BY CHRISTA KNUDSEN '92

Marshall’s international program enrolls approximately 40 students per year from 8-10 countries. Most live in Marshall House, the school’s on-campus residence, and several also live in offsite international houses. Students from Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Spain, Hungary, Russia, Finland and Uganda chose to learn at Marshall in 2020-21. Some are learning in-person, some are at home, still waiting to get here. Some chose to return home temporarily; several haven’t been home since August of 2019. These are just a few of their stories.

The coronavirus pandemic has shifted life as we knew it in ways that defy description. All of us have experienced the pandemic, and it is just as true that we have experienced it uniquely. Both our collective and the individual stories are important, lighting the way towards greater compassion for where we’ve been and greater understanding of where we might be going as individuals, communities and institutions. In this story, we hover at a point in time over the experiences of three international Hilltoppers during the pandemic, in hopes of illuminating the larger picture of adaptation, trust, hopes, and dreams that have carried Marshall’s international program through the pandemic. Fittingly, this is a true story of global citizenship.

 

MARCH 2020 

ADAM KOVACS ’22 was in Sweden to try out for the hockey program at a new prospective school when it hit him – the pandemic was not only real, but winning. Within the week the announcement was made that the program would not operate in 2020-21, and the news coming from elsewhere in Europe, where Adam’s family lives, was similar. Through a connection with new Alumni and Hockey Operations Director Jasen Wise, Adam applied to Marshall. With hopes that the Northland would remain relatively immune to growing numbers elsewhere, allowing in-person attendance and the continuation of athletics, Adam enrolled.

 

 

HANA KIM ’21’s family was meanwhile growing more concerned daily about rising COVID-19 numbers in the United States, and the more frequent news of closing borders to travelers from countries considered “high risk.” Hana was in her second year at Marshall as a junior and living at Marshall House at the time. Inside the United States over the past two months, the virus had gone from distant news to spreading rapidly domestically, and the governor of Minnesota had just placed the state under a “stay-at- home” order, changing life at school and in the dorm overnight. Because Marshall was able to quickly transition to online learning, Hana’s family chose to bring her home to Korea to complete the year.

 

 

JESSICA NGUYEN ’22 was looking to her friend group for comfort and community in the midst of what she remembers as “a chaotic time.” Using social media and video for much of her academic and social connection was new, and learning and interacting mostly in her room at Marshall House was a challenge, both in terms of motivation and social isolation. Jessica’s home country of Vietnam was one of the earliest to close its borders to inbound travelers, but even more importantly, U.S. embassies would not be open to renew visas allowing students’ re-entry in the fall. Jessica’s family (along with all enrolled Vietnamese parents) determined that the students’ best option was to remain at Marshall for the indefinite future and ride out what was hoped to be a short-lived disruption.

 

AUGUST 2020

ADAM KOVACS arrived in the U.S., and per Marshall House’s current onboarding policy, spent two weeks quarantining prior to moving into the dormitory. Fall was a rollercoaster of experiences and emotions. Being in-person, though masked and distanced, was wonderful and appreciated, as he knew his friends at home weren’t in school at all. Attending an American co-ed school with a different culture and social norms was initially a challenge, and just when he was starting to feel comfortable, school went online and athletics were postponed in an effort to curb locally growing cases of the virus. At the time it was a low point, but looking back Adam says that Marshall’s in-person start to the year gave him just enough time to make the connections with teachers and peers that he would need to sustain him through the challenges ahead.

HANA KIM and her newly enrolled sister Grace arrived in Duluth in early August, spending two weeks in quarantine prior to moving into Marshall House. Although grateful to be in-person, Hana initially struggled with the pandemic’s impact on classroom teaching and learning. “It felt weird,” Hana said. “I was here for almost two years before COVID, and I missed the group work, the games, the scenarios we would enact together, and just the variety of things we could do.” Interacting in pods also meant a difference in opportunities to get to know new students, students in other grade levels, even new students in Marshall House due to masking and gathering restrictions. On the other side however, Hana felt especially close to her teachers, and was conscious of the effort they had made to be present for her while learning in Korea, as well as the current demands of balancing the needs of in-person and distance learners.

In August, JESSICA NGUYEN was eagerly awaiting the arrival of each new student to Duluth. Jessica and six other Vietnamese students had spent the summer at Marshall House. The students’ inability to return home generated the first-ever international summer program, with students spending a week paddling in the Boundary Waters, celebrating the 4th of July with fireworks and a barbeque, swimming, biking, picking local berries and celebrating a week of strawberry-inspired cooking. Students and staff spent hours together making traditional food, studying for the ACT, improving writing skills, and studying for the TOEFL. Even so, Jessica was ready for new faces, and spent the better part of the month making sure new students felt welcomed and included, working creatively with the safety precautions in place to make connections.

MARCH 2021

ADAM KOVACS is happy to be back with friends in-person since January 4th, 2021. In retrospect, he felt like no time had been missed at all. For Adam, in-person learning is much more motivating, although he has recognized through his experience this past year that there are differences between learners, and that a one-size-fits-all approach is inadequate for most things involving learning. He is exceedingly grateful for his Marshall teachers who are “doing a great job!,” and his Marshall friends who treat each other with a sense of kindness and egalitarianism that is new to him. When he finds himself thinking about what could have been different, or what he might have missed because of the pandemic, he is quick to also think that without it, he may never have been a Hilltopper. And for that, no matter what, he is grateful.

HANA KIM knows that the adults and students in the Marshall community are doing their best to support her and all students. As a senior, she is holding out hope for an in-person graduation ceremony, and prom. She hopes that her sister, Grace, will eventually experience the school spirit she experienced as a new 10th grader during pep rallies, assemblies, Homecoming and Winter Frolic weeks, and that the full spectrum of teaching and learning activities that existed at Marshall pre-pandemic will soon return. Despite the changes and challenges, her teachers have emerged as true heroes in the pandemic. “When I returned to Korea last spring,” says Hana, “I was shocked by how my teachers would get up early in the morning to reach out to me despite the time difference. Their willingness to be there, despite the difficulty, really moved me.”

JESSICA NGUYEN says that although her parents called her every day for a time, they now talk twice per week, as they have genuine trust and relief that Marshall School has and will keep her safe. She has found the adults around her to be encouraging, flexible, empathetic, and supportive for the duration of her experience, and has built relationships with them that include personal conversations, jokes, and mutual entertainment and support. She has become much better at technology, and the Marshall core value of self-discipline. By learning how to encourage herself at a time when others weren’t physically present to do so, she has grown more confident, and more independent. A thought that had never been a serious consideration recently became clear to her as Jessica now hopes to pursue a career in the medical field where she can help people, as she has seen others do this past year.

THE PARENT ANGLE

VIET NGUYEN, FATHER OF TRI ' 19, AND BON '22 

How have you been able to stay connected to Marshall and to your children during the pandemic? How has Marshall kept your trust and confidence?

We have appreciated all the communication from Marshall, from emails to Facebook updates, we have felt connected throughout. We stayed in touch with our children daily through messaging and video apps. Marshall has earned the parents’ trust by being proactive and managing unfavorable situations well. Staff have always been thereto reassure our children and their parents that they are always safe and will stay healthy at the [Marshall] House and on campus.

What are the biggest challenges you face as international parents during the pandemic? What will you be most grateful for looking back on this year from a future time?

The biggest challenge has been the concern around our children being well-supported in protecting themselves against the spread of COVID-19, while maintaining their education. Looking back on this time, we will never forget the care and devotion of Marshall people who have sacrificed to keep our children in a safe home during these hard times.

How do you think Marshall is preparing your children for the future, even during the pandemic?

Marshall is doing a great thing for our children by educating them as always to be a global citizen as the mission states. But during the pandemic Marshall has done a most valuable thing by modeling how to face challenges skillfully, knowledgeably, and with compassion.

THE LONG LENS

INTERNATIONAL DISTANCE LEARNERS 

The pandemic has caused myriad disruptions to international student mobility. International travel restrictions, and the shuttering of most services provided by U.S. embassies, has complicated and delayed the arrival of many new international students, with some still waiting for visa interviews in countries like China and Uganda. Additionally over the past year, safety concerns have pushed large and small groups of International Hilltoppers home for periods of time to learn remotely. Marshall’s commitment to serving students disadvantaged by the pandemic.

To help facilitate online learners, Karen Stiles is Marshall’s new Distance Learning Specialist in addition to her continued role with traditional in-person classes. Karen currently supports students in China, Korea, and Uganda with weekly and sometimes daily Zoom meetings. She sets expectations, teaches organizational and study skills, and also serves as a liaison between remonte students and in-person teachers. In addition, Marshall’s IT office has developed a series of onboarding Loom videos and walk-throughs of Marshall’s key applications and tools (G-Suite, Schoology, etc.). In more ways than one, Marshall has extended our reach beyond the borders of the traditional work day and content delivery methods to meet the needs of these most remote of learners.