Celebrating Graduates, Covid Style
Let the celebrations begin as another school year comes to a close and graduation ceremonies are starting to take place. During the Covid-19 pandemic, serious reconsideration of past traditions had to be made to follow safely regulations and guidelines while still recognizing the accomplishments of graduating classes.
Area colleges and universities and the Easton public schools are planning alternative graduation ceremonies to accommodate the 2021 graduates. Some universities have also scheduled ceremonies to recognize the class of 2020 since the coronavirus completely shut down their in-person commencement events last year.
Universities in neighboring towns, including Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University, are planning in-person ceremonies to honor the class of 2021 along with the class of 2020.
Fairfield University
Fairfield University plans to hold in-person celebrations the week of May 17, starting with an in-person commencement ceremony for graduate students The University is estimating just under 1,000 bachelor’s degrees and just over 400 graduate degrees will be conferred between all of the ceremonies. Fairfield University to hold in-person graduation events the week of May 17.
Smaller in-person ceremonies for the class of 2021 start Monday, May 17, and go to Wednesday, May 19. The smaller ceremonies include two for the College of Arts and Sciences, two for the School of Business, the School of Nursing and Health Studies with the School of Engineering finishing off the week’s celebrations. A virtual conferral of degrees will be on Sunday, May 23, for both the graduate and undergraduate classes of 2021.
Fairfield University will also hold an in-person commencement to celebrate the undergraduate class of 2020 on Saturday, May 22. It will be broken into two smaller ceremonies to accommodate all the students. A virtual ceremony for the graduate class of 2020 is planned for Saturday, May 15.
All of the in-person celebrations will be held on campus, rain or shine. Each student will receive two tickets for guests to come to view the ceremonies.
Sacred Heart University
Sacred Heart University is planning ceremonies very similar to Fairfield University. Sacred Heart will honor the class of 2020 along with the class of 2021. The University held an in-person commencement for the graduate and undergraduate classes of 2020 on Saturday, May 15.
“The turnout of the 2020 class is amazing,” said Dr. John Petillo, president of Sacred Heart University. More than 800 students attended the class of 2020 in-person celebrations.
The University will hold four graduation ceremonies for the class of 2021 on Wednesday, May 19, and Thursday May 20. These ceremonies are for the College of Arts and Sciences and St. Vincent’s College, the College of Nursing and College of Health Professions, and closing out the undergraduate ceremonies is the College of Business and Technology and the College of Education. The class of 2021 graduate ceremony will conclude the ceremonies on Saturday, May 22.
Sacred Heart University’s Class of 2020 Commencement was held on May 15, 2021.
Planning the ceremonies has been no easy task. “The graduation/commencement committee worked very hard because things can change from week to week,” said Petillo.
Sacred Heart has previously held commencement ceremonies at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, but due to the coronavirus pandemic the University this year will hold all ceremonies on the campus football field, rain or shine. Each student for all of the ceremonies will receive two guest tickets. Livestream will also be available for all of the events.
“The students are delighted for an in-person ceremony,” said Petillo.
Joel Barlow High School and Helen Keller Middle School
In 2020, Joel Barlow High School and Helen Keller Middle School also had to make alternative plans for remote graduation ceremonies due to Covid-19 pandemic. Barlow held a drive-through style graduation to recognize the graduating class, and Keller sent a pre-recorded video to families in lieu of an in-person ceremony.
This year, Barlow will be holding an in-person graduation at the school stadium on June 16 at 6 p.m.. It will be a “pretty traditional commencement with music, speeches, and pomp!” said Dr. Gina Pin, Barlow head of school and assistant superintendent.
“Guests will be limited due to stadium capacity and local DPH guidelines,” Pin said. “We are renting staging and have purchased a turf protector as we will be set up on the turf field.”
Susan Kaplan, Keller principal, said, “We will be celebrating our grade 8 class with an outdoor community event out on Pond Field on June 15 at 5:30 p.m. Families (including their grade 8 student) will sit together on their own blankets. We expect the ceremony to last approximately 45 minutes.”
Additional guidance from Gov. Ned Lamont and the state Department of Public Health will help Connecticut public school officials with commencement decisions for this year. James Prosek and Chris Frantz Together in Fairfield University Virtual Bookstore Author Event
The Fairfield University Bookstore located at 1499 Post Road in downtown Fairfield, Conn. invites the public at large to join us on Facebook @ FairfieldUBookstore, Thursday, February 18, at 7 p.m., for a live virtual conversation with Artist/Naturalist, James Prosek, and Chris Frantz, co-founder and drummer of Talking Heads, as they discuss their latest publications.
Prosek and Frantz will sit down with Dr. Gale Bellas-Papageorge, Professor of English at Fairfield University and Craig Kennedy, Fairfield University Bookstore Manager for a lively discussion. This is a free event. Event books, Remain in Love and Art, Artifact, Artifice are available for purchase online at www.fairfieldbookstore.com or for in-store pick up.
There is so much to be said about Prosek’s and Frantz’s important contributions to art and music, both internationally and within American Culture.
Remain In Love scales the Talking Heads’ journey, from the forming of the band at RISD (Rhode island School of Design), to the band’s iconic rise to fame during the 70’s and 80’s Punk/New Wave scene at CBGB’S in NYC and worldwide. Frantz also discusses the formation of the Tom Tom Club and his long time musical collaboration with his talented wife, bassist, Tina Weymouth.
Frantz’s memoir has been praised by Billboard, Rolling Stone, and has made numerous 2020 best music book lists in the US and the United Kingdom.
Art, Artifact, Artifice is a discussion of Prosek’s current exhibit at Yale University Art Gallery and his philosophy on art, language and the environment. Prosek, who has been compared to the late naturalist painter James Audubon, is well-known for creating the first comprehensive catalogue on North American Trout, which was published while he was an undergraduate student at Yale University.
Since then, Prosek has held hundreds of exhibits world and nationwide and has published multiple Illustrated books. He is the author of the Ted Talk, “Why We Draw,” and a regular contributor to National Geographic and the New York Times.
His current exhibits are:
“Art, Artifact, Artifice” at Yale University Art Gallery, running through Feb 28, 2021.
“Made in Connecticut: Celebrating 25 Years of the CT Art Trail” running through February 7, 2021
The Fairfield University Bookstore, located in the heart of downtown Fairfield, is operated by the Follett Higher Education Group and proudly serves Fairfield University, the Fairfield County community and beyond. For more virtual events visit www.fairfieldbookstore.com and www.facebook.com/FairfieldUBookstore and follow on Instagram and Twitter @ FairfieldUBooks.
The Upside to Hybrid and Online Learning
As students, teachers and parents embark on a journey into uncharted territory, there is much concern about how hybrid and online education will impact student learning. The outcome will largely depend on how teachers and parents alike, use resources available to them.
Sure, online learning is a different experience, but it has been proven to have many advantages. One valuable asset of online learning is that discussion forums on platforms such as Quip or Blackboard are more in-depth. Students can take time to read and reflect on their peers’ entries in order to compose and revise a well thought out response. They can also go back and revisit a current or previous thread, enabling them to draw more substantive conclusions on a specific topic.
Students are often more comfortable participating and asking questions online than in a traditional classroom. They also tend to be more honest and open about their thoughts, especially when confronting difficult topics. Education goes far beyond teaching academic and technical skills as it is also designed to educate students to be compassionate and civically engaged citizens. Jesuits call it “ Care for the individual person.”
When it comes to teaching an appreciation of cultures in elementary school or teaching the different manifestations of racial inequality and injustice in the United States to middle and high school students, online learning can have more of an impact, as it allows for a variety of different formats and modalities. Using visual representation such as pictures and videos of individuals telling their own stories, side-by-side written histories, helps to create a more accurate account and a more engaged connection with other human beings while challenging familiar and preexisting narratives.
Some of the more common visual online resources include:
eBooks, text and digital images, animations Interactive maps, images, and video Interactive journals and blogs Podcasts
James Prosek, artist and author, challenges the limitations of language when he discusses his exhibit, Art, Artifact, Artifice at the Yale University Art Gallery. He says, “We prefer the world as filtered by our minds, where it can be made orderly and intelligible, because then we feel we know it, and knowing brings comfort.”
He goes on to say, “Racism, sexism, religious discrimination, intolerance of myriad kinds emerge from a belief that there is some ideal form or way of being.”
There are certain downsides to online learning, as in any model, such as an inequity in access to technology, which is an important issue and challenge throughout public education. And of course, it is a given that nothing replaces the valuable social interaction that students glean from an in-person classroom experience.
But during a time where the overarching concern and goal is individual and public health and safety, online learning should not be feared or stereotyped as an inferior method of learning. On the contrary, it can be quite exciting and effective if done properly, with the added benefits of fostering self-discipline, time management and self- agency skills. So as the fall semester approaches, don’t be afraid to get right in there and create a multidimensional and interactive experience for all.
Editor’s Note: Gale Papageorge has served on multiple higher education diversity curriculum committees and has designed American Diversity Requirement classes at Fairfield University, where she currently teaches. She’s been noted as a Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Scholar in Harlem, N.Y., and holds a Master’s degree in American and African American Literature and a PhD in Comparative Ethnic American Literature. She is the author of several books including, New Rhetorical Strategies for Reading African American Texts, A Dialogic Approach to Reading and Teaching Ethnic American Texts, and a contributing author to Patriarchy in Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street: Social Issues in Literature.
Obituary: Dorothy (Miller) Sondheim, 94
Dorothy (Miller) Sondheim, passed away on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 of advanced age at her residence at Bridges by Epoch, Trumbull, CT. Mrs. Sondheim was born in NYC in 1926 to Albert S. Salvin and Elizabeth Salvin, and was raised with her brother Arthur Salvin (deceased) in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Mrs. Sondheim was a resident of Easton, CT, almost continually from 1945 – 2010 until moving to assisted living in Trumbull. She had received her Bachelor’s Degree from Connecticut Teachers College, later completing her Masters Degree in Education at Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT. Her teaching career spanned 35 years, teaching several generations of Easton, CT, children in Easton Public Schools.
After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Education she taught grades 1 – 4 at Samuel Staples Elementary School followed by teaching Mathematics to grades 5 – 8 at Helen Keller Middle School until her retirement in 1985.
Mrs. Sondheim was also involved in many civic volunteer movements including supporting the local Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s. She with her first husband, Stanley L Miller (deceased) raised two children in their Easton home.
After retiring from teaching Mrs. Sondheim and her husband, James Sondheim, traveled the world extensively while continuing her educational pursuits at Fairfield University and through ElderHostel programs.
Dorothy Sondheim is survived by her daughter Linda M. Conlon, and her husband Mark Conlon of Jenkintown, PA, her son Peter H. Miller and his wife, Rochelle E. Miller of Berryville, VA, her grandchildren; Mariel Conlon of Raleigh Durham, NC, and Sydney E. Miller-Milbert and her husband, Christopher Milbert of Purcellville, VA, her great grandsons; Ethan Harris Milbert and Bennett Christopher Milbert of Purcellville, VA, her sister-in-law Leonore Salvin of Wilton, CT, her nephews, Adrian Salvin of Norwalk, CT, and David Salvin of California, her deceased husband James Sondheim’s children, William and Kathy Sondheim and their three children, as well as Susan and David Mohr and their two children. Services were held on Thursday, July 23, 2020 at B’nai Israel Cemetery in Monroe.