Wednesday, I was working with a tutee when a lockdown drill anouncement came from the PA. My student, another student who happened to be nearby, and I were shuttled into a smallish "interior, no windows, no lights" office. I learned it was one of the spaces Disabilities Services uses to evaluate and work with accommodated students.
As such we had a variety of options for seating: a modified chair that incorporated a big exercise ball, another with a fidget seat kind of thing, a beanbag that reminded me of the 70s, and a regular 4-legged chair.
The whole drill lasted maybe 10 minutes tops. But sitting there in the dark with those two - me on the boring regular chair, my student in the beanbag, the other student on the exercise ball - it turned into sort of a therapy session.
My student, S, had made known to me, at the start of our session, that he'd "lost his motivation" a couple of weeks ago after I asked him how his spring break (last week) was. He did have a rather defeated demeanor about him. In the dark lockdown drill room, he continued to spill about his anxieties and frustrations about keeping up with everything.
He's a super nice and hardworking student, so naturally, I felt bad for him. I'm just his math tutor, so I can mostly hope to alleviate his math stress.
The other student with us was a girl I know from the testing center because she takes her tests with us. It was nice having her there, because she could commiserate with S on the college/ young adult anxiety bits and offer some strategies that work for her.
I found myself in a sort of impromptu facilitator mode. I have no formal training, I'm just there to do math stuff.
At the same time, though, I was happy that S felt comfortable being so honest.
On a related note, my tutor boss is leaving the college for greener pastures. She's taken a similar position at another community college nearby. In fact, ever since our change in leadership a couple years ago, a lot of our staff has jumped to that other ship.
She assures us that her replacement will be announced soon, and today is her last day at the helm with us.
Personally, I have no plans to join the exodus. I've perused the job openings at the other college out of nosiness, and they do pay better. But it would make for a not-so-nice commute for me, and my current commute is the bomb.