Blog
This has certainly been a challenging week on campus. With students in quarantine and isolation (Q/I) having recently reached an all-time high at Duke, we thought it would be valuable to share more information about campus testing and quarantine/isolation, answer common questions, and reinforce the supports your students will receive should they be required to quarantine or isolate.
We know that no one would choose to be in Q/I if it was not necessary, and we recognize how hard it is to have your loved one far away under these conditions. Even if your student has to be in their room without others during Q/I, they are never alone. There are so many people, offices, and structures in place here at Duke to make sure your student is supported and cared for.
-----------------------
No matter where college students are living and learning, the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted daily life. As a result, the well-being and mental health of students is of keen interest to parents, families, and universities worldwide. Between November 1 and 16, 2020, the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) Research team invited all Duke undergraduates to share their experiences with academics, social relationships, stress, mental health, and well-being during the fall semester, and 1,015 students responded (15.4% response rate). To provide context and a point of comparison for student responses during COVID-19, we drew on data from previous research conducted at Duke during more typical times[1].
Listen to the full Parent and Family Programs podcast here.
Narrator: You are listening to the Duke University Parent and Family Programs Podcast
Grace Sullivan: Hello, this is Grace Sullivan from the Office of Parent and Family Programs at Duke University. We're here today with Duke student, Shrey Majmudar. Thank you for joining us today.
Shrey Majmudar: Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be on.
Grace Sullivan: Shrey could you just start by introducing yourself. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
What started as a whisper in February, quickly became our new reality by March.
Now, with only finals left in the fall semester, we can all reflect on the decisions and actions of students, faculty, staff, and the entire Duke community and know that we came together and made it work. It was not easy, and it certainly wasn’t without issue. Will everything go back to normal this spring? No. However, with impossible odds and improbable measures, we completed an in-person semester during a Global pandemic.
It would be irresponsible of me to not acknowledge the loss and heavy burden that has befallen so many because of COVID-19, and this reflection is by no means suggesting that this fight is over or that we have somehow succeeded.
As families know, Parent and Family Programs hosted our first-ever virtual Family Weekend October 16-18 complete with 25 synchronous and 3 asynchronous events for guests to join. Overall, Family Weekend was a great success with over 2,300 attendees across these programs which focused on institutional priorities, signature programs, and current happenings. Also as part of Family Weekend, the Division of Student Affairs hosted its annual Duke Parents Advisory Council (DPAC) fall meeting.
Jewish Life at Duke welcomed our students to the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year on August 14, 2020 with our first virtual Shabbat of the semester during Weeks of Welcome.
When Covid-19 presented us with the challenge of how to bring our programming to our students, the JLD team came up with JLD@Home to enable us to connect with our community no matter where they might be. See the offerings delivered via JLD@Home below:
At Jewish Life at Duke, one of our guiding principles is to meet students where they are and provide them a space to explore their Jewish identity. For some, Jewish Life at Duke is the place where they returned to, strengthened, or even discovered their connection to Judaism. Ben Thier '20 shares his (touching and funny!) story of finding that connection below: