Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2020, 1:22 PM

Dear Bridge Scholar,

We have heard and listened. Thank you to many of you for getting in touch with me, Ms. Barrientos, your mentors, and your professors, and thank you for sharing your concerns and needs through the petition too. The development of how COVID-19 is spreading is causing a lot of changes in the arrival plans in schools, colleges, and universities, and unfortunately, all of us in the Bridge Scholars Program have now been impacted by this wave of changes. Like you, I have been looking forward to starting BSP on campus --- to maybe regain some normalcy, to start college (and for us staff and faculty, to have students back in our midst), after grieving for much that has been lost during the final months last semester. It is especially hard for too many who have experienced personal losses and family hardship during the summer of 2020.

Co-presidents Edmonds and Moore and their leadership team came to this very difficult decision to delay all scheduled early arrivals because of the uptick of COVID-19 in El Paso County and Colorado (you can see the county and state dashboard online). The county also just recommended the public school delay the start of the school year to August 17. The college, along with the local community, is enhancing prevention and monitoring protocols. Co-Presidents Edmonds and Moore want to affirm the college's commitment to support you all during this change to your arrival plans and recognize the stress and hardship that this change has created.

There are a few important logistical support resources we want to share with you:

• Travel plans: If you can make changes to your travel plans, please do so. Most airlines and lodging establishments are waiving change fees.

• Move-in: The residential life staff will send the link to the updated 1st-year move-in window (8/13-17). Sign-ups have not started for other students, so the full range of move-in dates and times will be available to you when they open. There are many appointment slots available every day, so it should not be a problem to get your desired move-in date.

• Housing: If you face challenges with housing insecurity because you do not have s stable or secure housing environment to take your Bridge course, and need to arrive on campus prior to the 1st year move-in window (8/13 - 8/17), you can request a housing exemption to arrive earlier than the 13th. You can write to Zak Kroger (zkroger@coloradocollege.edu) to explain your need. If you email your request before tomorrow (7/24) at 9am (mountain), the housing committee will be able to get you a reply the same day. If you have questions about writing your email, do contact me or your mentors. You can always copy me on your email to Mr. Kroger too. It is hard to have to share some life details with people you have not yet met. I know the staff review committee will be reading with compassion and empathy.

• Financial impact: Students who are experiencing damaging financial fallout from this change should apply to CC COVID emergency funding. For example, if the airline would not waive your change fee, or if you lodging charges you a cancellation fee even though you are canceling it now, these unanticipated expenses might create hardship. Students can write to emergencyrequests@coloradocollege.edu. Again, do reach out to me or the mentors if we can offer support about sending in these official requests, and you can copy me on your email to the emergency request.

• Stress and mental health: All this is stressful, and could bring up many different responses and emotions--in as many different ways as there are us as individuals. If you think you might benefit from the support from a (free) private and supportive conversation with a counselor at CC, please contact counselingcenter@coloradocollege.edu and they will help you make an online appointment. Even if you have never worked with a counselor, I encourage you to try it out -- it provides a space for all of us to feel and think through the many concerns that we hold in our heads in these complex situations. (Besides working with the Bridge Scholars Program, I am also a psych professor and so I do really support all of us maintaining our mental health).

• Stipend: Be assured that even though the Bridge Scholars course is online, at the completion of the program you will still receive your $400 stipend. Financial Aid will work with each of you to disperse this stipend to you early in the fall semester.

• Laptops: If you need a college loaner laptop, let Ms. Belinda Barrientos bbarrientos@coloradocollege.edu know ASAP. We have a fleet of laptops ready to be deployed to support your online learning.

• Info session:
  We have put together a group of staff from CC to host an info session tomorrow at 1:30 pm (mountain) for additional Q and A opportunities. We will have Vice Provost Pedro de Araujo, Acting Dean of Students; Rochelle Dickey, Associate Vice President for Student Life; John Lauer, and Director of Financial Aid, Shannon Amundson. I'll moderate the session and you can send me your questions for the panel, or enter them in the chatbox during the info session.

You can register for the info session at this link.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. The capacity of the webinar license I have is limited to 100 viewers in Zoom, and if you cannot get in because we reached that licensing cap, you can also join us https://www.coloradocollege.edu/live/

We hope that you and yours are safe and healthy in the midst of the pandemic. In spite of these changes in our arrival and BSP course plans, I look forward to meeting you when you come to campus. The Bridge community of students, mentors, staff, and faculty is a strong one and we will come together to celebrate you joining the tiger family, and supporting each other.