event in the Rhode Island Statehouse Rotunda with Governor
Gina Raimondo and other state leaders celebrating our graduating
seniors. This year, we moved the celebration online with a video
and a selection of social media posts highlighting some of our
seniors and their college choices. For the video, several of our
advisers worked with our students to put together a “Don’t Rush
Challenge.” In this challenge, video participants typically start in
a casual outfit, briefly cover the camera with a makeup brush or
other item, then return to the frame all dressed up. They drop the
item out of the frame and the next person “catches” it and does
the same. We did this with college acceptance letters and swag.
We also heard from many advisers that participation increased in
their programs. Students had fewer outside obligations and
really seemed to have a desire to connect with one another and
their adviser during this time. Additionally, we raised more than
$54,000 through the generosity of the Rhode Island Foundation,
United Way and sixty individual donors to help post-secondary
Crusaders who needed emergency funding because of the COVID-19
crisis. The funds helped students purchase groceries, buy books or
online access codes, replace a broken laptop, pay rent or utility bills
when they were displaced from campus housing and more.
LOOKING AHEAD: The advising and support we provide students
— often referred to as wrap-around services — will be needed now
more than ever that schools seek to function within the context of
COVID-19. We expect that students and families will be counting
on us even more to help them navigate that transition into college.
The pivot that we have made to virtual, while certainly not
replacing face-to-face interactions, will enable us to serve students
anywhere and anytime. How we can support and engage
families is something we will re-evaluate.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: thecollegecrusade.org
Mad Science of Southern MA and RI
Allen Converse (a.k.a. Atomic Allen), Chief Mad Scientist
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Mad Science provides science enrichment to
children from preschool through elementary school. Since children
learn best by “doing,” the majority of our programs are designed with
lots of hands-on / minds-on activities.
THE WORKAROUNDS: With schools and preschools physically closed
and social distancing in place, we have had to adapt to online presentations
with guided, hands-on activities that use materials the
children have at home. We have had to find new ways to demonstrate
simple principles first with the selection of materials to use
and then with an easy way to guide the usage via Zoom.
LOOKING AHEAD: While we have every hope that we will return to
in-person programming in the fall, we do expect that there will
continue to be a market for the virtual programs we have created
during the pandemic. We have adapted our programming to reduce
or eliminate direct interaction wherever possible. We have also
trained our staff in the proper cleaning of equipment that may be
in contact with the children and the necessity for masking. Since
we deliver our in-person programming at customer locations, we
also follow whatever guidelines they have.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: southernmass.madscience.org �
800-736-7744
www.NEIT.edu
Our campus is now open.
It’s not too late to enroll for fall
classes starting in October.
DISCOVER
a different way
TO LEARN
APPLY
ONLINE
Our Career Services Department
connects our students with
employers every day.
Preschool to Grade 6
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l SEPTEMBER 2020 119