Forge Ahead, Finish Strong

By ELIZABETH FONTAINE HILDEBRAND ’92

While some colleges and universities closed before they barely began this fall, Westminster College plugged along week after week this semester, motivated by two words: Finish Strong.

Pandemic fatigued students, fresh off nearly five months of quarantining and video chats, wanted to return to campus to be reunited with their friends and resume in-person learning. First-year students were anxious to start new chapters in their lives and immerse themselves fully in the college experience. Faculty were weary from the spring’s experiment of full remote instruction—and they longed to see their students and colleagues face to face. Getting back to campus was essential to the Westminster community.

If the campus were to reopen, it had to be done safely and responsibly with protocols in place to keep students on campus until the semester’s end.

“We knew that in order to reopen our residential campus, we had to do it the right way—and carefully. We wanted the campus to move forward and thrive through the end of the semester. Finishing strong became our goal for students, faculty and staff,” said Westminster President Dr. Kathy Brittain Richardson.

Once enhanced health and safety precautions to mitigate the spread of coronavirus were put in place, Westminster could then get back to business as somewhat usual.

While roughly 34% of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities are primarily online this semester, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Westminster is among the 23% operating primarily in person. Westminster’s employees, Richardson said, have been the driving force at keeping Westminster’s campus open and safe.

“We’ve been called to dress differently and act differently, but our faculty and staff have continued to provide the same level of commitment and efficiency they’ve always brought to the workplace,” said Richardson.

How was Westminster able to reopen safely and stay open through the entire fall semester? The answer is simple: Adhering to recommended health and safety precautions such as wearing masks, observing social distancing and conducting daily self-health checks. In July, the 21-page Westminster College Reopening Plan was released, spelling out how faculty, staff and students would return and resume in-person instruction, the physical distancing and hygiene practices that would be expected, and how the health conditions on campus would be monitored throughout the semester.

Physical Plant employees upped their cleaning and disinfecting routines, especially in learning and high-traffic spaces, and hand sanitizing stations began popping up everywhere on campus. Floor stickers, room occupancy signs and handwashing posters were constant reminders that even though the campus had reopened, the threat of COVID was still real.

“Our very detailed preparedness and response plan made it possible for us to reopen safely so that our students could continue to make meaningful progress toward their educational goals,” said Gina Vance, the College’s key COVID response coordinator and vice president for student affairs and dean of students. It was also important that everyone understood that to have a safe campus would be a shared mission.

“We all needed to do our part, by following policies and providing support,” Vance said. “We needed to rely on the ‘WE in Westminster’ like never before. Community is what we do well and that’s one of the reasons we were able to finish strong this semester.”

Vance said the safety protocols and response plans, coupled with

the College’s decision to end the fall semester before Thanksgiving, helped keep positive COVID numbers relatively low and slow the spread.

“It has been difficult and we have been strict, but by removing fall break and wrapping up the semester and finals before Thanksgiving, we were able to avoid potential exposures through mass exits and returns,” Vance said. Final examinations concluded Nov. 25. The WE NEEDED TO RELY ON THE ‘WE IN WESTMINSTER’ LIKE NEVER BEFORE. COMMUNITY IS WHAT WE DO WELL AND THAT’S ONE OF THE REASONS WE WERE ABLE TO FINISH STRONG THIS SEMESTER.

GINA VANCE Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

spring semester will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021.

Since studies have shown that the chance of contracting the coronavirus are nearly 20 times higher indoors than outdoors, students were encouraged to be outside as much as possible. Starting the semester two weeks early and the fortunate warm autumn temperatures played to the students’ advantage, and they were quick to made good use of the campus’ outdoor acreage. Numerous Adirondack chairs were sprinkled across the campus landscape, movie nights were held on the quad and fire pits could be rented for late night hangouts and s’mores.

Being back in the classroom presented unique circumstances this fall. Classrooms were rearranged—or relocated—to accommodate 6-foot spacing. Masks shielded facial expressions often necessary to gauge reactions. Some lessons and lectures were livestreamed or recorded for virtual learners.

But the end goal—welcoming students back into the classroom—justified any academic inconvenience.

“Seeing the students on campus and their enthusiasm for community really helped all of us move forward in these

unique times,” said Dr. Robert Zullo, associate professor of business and sports management, adding that he looks forward to a COVID-free future with hammocks on the quad and the roar of crowds from the athletic facilities.

“Faculty and students were able to forge ahead because of the thankless efforts of our custodial teams, residence and student life staff and the countless employees who work around the clock to provide a welcoming environment at Westminster,” Zullo said.

Students and faculty weren’t the only ones forging ahead this semester. Construction workers seemingly took up residence on the south end of campus, making good time creating new academic and athletic spaces.

The campus community has watched the three-story, 27,000-square-foot addition of Hoyt Science Center take shape—especially over the summer and fall months. The state-of-the-art facility, expected to be complete in mid-March, will house six teaching laboratories, three research laboratories, 10 faculty offices and plenty of student collaboration spaces. With the exterior work now complete, the focus has shifted inside the building to truly bring the new space to life for the College’s growing number of STEM majors.

Since all fall sports competitions were postponed until spring 2021, construction of the new athletic Titan Corridor continued through the summer and fall months without interruption. Final touches were completed in mid-November.

The UPMC Sports Complex, the new home to the men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse programs, occupies the former softball space and lies adjacent to the South Market Street tennis courts, which were also resurfaced this fall. Featuring artificial turf with a crushed limestone base, the fence-enclosed complex was also outfitted with lighting, a scoreboard, flagpole and dugouts. Bleacher seating is situated on the Russell Hall side of the field, providing future spectators a view of the north side of campus.

Women’s softball may be able to send a few dingers into the Brittain Lake from its new home at the site of the former baseball diamond. In addition to new topsoil and sod, the field has also been outfitted with new dugouts, bleachers, sidewalks and fencing. The new artificial turf baseball field complex—also complete with new fencing, dugouts, bleachers and lighting—brings new energy to the southeast side of campus, located just off Westminster Drive.

Coaches are delighted that the athletic facilities are being centralized in one area—the Titan Corridor— and Westminster College Director of Athletics James Dafler said the completion of the fields this fall is a boon for the College’s athletic programs.

“Our coaches now can have prospective student-athletes see these fields in person, which is only going to enhance their recruitment efforts this year and in the future,” Dafler said.

The College also forged ahead—often virtually, but still making strides—with new initiatives this fall such as joining the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center’s Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance and establishing a 3+3 program with Widener University Commonwealth School of Law. The pandemic didn’t halt the annual Professional Networking Symposium or Homecoming this fall; instead event organizers figured out how to work around the virus and the in-person gathering restrictions by going virtual.

As the semester began to wind down and cooler weather began to creep in, the College did see an uptick in COVID positive cases, although the numbers still remained significantly lower than many of the other schools in the region. Keeping to the response plan, the College enacted a Quiet Phase on Nov. 11. For the final two weeks, in order to limit contact with others, students were asked to remain in their living spaces with the exception of attending classes, picking up food, studying in the library, working, exercising alone outdoors or shopping for essentials.

“The Quiet Phase was necessary to slow the spread of the virus and to help protect the family members, friends and loved ones students would see after the semester ended,” said Vance. “Students may have gone out quietly, but they finished the semester on campus and they finished strong.” S