MARSHALL, Texas — Colleges and universities across the country are turning to online learning because of COVID-19. Wiley College, a historically black college in Marshall, is making sure students are prepared for the fall semester by mailing care packages.
"We said okay, we have to find a way to meet our students where they are, and make sure that they have the tools that they need to be successful, despite COVID-19,” Brandon Dumas Vice President for Student affairs at Wiley College said
After moving online because of COVID-19 in the spring, they found out many of their students didn't have access to either a computer or WiFi.
Over the summer, the college came up with Wiley care packages.
The packages have everything from a laptop to WiFi jetpack so students can have access to WiFi from anywhere, and memorabilia from the university's spirit store.
Because students would be learning remotely, they anticipated having the same challenges students mentioned last spring, such as limited resources to complete assignments.
"We know we need hardware, so we ordered laptops for all of our students,” Dumas said. “Then it was the connectivity issue about the problems and challenges that they had shared about having access to the internet."
Dumas says every student who registers will receive a care package.
"We were all excited and had our plans about what we plan to do and how we wanted to welcome them to campus and of course COVID-19 and their safety said otherwise,” Dumas said. “We had to find all of the ways that we could to bundle that whole experience in a box. They have no excuses, not to perform exceptionally in their academics and they know that's what we expect.
It’s not costing students any additional finances for the care packages.
Wiley College is still accepting applications for fall semester.