SPIN Girls COVID-19 Response
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have shifted our programming to keep our students, mentors, and staff safe and to support our students and their families as best we can. Here’s some of the work we’ve done:
Events
We have moved our monthly events to a virtual setting. Once a month, we have a Field Day or a Lab Day. Normally, we would visit a site or meet in person to create projects, but due to social distancing requirements, we can no longer do that. In order to adjust, our Program Manager (PM) planned an entirely new virtual Field Day for April 18th. She reached out to families to ask students what they wanted to learn about, and they voted for a pandemic curriculum. One parent expressed that she would only feel comfortable with a pandemic curriculum if it was uplifting and positive rather than more anxiety-inducing content. As a result, our PM wrote a Field Day agenda that included the following:
A virtual escape room to break the ice after two months apart;
Check-in questions for mentors and mentees to ask each other to see how everyone is doing mentally, emotionally, academically, and physically;
A chance to find uplifting and heartwarming stories that have come out of the coronavirus situation to remind everyone of positive sides to the situation;
A non-fear mongering lesson on pandemics;
An infectious disease simulation for students to take on roles in identifying an infectious disease outbreak;
Numerous opportunities to take a screen break and to participate in a mindfulness activity;
And a look at the positive things that have come out of this pandemic (impact on pollution, communities coming together, etc.) to end the lesson on a positive note.
In addition to this virtual Field Day, we created project kits to send to the students so that they can still complete their Capstone Project. When our PM checked in with our families, she asked if they would want a physical project to work on to offer a break from online learning. The answer was a resounding yes. This kit included the supplies needed for the project but also had a personalized note and a treat to have during our virtual Lab Day on May 16th to mimic the snacks and food we would provide them at an in person Lab Day. Our Capstone Presentation on June 20th will also be held virtually and students will receive special kits from us for that event as well. As we do not know how long social distancing measures will be in place, we are planning multiple versions of our July Retreat - online, socially distanced, and in-person.
Family Support
To support our families in this switch to online learning, we offered to loan them technology supplies. We provided a family with a laptop, mouse, and a wifi hotspot so that they could participate in online learning. Our PM also sends out resources to our families to help them navigate online learning and to help them get the supplies they need to get through the pandemic.
Additionally, we have broadened the permissible use of SPIN Girls Scholarship funds to include basic needs such as groceries, rent, and utilities in order to support families struggling to make ends meet as a result of the outbreak.
Program & Curriculum Improvement:
During this shift, we have continued our work with Crux Consulting to create surveys we can use to gauge program efficacy and make program adjustments. Though this situation makes testing and administering our surveys more difficult, we still plan on continuing with our regular timeline to pilot the surveys with our Epic Cohort this spring (virtually), making adjustments based on their feedback to be able to start administering the surveys in full at the beginning of our next program year.
Whether our July Retreat happens in person or virtually, we still plan on asking the girls to provide input on this year’s program and curriculum to improve and to plan next year’s program. If we do not get to see the girls in person, we may get fewer responses, which could impact our ability to make the most effective curriculum changes.
Remaining Uncertainties
We do not yet know how this situation will impact our mentor and student recruitment for next year. As of right now, this disruption hinders our plans to host a recruitment event at the beginning of June, but we are trying to make an online version that we can still advertise through PeachJar and other online sources. However, it is hard to say exactly what we are offering because we do not know if a second wave of the virus will hit in the fall, leading us to social distancing once again. Our PM will do her best to account for this possibility in advertising the program, but we cannot predict how this will impact volunteers’ desire to mentor or students’ desire to participate.