Early in 2020, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, affecting communities in all countries and across all demographics. UCI was no exception, and instruction moved to an online format beginning in Spring quarter. As for most people experiencing quarantine for the first time, times were trying for all of us. Isolation and lack of structure were challenging, as was adjusting to teaching and learning remotely, and for those of us with childern, the homeschooling was grueling!

 

But we had an opportunity to maintain some semblance of former normalcy in the face of the "new normal." The Mackey Lab continued our tradition of weekly lab meetings and found they were indispensible for checking in, sharing experiences, and maintaining morale. Each week, we began the meetings by going around the virtual Zoom classroom, with each person mentioning a "silver lining" that had come out of the quarantine experience. Examples included experiences such as: reconnecting with family and friends more frequently, getting outside for more walks and enjoying nature, resurrecting past hobbies, trying new recipes, beginning new volunteer activities remotely to engage diverse communities, and many more. Weekly Zoom themes helped keep things interesting. We were even able to see our undergraduate researchers graduate remotely and receive their well-earned green MackeyLab graduation cords...check out their graduation page!