End of Week Update from Dean Slaughter
May 1, 2020
Dear Students,
Happy Friday. My reflection this week is pure and simple: I would like to thank the scores of you and your partners whose acts of kindness across the Upper Valley and beyond are providing respite, hope, and a little joy to so many.
Here are a just a few examples of kindness that I and so many colleagues have learned about as our spring term has unfolded.
- T’20s Natalie Triedman, Mo Earley, Kate Hoffman, and others have created a centralized online collection of resources, Helping the Upper Valley During COVID-19, to match volunteers with local opportunities – ranging from stocking shelves and preparing meals at The Haven to providing childcare for staff at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Natalie, Mo, and Kate have been tireless in encouraging others to get involved.
- Last month, 37 students and partners volunteered to make over 100 deliveries of groceries and other essentials to seniors in the Upper Valley. These volunteers also decided to donate all tips to local COVID-relief efforts. Cooper Henderson T’20 has been delivering groceries to the same elderly couple every week since the launch of Hanover Helpers; “once this thing is over,” the couple reports, “we want to do something for him to show our gratitude.” T’21 Cindy Engman’s special delivery allowed an older man to make a special meal for his wife to celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary. TP 20’s Christian Haudenschield and Thomas Davids spent countless hours building a website to seamlessly connect Hanover Helpers volunteers to seniors in the community.
- T’20s Katharine Eddy and Kate Hoffman have been organizing a team with MBAs Fight COVID-19, a cross-business-school platform that matches MBA students with pro-bono consulting projects.
Year in and year out, you students are an important presence in the local community. But your inspiring acts of kindness this year will last far beyond this finite time of pandemic. Maya Angelou, the decorated American poet and civil-rights activist, once reflected that, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” You are making people feel connected rather than alone, and empowered rather than afraid. What a great testament to our distinct Tuck community.
Maya Angelou also encouraged us to “try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” To every one of you, for all the ways you are making possible being kind at this time with a lot of clouds seeking rainbows, thank you!
And, as always, please take good care this weekend.
Matthew J. Slaughter
Dean of the Tuck School of Business
Dartmouth has formed a high-level task force to plan for and manage possible disruptions related to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, monitor federal and state recommendations, implement guidance, and communicate with our community.