A Year of Challenges & Triumphs

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Throughout the past year, Tyler Junior College officials have taken great care to provide students with an excellent academic experience while maintaining health and safety protocols. Before fall classes began in August, all students, faculty and staff were required to complete an online training session on campus health and safety protocols related to COVID-19. Classrooms, student services and campus dining formats were adjusted for physical distancing; and face coverings were required in all buildings, including classrooms, dining facilities, common areas within residence halls and outdoor settings where physical distancing measures were difficult to maintain. In-person instruction continued but on a smaller scale, still offering robust discussion, group problem-solving, hands-on learning and personal faculty attention, with necessary adjustments to follow health and safety guidelines. Some classes originally scheduled for fully face-toface instruction were converted to hybrid courses, with half of the instruction delivered in person and the other half online. In addition to the online offerings already planned, some courses originally scheduled as face-to-face or hybrid were adapted to a fully online format. These expanded, online courses also provided additional flexibility for students to build a fall schedule that was delivered entirely online.

More than $3 million in CARES Act funding distributed to students

TJC disbursed emergency federal grants to 4,524 TJC students whose lives and educations were disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak. In all, TJC distributed $3,697,824 in immediate grants from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. When the federal government released the application for the CARES Act grant funding last April, TJC formed a task force to develop policies and procedures to proactively award the grants to students who were most acutely impacted by the health crisis. Students eligible for Title IV aid who experienced extra expenses related to the campus disruption were considered for the grants. “We knew we needed to get the funds to affected students quickly to help alleviate some financial worries so they could concentrate on completing their college coursework,” said Devon Wiggins, TJC director of financial aid and chair of the CARES Act grant taskforce at TJC.

“It helped me be able to provide food and groceries since I could not live on campus anymore due to online schooling.”

Kye Harris, TJC sophomore professional tennis management major from Overland Park, Kansas

t TJC hosted a drive-through celebration “Victory Lap” for the 2021 graduating class on Friday, May 7.

“I drove more than 15 minutes from my house just to have access to Wi-Fi every day to complete all of my schoolwork. So, gas money was tight as well as all my finances. This extra money from the TJC CARES Act grant helped me so much.”

Emily Grimes, TJC sophomore nursing major from Fruitvale