How Gordon Is Staying Safe During COVID-19
Learn About Gordon’s Communication Strategies
2020 has been a year of adjustment for all. Many high school seniors missed out on prom and graduation and wondered if they would be able to attend college in the fall. Many Massachusetts Colleges offered various studying options, such as Harvard have all online learning, while many such as Boston College are offering a hybrid of in-person and online learning experiences.
Gordon College, being unique, in that they are smaller and more North from the city was able to commit to their freshman students that they would have as much of a normal college experience as possible. Students were able to able to arrive on campus and attend most classes in person, although socially distanced and masked.
Steve Dagley, the Creative Director for Gordon College’s Marketing described the different steps Gordon has taken to make students feel safe while here on campus during the fall.
“We weren’t able to say definitively what the fall will look like because no one knew yet. But we wanted to communicate on that personal level and that things unique about Gordon would still be here; that we will find creative ways to adapt.”
Gordon decided to stay closed after Spring Break and had to cancel multiple prospective visits, not to mention Spring recitals, Senior shows, and many other planned events.
Holly Hamilton, a freshman at Gordon College, shared what the process was like as a prospective student in the Spring when everything was shut and slowed down.
“I was planning on visiting in March, but the visit ended up being canceled because of COVID. I looked at all the virtual tours I could find of Gordon and used all the resources I could so that when I came to campus, it all looked familiar. It was almost like I had been there before. I watched all the tours I could find, even with my parents, which made them feel comfortable, especially during these times, sending me to a school that was far away.”
Various virtual tours can be found on Gordon’s YouTube page. You can also follow a more in-depth virtual tour on gordon.edu/campustour On the website you can also sign up for online prospective events to meet faculty, students, and visit specific classrooms depending on the major you are interested in.
Holly fell in love with the campus and committed to coming in the fall, without ever visiting. She was very grateful she was able to continue her plans to come to Wenham to study at Gordon.
“Over the summer, I was unsure whether Gordon was going to let students live on campus. I never thought about starting later, so much as going somewhere closer to home. In the end, I ended up sticking with Gordon because I thought they were handling it well. Massachusetts was actually doing better with their COVID numbers than Kentucky, where I am from. I wanted to stick with my first choice and take the risk [of getting sent home], rather than stay home and miss out.”
Throughout the summer, both President Lindsay and Rick Sweeney, Director of Communications, kept those in the Gordon community updated through email as well as regular updates to the Gordon website.
“In the Spring, we were nervous on the recruitment side, because we scared that anyone who was tentatively coming to Gordon in fall might not want to bother if it felt so different. We wanted to communicate through our updates that we weren’t just canceling college. By the end of the summer, we found that more people ended up committing for the fall than we anticipated. We actually had our largest incoming freshman class in a long time,” said Dagley.
The main way Gordon has kept current students, prospective students, and parents aware of changes and safety procedures have been through social media, such as their Instagram page. Photos and posts were uploaded that directed students to emails and website updated that gave clear updates on the college’s opening procedures.
“They provided just the information that I needed. Their website was very helpful, and even being able to connect to people over the phone was really helpful. I followed Gordon on Instagram that provided a lot of good information and helped me feel connected to the school I was about to attend.” -Holly Hamilton
After students arrived back on campus, Gordon’s Communication team continued to provide all parties with information about testing and their plans to keep campus safe. Mike Eugenio at the Design Center spoke about his work in the Print Shop to help create and distribute information about on-campus testing.
“Our biggest projects this semester have been for the COVID-19 updates. We’ve designed and printed the signage to direct students when getting tested, and providing Halls with information on the date and time they are to go get tested.”
Gordon has required regular testing for students throughout the semester. This included nose swabs as well as large pool saliva tests by households.
“A big project has been maintaining all the information about what Gordon is doing in steps in the summer to reopening in the fall. That was a big web and email project, which is a lot of information to communicate to lots to faculty, students, parents, and the general public”, said Steve Dagley.
The campus was doing great for most of the semester, just until recently. As cases begin to rise in the state, testing on campus was increased and more positive cases were discovered. Gordon released a statement this last Tuesday that all in-person classes would be canceled for the semester. Many students chose to leave campus a week earlier than what was originally planned.
Gordon hopes that they will be able to re-open in February similar to how they did in the fall. They will be keeping their website up to date throughout the winter if plans change. As of now, they look forward to welcoming students back to campus next semester to the same hybrid style of teaching that was done this fall.