In late September, Hurricane Ian – a Category 4 Atlantic Hurricane – struck Florida’s southwest coast, bringing with it torrential rains and high winds that caused upwards of five billion dollars of damage. After the colossal storm tracked through the state, millions of people were left without power, and thousands of homes were destroyed. It was Florida’s deadliest Hurricane since 1935.
The effects of Hurricane Ian were felt around the country – including at Purdue. Some of Purdue’s online staff and students experienced the hurricane’s destruction firsthand. In the wake of the disaster, Purdue’s online community came together to show support for those who were affected by sending check-ins, extending deadlines, and helping students and colleagues cope with what had happened.
Robert Schiavo, coordinator of student experience for Purdue University Online, has lived in Florida for most of his life. He currently lives in Orlando – a medium-sized city in central Florida best known as the home of Disneyworld. As a Floridian, Schiavo is no stranger to hurricanes – he's experienced multiple major storms in his lifetime. But Schiavo said Hurricane Ian seemed particularly dangerous from the get-go.
“Leading up to landfall, there was a lot of disagreement about where the hurricane would track,.” Schiavo said. “Only a couple models showed it landing on Florida’s southwest coast at basically full strength, and then tracking through to central Florida where I live, but that’s exactly what happened.”
Hurricane Ian made landfall Tuesday, and by Wednesday night it was moving through Orlando, having weakened slightly. Though this was not Schiavo’s first hurricane, he said the experience of witnessing a hurricane firsthand is always unforgettable.
“There is obviously a lot of rain, especially at the beginning,” Schiavo said. “But you can’t forget the sound of the wind – these prolonged gusts that can get up to 90 miles per hour, it’s such a loud and scary sound.”
After the storm moved through Orlando, Schiavo had time to assess the damage. Luckily, his home and the homes of most of his neighbors suffered minimal damage. However, his neighborhood was still in rough shape – bridges and roads were flooded, many people didn’t have power, and Schiavo knew the road to complete recovery would take a while. Since Schiavo works online for Purdue, most of his coworkers live far away from the hurricane's impact. Regardless, dozens of them came together to make sure he was okay.
“The outpouring of support I received was incredible,” Schiavo said. “Dozens of people checked in with me, made sure I was okay – my supervisor alone checked in on me probably a dozen times in the span of a few days.”
Initially, Schiavo was committed to working through the hurricane as long as he had power. But, when he decided to take some time off work to focus on weathering the storm, his team was completely supportive.
“They told me I had one priority,” Schiavo said. “And that priority was staying safe and making it through the storm.”
Thanks to the support of his colleagues, Schiavo was able to make it through the storm without worrying about missing deadlines or delaying projects. When asked about the most important form of support Purdue’s online staff offered people affected by the storm, Schiavo said that, for him, flexibility and empathy go a long way.
“Even though we’re hundreds of miles away from each other, there’s this awareness that we need to support each other,” Schiavo said. “I felt like my wellbeing was more important than anything – knowing I could step away from my job to focus on recovery made a big difference.”
Billie Chandler, online student success coach for Purdue’s interdisciplinary engineering master’s program, was not directly affected by Hurricane Ian – she lives hundreds of miles away from where it made landfall. However, many of the students Chandler works with were in the line of the storm and supporting them has become a central priority for her the last couple of weeks.
“I sent out an email to all of the students I work with who may have been affected by the hurricane, offering support” Chandler said. “It ended up being a couple hundred students.”
As a student success coach, Chandler works with Purdue’s online students to help them achieve academic success. But, since many of Purdue’s online students are professionals with jobs and families, helping them academically also includes getting to know them personally – supporting their life goals along with their academic ambitions.
“In this role it’s really important to meet people where they are,” Chandler said. “I work on making the messages I send to students personalized, because I want them to know that they’re not just a number – they're a full person who is just as important to Purdue as an on-campus student.”
When online students experience a stressful event like a hurricane, Chandler helps them balance the stress of their day-to-day lives with what’s needed from them academically. She reminds them to prioritize their wellbeing and make goals that are achievable.
“I want online students to feel connected to the staff here,” Chandler said. “They have unique obstacles – busy jobs, unpredictable schedules, and when you add the stress of experiencing a disaster to that, it’s really overwhelming. My job involves helping them overcome those stresses and become their best selves.”
According to Chandler, supporting students emotionally is an important part of their academic success. If students don’t feel heard and cared for by staff and faculty, they often start struggling academically. When Chandler talks to students about balancing their assignments, she also gets to know who they are.
“You help students holistically,” Chandler said.
When asked about how staff and faculty can support students affected by the hurricane, Chandler, like Schiavo, stressed the importance of flexibility – being willing to extend deadlines and give students additional leeway goes a long way towards relieving their stress.
“For students going through a stressful time, my job is to help them take it day-by-day,” Chandler said. “I ask them – what can we do today to make this easier moving forward? Where can we find some time this week to knock some things off the to-do list? It’s helpful for them to know they don’t have to do it all alone.”
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