“Idea Lab” Generates Reopening Scenarios
With the challenges that social distancing present for bringing students back to campus in the fall, the Cornell administration is addressing numerous scenarios for classes, social events and extracurricular activities.
In an effort to involve more students in the process, ILR Dean Alex Colvin and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Lisa Nishii invited ILRies to participate in a virtual Idea Lab for Reopening. Altogether, 10 groups tackled the topic of the role that students will play in creating and encouraging social responsibility during the reopening of college campuses.
Colvin and Nishii began the session by framing the issue of colleges being social by nature, but social distancing being necessary to keep individuals safe. After that, teams had 90 minutes to outline possible solutions. Each team then recorded a five-minute video focusing on the most relevant and salient ideas they developed, before returning to a full-group meeting to give a two-minute presentation to a panel of judges.
“One of the best things about ILR is the student community,” said Kara Lombardi, assistant dean for student experience and wellbeing. “Idea Lab was a fun and collaborative community activity that brought students together to think about an interesting challenge and they delivered some really interesting and innovative ideas.”
The winning team, which consisted of Salima Ali ’23, Pranjal Jain ’23 and Mohammed Islam ’23, proposed a student-led website that would facilitate genuine connections through online interactions. The group suggested using a software program that would help pair first-year students with similar interests in the hope of fostering online friendships. The program could also be utilized by upperclassmen to help recruit freshmen into various clubs and activities, include a hub for all virtual events across campus, and provide pandemic-related trainings and workshops.
Two other teams – Anderson Rogers ’23, Patrick Mehler ’23 and Isaac Chasen ’23; and Alexis Fintland ’22, Noah Huber ’22, William Silverman ’21 and Kirubeal Wondimu ’22 – received honorable mention, while the Student Choice award went to the winning team, as well as Rogers, Mehler and Chasen