Clarity When All is Fog
My family enjoys travel, especially to the great state of Maine. It is beautiful, picturesque, and we have significant family history buried there. Literally. Like, long-dead relatives.
A few years back, we’d finally planned to spend the day on famous Monhegan Island. You can take the 20-mile ride over on the ferry, traipse all over the 4.5 square mile island, then grab lunch at the Inn. Be sure NOT to miss the last ferry back. Dotted with picturesque Maine cottages and breathtaking views at every turn, it’s easy to see why artists flock there. But, the trip didn’t start that way. When we arrived at the dock, we found ourselves enveloped in Maine fog. We couldn’t see across the dock much less the length of the boat. At 9:30 ish in the morning, it was thick as a blanket. We had come for the experience, the pictures, and the view. Our view was about six feet long.
I sense some fog is settling on us right now. We celebrated the change of the calendar year only to see more of the worst of 2020 a few days later. Hope remains for the vaccines, but the reality of delivering 2 doses to 300+ million people has tempered our dream of a quick return to greater freedoms.
And, then there is Higher Education. If your high school student graduated in 2020 or is graduating this spring, you are working a with-if-this AND what-if-that process. You don’t know if they will start traditional at-school this fall. Your finances may have been deeply harmed during the pandemic; you and your student are beyond tired of struggling through high school on a screen. Maybe, just maybe, incessant family time together has stretched everyone to a breaking point.
What do you do when the fog threatens your plans?
First- Stay in the process. Let’s go back to Maine. Even though there was fog, we boarded the ferry, and it departed on time. They didn’t delay, or cancel the trip. They just used different tools for the conditions. One of those is a sound signal. They made a prolonged blast of the ship’s horn at least every two minutes. It is the universal signal of a motorized vessel underway in low visibility situations. While we were moving forward, we did so at a reduced speed. This was done for our safety and all others on the water. The message here? Keep moving your student forward. Learn the right times to do the PSAT, SAT, ACT; start gathering college info their Junior year; take college career testing no later than the end of their Junior Year. In other words, don’t stand on the dock waiting for the fog to lift to START the work. Do the work differently, but do it.
Second- Stay informed. Our captain reassured us the fog would lift as we got closer to the island. It was slow at first, but over the next hour, that is exactly what happened. I believe this is what will be happening in 2021. Colleges should be able to return to in-person this fall. Most of the high-risk groups should be vaccinated by then. While college students are way down the vaccine list, they are also as a group, lower risk. Therefore, that is ONE of many options available to your student. Be sure you consider a non-resident option and a remote option. Should something change, God forbid, it will be much easier to switch over to Option B or Option C. Just run parallel plans while focusing on the best one for your student today. They don’t have to be detailed, deep, or fancy. Just know have your alternate direction IF we get gobsmacked with something else.
Third- Stay Positive- I REALLY believe we are inching towards a resolution on the pandemic. I hope you have used this strange time to re-think your student’s path. Going “back to normal” is not the only option. You can use these remaining months to define and deliver the right higher education experience for your student, with an affordable price tag, along with a goal and target timeline for completion. Having a defined plan will take a LOT of stress off everyone.
And yes, the Captain knew his weather. We landed to clear skies and had a wonderful day hiking around the island enjoying the views and taking pictures at every turn. It was well worth the effort. Have faith, but have a couple of options, too!
Next week, I share with you an unexpected treat from North Miami Beach, FL. It is the story of a different approach to high school that should help us want more for our students and community!
Until next time,
All my best,
Bonnie Burkett
