Engaging the community, one mask at a time At 10 sites across campus for 10 weeks, Penn Nursing students made 400 weekly observations about mask usage, part of MASCUP, a nationwide initiative spearheaded by the CDC that includes 53 colleges and universities. Lauren Fisher, a student in the Accelerated BSN Second Degree program in the School of Nursing, hands out mask kits in April. The event signified an endpoint to the semester long MASCUP, which included documenting for the CDC how many people were wearing masks, what type of mask, and whether they were worn correctly.
On a cold and windy April day, six Penn Nursing students stood in groups of two and three at the corner of 40th and Walnut streets. Under a gray folding table, several backpacks perched against an open cardboard box. Tallulah, junior Lily McDowell’s dog and unofficial mascot of the day’s events, stood at the ready, her leash attached to McDowell�
March 16, 2021
KALAMAZOO, Mich. It has been a full year since the growing COVID-19 pandemic changed the world and shifted Western Michigan University to distance learning. Over those 365 days, the community has experienced losses, dramatic change, isolation and uncertainty, but the period has also been a time of hope, innovation, resilience and adaptation.
A year of resilience, innovation
In the face of adversity, the Western community rose up to support each other and find new ways to create and connect. When I heard the governor talking during a press conference on the radio about how it s been a year since Michigan s first COVID-19 case … I literally had to pull over the car because the tears started to flow, says