The Multicultural Business Scholars Program stays connected during social distancing
The following blog was written during the spring semester by Morgan States for Business 305, a business writing course offered by the KU School of Business. Students were tasked with creating an effective blog post to communicate an opportunity or issue in the business school to prospective students, current students, faculty and staff, alumni, donors, and anyone else who reads School of Business blog content.
Under Steven Johnson Jr., director of diversity, equity and inclusion student programs at the School of Business, the Multicultural Business Scholars Program (MBSP) has taken steps to make sure its scholars are still able to connect under our new circumstances.
Since KU moved to 100 percent remote learning, I have found myself in need of moral support and social contact now more than ever. Due to social distancing, it has been a challenge for me to recreate the feeling of connection I get from being on campus. The MBSP has stayed connected while practicing social distancing by initiating more student-director meetings, creating a GroupMe, and hosting Zoom gatherings.
One-on-one personal check-ins
After the announcement that KU was closing campus, students experienced major changes in a short amount of time. Luckily, MBSP made efforts to ease this transition.
Director Johnson wrote in his weekly email, “I want to connect with scholars individually to learn of ways I could offer assistance during this transition.”
From there, we scheduled one-on-one meetings via Zoom to discuss any challenges and how we could go about navigating them. During my meeting with Director Johnson, we discussed how I can alter my academic and personal goals to overcome the new changes in my learning environment.
Continued personal connection with Director Johnson encouraged me to stay positive about the situation. It inspired me to reach out to friends and family to give them the same moral support.
Group communication opportunities
The MBSP has created a GroupMe to ensure communication between scholars during their time away from campus. Many scholars, including myself, benefitted from studying together in our student lounge, connecting during monthly meetings, and seeing each other in classes.
Jasmine Moore, an MBSP student assistant, created the GroupMe in hopes that this new virtual space could accommodate similar connections in a new context.
“I don’t have every scholar’s contact information that I typically connect with in the business school,” Moore said.
This outlet has helped her keep in touch with members of the program and continue building meaningful relationships.
Weekly Zoom meetings
The MBSP is hosting group meetings via Zoom once a week for scholars. The meetings are held at different days and times to allow scholars the opportunity to join when they can.
The meetings are 1 hour of free time for scholars to connect with one another, process how they are adjusting, and to share any resources that could be helpful for the greater group. The group meetings have created a sense of normalcy for me.
The ability engage with fellow scholars, even though we are no longer on camps, has made social distancing easier to manage.
Click here to read about more ways that MBSP has benefited other scholars.
By Morgan States and Meaghan Boyd
