Athena in the Time of COVID-19
What a time. Here at Athena we're doing our best to adapt, while also doing our part to keep students and our community at large safe — which means that as the rest of Barnard's semester takes place virtually, our programming will too.
Below, find what we offered to support Barnard students in spring 2020 — as well as resources to help you stay creative, collaborative, resilient, and healthy wherever you are in the world.
A twice-weekly (every Thursday and Friday) opportunity for any Barnard student to connect with a member of the vast, supportive community that is Athena — from Scholar alums to friends of the Center and more, through alum hours. See a few of these wonderful people on our Instagram @barnardathenacenter.
A weekly (every Tuesday) conversation with fellow students and the Athena team, with a different host and guest each week, all in the spirit of becoming better, more resilient leaders, and strengthening our Athena community no matter where we are in the world. See details here.
A much-needed escape, thanks to some seriously funny special guests and friends of the Center. On occasion, preceded by baking with our SAB!
Want to get to know us better? Check out our Ask Athena highlights on the Athena Center Instagram!
Additional Resources
- Take virtual tours of museums and other landmark sites, including the Met, Guggenheim, and the Getty in LA. (And if you’re into these, you might also enjoy these virtual tours of national parks around the world, courtesy of Google Earth.)
- Girls Who Code is making computer science educational activities available for free to download to anyone who wants access to them. Each activity will include a feature of a woman in tech who pioneered innovative technology.
- If you’re home with younger siblings, this list has some great ideas for things to do with them.
- And don’t forget to join Talking Tuesdays on April 14, when Athena Film Festival team members Kristin Molloy and Kory Louko '17 will be leading a discussion with two creatives about how they work.
...but also, if you just want to relax and enjoy someone else’s creativity right now, we support that too! The Athena Film Festival team has a great list of recommendations here.
- Linkedin has a list of resources around adapting to working remotely- such as the course “Learning Zoom” to collaborate more seamlessly with Zoom. It breaks down different lessons, such as “Record and review meetings” and “Share your screen during a meeting”. In fact, all LinkedIn Learning is free to you with your uni, so explore away!
- OpenIDEO is asking, "How might we rapidly inform and empower communities around the world to stay safe and healthy during the COVID-19 outbreak?" Read more about this online challenge here.
- “What I learned from 100 days of rejection” | Jian Jiang
- My identity is a superpower -- not an obstacle | America Ferrera
- Speaking of resilience, we’re totally inspired by The 19th*, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom reporting at the intersection of gender, politics and policy, which has pivoted from all women and politics all the time to a twice-weekly newsletter on the disproportionate effects of the coronavirus on women. You can sign up for it at the bottom of this page.
- STRONG by ZUMBA. Several at-home workout options are available on YouTube with no equipment needed.
- CorePower Yoga is offering free access to a selection of their yoga and meditation classes taught by CorePower trainers.
- Dancing Alone Together is offering free classes via Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube Live.
- The Greater Good Science Center is offering 20 minute Facebook sessions every Tuesday and Thursday at 4 EST. Eve Ekman and Emiliana Simon-Thomas will lead a brief grounding practice and then offer practices to boost resilience, connection, or positivity.
- Mindful offers free audio resources for Mindfulness and Meditation. They also offer tips on how to meditate, as well as specific COVID19 resources where people are sharing tips and their own stories and advice.
- If you’re a filmmaker, you might enjoy this Webinar: Mental Health and Career Sustainability in the Doc World, happening on Tuesday, March 31 at 6 PM. NYWIFT and The D-Word are co-hosting a panel discussion “Mental Health and Career Sustainability in the Doc World” to shed more light on this much-needed conversation and to explore avenues of greater filmmaker support. NYWIFT also has many other great resources here.