COVID crashed into our world like a barreling freight train. We heard it coming, faint whistles and the rumblings in the press, but were utterly unaware of how it would rail at our everything for months to come.

Will we have class?

I don’t know Zoom.

I live with my elderly grandparent.

Do we have to wear a mask?

Opinions were abundant, divergent, and changing constantly with so much at stake and so little fact.

But updates came daily from University Park, clear about what we knew, transparent around what we didn’t. Hours pulsed with collaboration, as sleeves rolled up, silos came down and best-case solutions were forged around vague and shifting targets.

On our own campus, our chancellor’s message was decisive, consistent, and echoed by each of us: “We must keep everyone safe, check in on each other, and do everything humanly possible to ensure no student is left behind.”

It felt, at first, like an unplanned fire drill. But in less than a week, our entire community was mobilized.

Teams met. Faculty retrenched. Student Affairs brainstormed how to engage students from afar. Facilities went into overdrive and Instructional Design/IT became the most popular number around.

How do we help students with no internet? And those who need emergency funds? What about all the internal and external events? OMG, we may lose football?

Across every Zoom, email, text, and call, it was abundantly clear … our community was stepping up.

Professors who had delivered remotely jumped in to help those who hadn’t to get over the virtual hump. They transitioned “home rooms” into classrooms where they taught to often faceless screens, understanding some students may take advantage of the situation, but others had reason to keep their video on mute. Day after day, hour after hour, they worked to pivot, address their own fears, and make sure no one was left behind.

The sentiment continued on campus. From our Student Affairs team that had to be clever, tech-savvy, and fast not to lose their audience. We applauded as they jumped through hoops to keep the students engaged, while Athletics moved mountains to motivate teams through the PSUAC Virtual Combine Competition and Virtual Challenge Cup.

Enrollment Management found ways to stay connected with high schools, parents and prospects, whipping up ways to tout a campus that couldn’t be toured. Advisers reached out and our counselor checked in with one student after the next. And in the admin areas, communications came, details shifted, and masses of information flowed through as we communicated, motivated, and continued an incredibly heavy lift.

It’s not been easy, and there are "miles to go before we sleep.” But when this finally “ends,” and each of us looks back, it will be with an enormous sense of pride. And so we say … for all the incredible work, comradery, acts of kindness, and patience, to everyone who pushed innovation through a cloud of complication, for every marathon day and sleepless night, or helping us keep our communities safe, for taking care of each other, and doing everything possible to ensure no student gets left behind … thank you.

We are … Penn State.

“Even in a pandemic, they still didn’t forget us.” – Dan Jalosinski, Penn State Lehigh Valley student

— Lehigh Valley Chancellor’s Council