Ursuline Responds to COVID-19 Challenges

Unity, compassion, and creative teaching marked our actions during the pandemic.

The calendar of extracurriculars began normally in January 2020 with a student cabaret, guest speakers and a guest artist. In February 2020, news of a novel worldwide coronavirus began to impact us. The Honors Choir traveled to Italy over February Break, but with new health procedures. European trip canceled. Japanese exchange visit postponed.

A short time later, COVID reached our neighborhood. On March 10, 2020 we closed campus for two weeks at the direction of the Governor, as part of the New Rochelle one-mile containment zone. We immediately began Distance Learning. Sports, play rehearsals, drivers’ ed, mock trial practice, Global Symposium – all canceled. The two-week closure was repeatedly extended. The remainder of the academic year was virtual. Traditional events were reimagined as Zooms and Showcase emails or drive-throughs. Graduation was socially distanced on Kelly Mac Field.

Principal Rosemary Beirne pointed out, “During times of crisis, the best communities are those that respond with unity, compassion, creative problem solving, and an unbridled desire to help those most in need. They thrive in good times because they work together in challenging times. The Ursuline School community has responded to this world hardship on a level that is nothing short of inspiring.”

For Ursuline, community means Serviam. In 2020 it meant students, teachers, staff, parents and friends of Ursuline donating truckloads of food to help keep food pantries open, hours painstakingly making hundreds of masks for hospital workers, Advancement transforming the annual 24-hour fundraiser to CROWDS4TUS AND 4 OTHERS, and alumnae donating to send a hot meal to health care workers. Community means comfort and reassurance. In 2020, it meant an Admissions team reaching out, our Campus Ministry offering spiritual resources, as well as counselors and Academic Support checking on students. Community means creativity. In 2020, faculty and students adjusted to distance learning without missing a step, and parents

strongly supported their daughters. Our librarians posted Fictional Book Character Quarantine exercises. College & Academic Counseling arranged virtual college visits. Personal Development created a yoga video. The athletic trainer initiated a Sports Medicine Injury Prevention Series.

Summer 2020 was a time of preparation. Ursuline staff member Leighann DiPasquale ’83 led the School Reopening Task Force and Project Reboot. Four teams of faculty, staff, medical professionals, and parents designed different scenarios of what “Back to School” might look like. The campus was thoroughly disinfected, new signage created, and weekly communications sent out. Faculty trained in new technology to make virtual teaching even more successful, albeit exhausting for teachers.

Fall 2020 was unusual but we were very pleased to reopen on a hybrid schedule with Blue and Gold Cohorts on alternate days. Teachers creatively taught simultaneously to the cohort in-person and the cohort at home. We quickly adjusted to one-way staircases, physically distanced desks, temperature taking, and masks. The new Christina Jun Murphy ’22 Commons and Kulsar & McCarthy Lobby were enjoyed daily.

Faculty collaborated to create Back to School Night videos, Open House Zoom presentations, and lessons using multiple tools. We have been determined to see our traditions thrive, albeit in new forms. When COVID-19 restrictions made a full Ring Day ceremony impossible, we lined the circle to distribute rings and gifts to Seniors as they drove through. Clubs met virtually. Drama students rehearsed radio plays they never knew about before. And of course, our service and spiritual life continued unabated, with monthly livestreamed liturgies, bi-weekly food collections, and the distribution of Thanksgiving turkeys and pies.

Despite all we have been going through, how blessed we are that the strength of our school community sustains us.

Mrs. DeLucia addresses Italian students in person and via Zoom