By Santi Elbow and Alyssa Allemand
The Cutting Edge Program has put together a video to honor its graduating students. The video will be sent on May 15 for students and their families to watch at their convenience.
All Cutting Edge graduates were asked to send a reflection of their time at Edgewood College. “Each of those speeches will be highlighted in the video,” Brianna Huebner, director of the Cutting Edge Program, said. “We think it’s incredibly important for the student voices to be heard.”
She said the video will also include any videos or photographs submitted by students, their families, staff, faculty and other Cutting Edge supporters.
The program decided on a video, rather than a virtual ceremony, because the link can be accessed at any time or place, Huebner said.
The Cutting Edge Program has a separate ceremony from the college’s commencement every year, said Huebner. “Our students have participated in Edgewood College commencement, so it’s not really that different,” she said. “Our students are still participating in both celebrations, but it’s going to look a little different because of the pandemic.”
Cutting Edge students graduating this spring, like all 2020 graduates, are invited to attend the college’s 2021 commencement ceremony. All graduates also have the option to schedule a private ceremony with president-elect Andrew Manion this summer, depending on COVID-19 restrictions.
“Graduating is a huge accomplishment. We want our graduates to know how proud we are,” said Huebner.
Adjustments to online classes
Huebner said she is proud of the Cutting Edge students for “their hard work, dedication and patience” during the switch to online courses.
“Many of our students thrive with hands-on learning, so moving to a strictly online format has been challenging,” she said.
To adjust, Huebner said, each Cutting Edge staff member is responsible for case managing four or five students. The case manager’s responsibilities are to stay in touch with their students on a video-chat platform at least twice a week, help coordinate the students’ weekly schedules, and ensure the students all have proper academic support.
“In some cases, it’s navigating feelings of being overwhelmed or disappointed with the semester,” Huebner said. “In other cases, it’s tutoring students or editing assignments.”
All 23 Cutting Edge students connect via WebEx for a weekly Cutting Edge Student Advisory meeting, said Huebner.
She said the program is also relying on help from Cutting Edge course coaches and independent living mentors. “We are forever grateful for the amazing work our student workers provide,” she said. “They are the reason our students grow academically, socially, and in the area of independent living.”
Santi Elbow, a student in the Cutting Edge Program, said he was worried about keeping up with class work when the college first announced the move to all-online courses for Spring 2020, but it has become more manageable throughout the semester.
Elbow said he feels supported by the Cutting Edge Program along with his friends, course coaches and job coaches, but “it is harder to get the proper support I need in this new online format.”
“I struggled to comprehend how everything worked and where all the information was to help me be successful,” he said. “Especially since each professor had different ways of teaching their classes online.”
The Cutting Edge Program sends out a weekly newsletter that consists of campus updates, social opportunities, wellness activities, recognition of the senior students, and a weekly challenge for students to participate in, said Huebner.
Elbow said these newsletters and the weekly WebEx meetings are beneficial. “The WebEx conferences help keep my mental health in check by having that human connection and being able to communicate with the program and its workers face-to-face while in quarantine,” he said.
Huebner said the program has “discovered that although remote learning and case managing are difficult, it’s not impossible.”
Read a piece from Santi Elbow, an intern for OTE through a partnership with the Cutting Edge Program, here.
Post your comments