Time to reflect
To say that it has been a tough year with the impact of the global pandemic and other challenges (some of them not new) is such an understatement that it leaves one craving new words.
To pause and reflect on what has been lost—the lives, opportunities, experiences—and the pressing challenges facing us, including COVID-19 and racial injustice, Wheaton’s Residential Life and the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life staff coordinated an evening of remembrance on March 25.
The campus community was invited to note their personal losses in messages written on luminaria that also noted the staggering number of COVID-19 deaths in various states, including Massachusetts. Students and staff helped set up the luminaria along pathways, and a walk for justice was held on campus before an evening moment of silence presented on Zoom.
“COVID-19 unexpectedly forced all of us into an ongoing period of traumatic loss and isolation. No matter our background, we have been impacted by COVID-19 and the unrest both in the United States and abroad,” said Caleigh Grogan ’18, Center for Social Justice and Community Impact interfaith engagement coordinator.
“The Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, along with the COVID-19 Return to Campus Task Force and Residential Life, wanted to acknowledge the varying experiences of COVID-19 within our community and create time and space to honor and mourn those whom we have lost.”
