In this four-episode series, behavioral health professionals offer insight and guidance and share their own stories about sending students back to school. The podcasts aim to give parents, teachers and administrators tools to help them and their students adjust to returning to the classroom during a pandemic.

The podcasts feature Dr. Carson Felkel, director of Behavioral Health for Bon Secours Mercy Health, and Dr. Aimee Drescher, a clinical psychologist with Mercy Health. The episodes focus on normalizing anxiety, working with children, CDC guideline reminders, tips on talking with children and when to contact a professional.

“This year has been brought challenges unlike any we have ever experienced into our homes and schools. We want to make sure our communities know that they are not alone and that Mercy Health is here to help,” Dr. Felkel said. “Our mission is to care for the whole person – mind, body, and spirit – and through conversation and guidance, we hope to ease our communities back into school.” Mercy Health is making the podcasts available to area school districts for distribution and also posting them on the Mercy Health blog at blog.mercy.com/ for use by all. The first video is available at blog.mercy.
com/coronavirus- covid-19-school-stress-video/.

It covers stress and normalizing anxiety during this back-to-school season and also provides tips on how to implement self-care into your routine and different ways to help your family cope during this time.

“Our communities and our schools have shown a strength while working through what it means to send our children – who which we hold most dear – back to school,” Dr. Drescher said. “It is our hope to let our school leaders, parents and teachers know that the anxiety they feel is normal and offer tips on how to adjust.”

DSA will reimburse two-thirds of the wages paid (up to $10,000) to an intern acquired through our program.  Companies can either be a tech-focused company or any company with the need for a tech-focused intern.  During this time of social distancing, the internship allows for and encourages, remote or telework opportunities.  Companies can hire as many as three (3) interns for different positions.  The minimum wage for interns is $15 per hour but can exceed that amount.  The internship period begins on November 1, 2020 and ends on April 30, 2021.
 
The company application is now open and interested companies can apply at https://development.ohio.gov/bs_thirdfrontier/diip.htm
 
Below is a 1 pager outlining the Internship Program. Please feel free to forward along to any businesses you think may be interested in this opportunity.

“This is for the students that wish to come back to campus for those services face-to-face,” she said. “They still have the option to receive services virtually, but some will want face-to-face.”

There will be a mixture of in-person and online courses for the nearly 5,700 students that will attend fall semester, Blondin said. She also said that 38% of the courses are online and all courses have an online component.

“We are ready to pivot to a fully online environment should the situation necessitate it,” she said. “Faculty create a virtual “shell” for every course for additional course materials, grading and teamwork/ collaboration for courses.

Because of this preparedness, Clark State can move courses quickly to an online environment if need be.”

When students return to campus, they will be asked to follow a “Return to Campus Daily Checklist” that follows guidelines regarding the “Responsible Restart of Ohio.”

Some of what the college is doing includes shifting staff to be available 24 hours a day to deep clean and sanitize, purchasing new equipment to make sanitization more efficient using hospital-grade tools and cleaning agents, increasing communication, developing new signs, establishing physical distancing requirements and redesigning classrooms.

“We’ve been working hard on the best possible plans for the safest possible environment,” said Matt Franz, vice president of IT and Emergency Management.

“As you move throughout campus, you will see many of the safety and wellness measures that we’ve implemented, such as reconfigured classrooms that accommodate physical distancing, Plexiglas barriers where staff and students come in face-to-face contact, virtual meetings and even stickers on the floor.”

Franz said individuals on campus are also asked to wear masks, frequently wash hands with soap and water, use the hand sanitizer that is outside of the classrooms as people enter and leave, and stay six feet apart of others.

“We want to do everything possible to remove the barriers that prevent students from receiving the education and training they need to enter employment, get promoted or transfer to a university,”

Blondin said. “We are doing everything in our power to mitigate risk while at the same time ensuring that we meet our mission to serve students.”

Contact this reporter at 937-328-0356 or email brooke.spurlock@coxinc.com.

This panel discussion will be applicable to all industries as we discuss workforce pipeline and recovery strategies from both a state and regional level.

Matthew Longfellow, ApprenticeOhio , will discuss the proven value of a Registered Apprenticeship Program.

Dillon Charney, OhioMeansJobs Clark County , will discuss the myriad of services available, including hiring assistance and funding opportunities.

Lesli Beavers, Clark State Community College , will discuss both state level resources, including TechCred and other applicable resources from the Lt. Governor's Office of Workforce Transformation and training best practices as businesses begin to recover in the wake of COVID-19.

Please join us for this discussion so that we can ensure those displaced from COVID-19 have the opportunity to reenter the workforce with the proper training and opportunity to fill your workforce needs. ​

Half of Clark State’s funds will go directly to students whose education has been impacted by COVID-19, according to a statement from the college. The other half of the funds will go to Clark State in order to provide financial relief related to coronavirus related expenses.
​

Urbana University's Blue Knight Faculty Lecture Series continues on Tuesday, Feb. 18th from 11am-12pm with a presentation from C. Shaun Owens, the Lead Faculty in Business Administration. Owens' presentation topic on Feb. 18th will be "Communication: A Key Ingredient to Competitive Advantage."

The free lecture series is designed to be a bring your own "brown bag lunch" event open to the public. There will be an opportunity to interact with the presenters, with the goal of advancing community goals. The lectures take place in The Swedenborg Memorial Library on the campus of Urbana University.

You're invited to the Career Preparation Workshop Series that UU is hosting leading up to the March 24 Career Fair.
 
These workshops are open to all community members including high school students! For more information, please contact careerconnections@urbana.edu.