Faces of BVU: Dr. Andrea Frantz
This semester was supposed to be my very first sabbatical in 31 years of full-time teaching. I had grand plans to study podcasting and First Amendment history at the University of California-Berkeley, as well as to earn a certificate in Social Impact Storytelling through an online program at Georgetown University.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
I learned a long time ago that every ball that Life delivers will not always be a fast pitch straight down the middle. If it’s a low and outside curve, you have to adjust quickly. But when you keep your eye on the ball, the potential for the homerun is still there. It’s all in the timing and how you make contact.
So, keeping my eye on the ball actually meant reaching out to see how others—namely my students—were coping in this new quarantined, distant reality. I long ago made the decision to teach at BVU because its size afforded me the privilege to actually know my students and be able to respond to their needs on an individual basis. As I walked across the crowded Berkeley campus, I was struck by the fact that such individual attention would be much more difficult to achieve at a school that size.
"And I’ve also affirmed what I knew back in 1989: that teaching has always been about meeting the ‘needs of the many’ as well as the ‘needs of the one.’ That’s what we’ve always done at BVU."
After a couple of weeks in California, everything in the Bay area began to shut down, including my program at the university. So, the curve ball forced me to adjust my swing, and I went home to Iowa.
If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that each of us has a role to play in making sure that those around us are healthy and safe. While the sabbatical started out to be all about me chasing my individual dreams, the reality of COVID-19 underscored my own responsibility to others and the importance of community. As Star Trek’s Spock famously noted, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.”
So, what am I doing during this semester of separation? Closing the gap. I am reaching out to my students and advisees. I’m asking how they are doing, cheerleading from the dugout when they make contact with the ball with their creativity or initiative, and listening when they need to talk. I’m Zooming and e-mailing, texting and Snapping. I’m trying to learn how my students want to communicate and adjusting my swing.
And I’ve also affirmed what I knew back in 1989: that teaching has always been about meeting the ‘needs of the many’ as well as the ‘needs of the one.’ That’s what we’ve always done at BVU. So, while COVID-19 has indeed been a curveball, low and outside, the adjustment to make contact really hasn’t been drastic at all.