A Senior’s Experience as a Contact Tracer Inspires Her to Help Build Community on Campus
Sophia Ashebir ’21 became a COVID-19 contact tracer in Massachusetts with Partners In Health in April 2020. She called people and informed them of the need to quarantine because they may have been exposed to the virus. She was moved by the way they counted down the days until they could go outdoors again—to run with their dog or take a physically distanced and masked walk with a friend.
当经济学重点在秋天回到Wellesley时，她仍在考虑大流行的影响，特别是在与他人收集时的时间内创造社区的影响。Ashebir对Caroline Witten'21的经验讨论了她建议她在和平与正义中进行独立研究Erin Konkle, program director for Civic Engagement, to explore her ideas. The experiential learning half-unit course extends students’ theoretical learning by having them develop and apply knowledge, skills, and peacemaking principles to real-life situations. “PEAC 250H uses a project-based learning pedagogical design where students intentionally blur the lines between our classroom and the world around them to deepen their educational experience,” Konkle said.
Ashebir met with Konkle “almost every other week to talk about the intersection of contact tracing and community building,” she said. Konkle asked Ashebir what element of campus she would improve to help with community building, and Ashebir said she would create an outdoor community space. “There are a lot of green spaces on campus,” Ashebir said, “but not a lot of options to do things in those spaces, except take pictures or sit in the sun.”
“It’s been really interesting to see how a single project that might have come out of a single class has really broadened across the entire community, even at the admin level.”
Eashaa Jampala ’21
Konkle向职业教育提供了500美元的批准。“我打电话给我一些最具创意，有趣，令人兴奋的朋友，我们组建了一个团队并开始思考这个项目，然后球刚刚滚动，”阿什伯里尔说。
该团队包括Katharine Conklin '22，Abby Webster'22，Charlotte Durham '21，Eashaa Jampala'21和Witten。“我们都给桌子带来了一些美好的东西，”阿什·伯比尔在一封电子邮件中注明。Witten表示，小组以不同的方式关心社区。经济学与和平与司法研究主要，Witten已经采取了“技术，社会正义和冲突的交汇处”艾米banzaert., lecturer in engineering, andCatia Confortini和平与正义研究的副教授. The course focused on how people interact with technology, and has provided Witten with insight when considering this project. “It's been interesting to think about in terms of this space as well,” she said. “How are students going to interact with this space and with the different things that we bring?”
他们在一起头脑风暴。“我们有这个不同想法的洗衣清单，其中一些人在那里非常出局，”韦伯斯特说。“我的一个最爱是从Lulu四楼的幻灯片向亚拉姆纳大厅外面建造幻灯片。”另一个想法正在从校园的东侧到西侧创造一个拉链线。最终，本集团决定在施耐德网球法院旁边的草地上创建一个不可获得的聚会空间。他们计划将其中的一部分用于放松，带弦灯，坐在轮椅无障碍的野餐桌和adirondack椅子。另一部分将有游戏，如Mega Checkers和Mega Jenga，以及平板桌，海滩球，足球球，Fisbees和艺术和工艺品。
Getting the project approved has required a lot of meetings and conversations. “It’s been really interesting to see how a single project that might have come out of a single class has really broadened across the entire community, even at the admin level,” Jampala said. “My favorite part has been seeing all the different people and connections we’ve had to make to get this project done.” They’ve met with deans Carol Bate and Sheilah Horton, and with Michelle Maheu, director of planning, design, and construction. They’ve worked with members of thePaulson Initiativeto figure out how to connect the space to nature and withJim Wice是，主任Office of Accessibility and Disability Resources, to make sure it is accessible. They’ve met with President Paula Johnson and senior leadership to share their ideas and answer questions. So far they’ve been approved at every step, and they are waiting for their final funding request to pass through the Senate before making larger purchases. They plan to have the space available to use by the end of the semester.
虽然它受到了解大流行的启发，但学生希望人们随时会在室外空间中找到快乐。“这可能似乎只是一个学生项目，但这不是，”Jampala说。“即使是我们的班级，这将持续超过我们的课程，这是一个非常酷的事情。”
