Strengthening a Sense of Purpose

It is hard to believe 2021 is already coming to an end. We have been living through a pandemic for almost 2 years now, and so much has changed so quickly. Who would have thought in March 2020 that our lives—professional and personal—would have been upended and, more than a year later, things would not yet have not gone back to “normal.” The pandemic has become endemic, and this may be the new normal.

I remember back in March 2020 when my institution, like everyone else’s, had to adjust quickly to changes and support students in ways we never considered before (for example, providing financial assistance to buy laptops or cameras for computers). The first few months of 2021 did not look much different.

Despite still having to deal with the hurdles that 2020 created for us, 2021 was a year that brought challenges but also opportunities.

Looking Back

If 2020 was the year of change, 2021 was a year of fine-tuning those changes. Even though many schools in the United States—mine included—have returned to in-person instruction and activities, a lot is still done virtually. Whereas we had no choice but to go fully virtual in 2020, in 2021 some of us could choose if and when we went virtual.

For me, 2021 is also the year that presented opportunities to review and reflect on how we were working and serving our students, staff, and communities. Flexibility and adaptation are still as important as ever, and now we see that