenzie Bruce, M.Arch ’20

I am cross training colleagues to become project managers for our internal “ (The Villages, Florida)

“I was born and raised in conflict, but I never thought I’d be in a lockdown in the U.S. Coping with that has been tough!”

— Madeeha Ayub, M.U.D. ’20

“Millions are at the brink of financial ruin, and millions literally fear for their lives — while other millions, those of us with paychecks and savings and good health, are experiencing a unique respite from the heavily scheduled pace of our lives and quiet time to reflect and relax. Those of us who find ourselves in

Group B of this dichotomy need to reach out to Group

A — we’re in this together.”

— Duane Jonlin, M.Arch ’76 (Seattle)