[2a] Graduating During the Pandemic - Dr. Ellane Park, PhD

"I need to do something special for my seniors."   

In this episode, Andy chats with Associate Professor of Chemistry at Rollins College, Dr. Ellane Park, PhD. Ellane tells a powerful story of how the campus community came together to host a mini-graduation for seniors after the news of in-person classes being cancelled and being moved to online learning for the rest of semester. She shares about the grief and loss students, especially seniors, are feeling and why symbolism is so important in understanding the significance of life's events, whether it is the bread and wine for Holy Communion, or in the case of the graduation ceremony, the robe, cap, and gown. She also gives an encouragement to seniors who may be feeling uncertain about the future. Whether you're a student, faculty, or just someone who loves the college campus, we hope Dr. Park's story can inspire you to also support the graduating seniors in your life. And through it all to listen to the still, small voice that might be nudging you to creative love others in this tumultuous season.     

LINKS:        
We've created a website (updated daily) full of resources to help you with Ministering Digitally Through COVID-19: intervarsity.org/online.      

*Producer's note:
At the time of recording and when Dr. Park held her mini-graduation, social distancing guidelines were in the midst of evolving day-by-day. This form of ministry (throwing graduation parties and shaking hands) is not encouraged today. For more info visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Transcript

Andy Kim:   0:02
It was the first crazy weekend of COVID-19 developments in the US and I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty panicked. Reading about major events being canceled, celebrities testing positive for the virus and colleges around the nation canceling classes for the semester and going fully online. But in the midst of all that, I came across this video of, ah, hastily thrown together college graduation ceremony. A young woman with the help of her two friends is standing in the hallway trying to figure out how to zip up a graduation robe. And then she burst into tears. And then she walked into a classroom where all her classmates are on their feet, fumbling through a capella version of Pomp and Circumstance. The professor is in the front in full regalia, holding a diploma, and there's not a dry eye in the room. And as I'm watching this video with tears streaming down my face, I knew that I wanted to talk to that professor and hear more about her story. And so, in this episode of Ministry During the Disruption, we bring you that conversation. 

Andy Kim:   1:13
Hi, you're listening to the ministry during the disruption podcast. I'm Andy Kim, and I'm so excited to be joined by an incredible guest, the newly tenured associate professor of chemistry at Rollins College, Dr Ellane Park. Thank you so much for joining us.

Dr. Ellane Park, PhD:   1:28
Thanks for having me.

Andy Kim:   1:29
How are you doing? How has it been for you the last week or so with college campuses closing, with your students going home? Can you just take us into your world the last week or so?

Dr. Ellane Park, PhD:   1:42
Oh, boy, it's been quite a whirlwind, and it seems really surreal to describe what the last week at our college was like. Thursday the 12th was when, of March, was when we first heard the news at Rollins that all the students were asked to pack up and leave the campus not just for spring break, but to be prepared to basically move out all their stuff for the rest of the semester. We received that news when I was in class with my chemistry students. The email came right at the start of class, and so a student raised her hand and said, Dr Park, we just got an email saying that we have to get ready to move out for the rest of semester and we're not gonna be in class in, you know, in person together. And you can sense the room. Just have this sort of, ah, sadness and confusion and mixed feelings of even anger right for some of them. They're like, "What? Why are they asking us to leave?" And, um, and then one of the students who is a senior taking my class burst into tears, and it was really hard for me to contain my emotion. And even now, as I'm speaking about it, the emotions coming back. And you can only imagine basically what people are processing, one of the emotions grief, right. Grief of the loss of whatever they anticipated for the rest of the semester being. And so one of the seniors later that day she said something like "Dr. Park, I didn't have a real graduation for my high school. I was so looking forward to a college graduation with a cap and gown. And in a night or two, I need to say goodbye to my friends, and I don't know when I'm gonna see them next." And just that feeling of loss. It just came too soon, right? And so I woke up on Friday morning, the thought that occurred to me was I needed to do something special for my seniors. I don't know how it's gonna happen, but it has to happen. I don't know how I'm gonna get cap and gowns last minute, but I know at least I have my own faculty robe and the PhD gown that I usually wear for graduation. So at the very least, I could give them, lend them my gown so that they feel special for the day and just take pictures with them on. And so is prepared for that. But what I wasn't quite prepared for, but I was pleasantly surprised by was at 8 a.m. once I got into the office and started making phone calls and text messages to my department faculty, within an hour and 1/2 people from my department, as well as administrative assistants and the president's office pitched in caps and gowns, like chords, tassels, diploma holders and then a faculty member made up like a certificate that was a pre-graduation certificate with people's names. It was incredible that within an hour and 1/2 this little mini graduation ceremony was gonna happen, including decorations with balloons and cupcakes for the seniors. I thought that was incredible. So I had a meeting right before my 10 a.m. class. And remember that one senior in my intro class? She I thought about her and I thought, well, the caps and gowns, I was scheduled to pick them up after my class at 10 a.m. So I thought, "What am I gonna do with this one senior?" And so I decided to run over, come to the class late, run over to the president's office, grab the caps and gowns, went back to my office, gowned up my own PhD robe, and then I was probably looking like, I was sticking out like a sore thumb because no one was wearing graduation robes or anything around the hallway. So I walked up to my classroom and, uh, the senior wasn't there in the class. I came in late and I was wondering, Where are you? So I told the classmates, her classmates to text her and call her. And so they eventually got her to the class and all the students students were so amazingly supportive, like they were on board with this little mini graduation idea. And so the senior got ambushed in the hallway, and there was a video clip of her. I didn't see it until later, of course, and I saw the video clip of her getting gowned up and getting quite emotional. And, and then the emotion that follows when not only was she gowned up, but she walks into this class with all of her peers, standing up and singing this graduation song for her, it was just, I think, really powerful.

Andy Kim:   5:56
Thank you for sharing that is powerful. What is the significance of the graduation robe and the diploma and the cap and the hood? Why was that important To get those materials for your students?

Dr. Ellane Park, PhD:   6:10
I think we lean on symbolism to understand the significance of whatever that thing is. And if you think about communion, we have bread and wine, and that's symbolic to representing our connection to Jesus every week, if you do that with your church every week. And I think this cap and gown and the walking of the ceremony, all of that is symbolic to say you've made it to the end of the four years no matter how rough it was and the roller coaster ride that you you were in as a student, like finally, you're at the end and you're graduating, you know, and I think it is significant to the seniors. And if we were to think of our senior graduation ceremony back in the day when we all went to college, right, which is years ago, it feels like a long time ago, it feels like for me, but walking across that stage and even if you're waiting hours till your name is called. It's just symbolic toe say, "Oh, I did it. It's finally it's official, right?"

Andy Kim:   7:10
I think it's something about the symbols and the physical presence that we take for granted that now we don't and the just knowing that you could do that for these students that even thinking about for me, it's been... Wow. I went to a coffee shop for maybe my last time in a really long time, or my parents I may not get to see them in a while, you know? So I think stuff like that is probably what a lot of people are feeling like. And so you got to take that opportunity and use it.

Dr. Ellane Park, PhD:   7:39
You know why I was reading a book, maybe a month ago, about where great ideas come from. And a friend of mine from InterVarsity actually recommended that I read it. And there's a section there that talks about, like the mundane activities start to, that's where the ideas come up. Like whether it's when you're walking or taking shower or you're driving like something mundane is when some some idea might pop into your head and those are sometimes ideas that you might have to hold onto and run with. And it would might have started with an idea with me. But at the end of the day got pulled together, community within my department to make it happen, and I would not have been able to do it by myself. And so I'm really grateful that God brought a community around me to do this, to support the seniors in this way and and even just a community within that general chemistry class with first years and sophomores who were like, "Yes, Dr. Park! We're gonna do it. We're gonna sing the graduation song." I thought, That's awesome. That's something that I can't do, even if I were to hum it by myself is not gonna have the same significance to that senior walking in and hearing everyone support her in that class. And so I think that's what brought everyone to tears. It's like how all the students came together last minute and said, "Yes, we're in."

Andy Kim:   8:54
What would you say to your seniors and maybe other seniors who could be listening, who may be feeling a little anxious about the next few months, maybe not be able to have graduation or job prospects as they're trying to start a new chapter in their lives? What would you say to them?

Dr. Ellane Park, PhD:   9:11
It's tough to give advice in a time that's unprecedented, like I myself have never been in a situation like a pandemic before, right? And so my first thought is for the seniors to get a space or to have a space to grieve properly, to grieve in these stages to healthy process the loss site that you might be feeling as a senior, right? The loss of having to say goodbye to your friends sooner than you thought you would. Ah, and maybe the loss of a potential graduate like the graduation ceremony not happening, that that's those are significant moments that I think thoughtfully grieve through and have a community of hopefully Christians around you to process that sorrow. I think that's the first thing that comes to my mind. Uh, the second thing would be to know that there is hope in Jesus, right there is this middle ground of how do we lean into Jesus during this time. There is a balance of being well informed and looking at the news and reading up on scientific papers that are coming out. I mean, as a chemist, I'm very much interested in what the scientific literature is saying right now. Um but then we also need to be spiritually fed and praying and really being present in Jesus.

Andy Kim:   10:25
Well, Dr Park, I just so grateful for your story of how you took the small inspiration, the still small voice of the Lord, and you are faithful to that. You took some risks. You sacrificed and creatively loved people inspiring me to think about how I could do that for the people in my life.

Dr. Ellane Park, PhD:   10:43
Oh, thank you.

Andy Kim:   10:45
Thanks again for listening to the Ministry During the Disruption podcast. Our hope is to bring stories from you all of how you're seeing God work on college and university campuses, even in the midst of the crisis. And as always, if you visit intervarsity.org/online, you could find our latest and best resource is of how we're thinking about online ministry. It's being updated every single day, so be sure to follow. And make sure you subscribe this podcast on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. Um, if you can rate us and like us, that would be helpful to spread the word, because our hope is that even though things are really crazy right now, we want to be a source of encouragement and we want to hear from you. So stay healthy, stay safe, stay encouraged and we'll see you next time.