Finding the Bright Side: Student Life During COVID-19

Hey Falcons,

My name is Adrian Lodge and I am the Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Engagement at UT Permian Basin. I’ve worked here for almost six years in the Office of Student Life and this year has certainly been the most interesting! Our office supports student involvement through events, student organizations, community service, the Student Activity Center (SAC), and more. We spent the end of last spring and summer trying to plan for a fall semester full of unknowns. That turned into a cycle of reviewing information, developing a plan, finding new information, and revising that plan repeatedly. While that certainly was challenging, we are grateful for the resources we have to help us make the best decisions for our community.

Pre COVID-19, engaging with students was the best part of my job. In the middle of COVID-19, engaging with them is still the best part of my job.

Involvement looks different at UT Permian Basin these days and that is okay. We have protocols in place to help both University departments and student organizations structure events safely. An example of this effort was our Welcome Week for fall 2020. Typically, we host a multitude of large-scale in-person events to welcome students back to campus. This year we still offered events all week but they included take-and-make activities, small in-person initiatives, and online programming. While we certainly missed some of our big, traditional events, this has been an opportunity to implement new ideas and offer more to students participating in online programs.

It has been impressive to see the way universities have come together in online forums and on social media to assist each other in this process. We share ideas, best practices, and provide support for each other. That level of support is something we strive to provide to our students. We’ll be the first to tell you how important student involvement is to the college experience, but we’ll also be the first to tell you…it’s okay if you aren’t as involved as you normally would be right now. Our office is here to support you in any way we can.

Some of our successes this semester have been providing new opportunities to engage online students. We’ve had out-of-state students win bingo and/or trivia and we’ve shipped prizes directly to them. We’ve had on-campus students stop by smaller events, such as Campus Activities Board (CAB) outdoor movies and DIY take-and-make activities. The connection is a bit different but it’s still there. At our first online program of the semester I had some anxiety about how it might turn out. We had 75 students participate and it was engaging. They laughed with each other, talked in the chat feature, and still had fun. It was such a great moment! After months of planning and months of missing our students, it really made my heart happy. Pre COVID-19, engaging with students was the best part of my job. In the middle of COVID-19, engaging with them is still the best part of my job. This pandemic has changed a lot, but some things don’t change. I’m grateful for that.

Finding ways to be innovative and creative has been an adventure. There are programs we’ve started because of COVID-19 that we will continue to do after the pandemic is over. Do we long for the days when we can max out capacity at an event? Of course we do. We just keep reminding ourselves that those days will return eventually and they will be even sweeter when they do. I’m thankful to be a part of such a “Falcon awesome” family and I look forward to any opportunity, whether in person or online, to engage our students. Be sure you stay connected with our involvement opportunities via our weekly e-newsletter and social media. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @UTPBStuLife and @UTPBCAB. And of course, don’t hesitate to reach out if we can assist you in any way. Email studentlife@utpb.edu or call us (432) 552-2651. Falcons up!