The last year has presented no shortage of challenges. From those challenges, however, have come tremendous opportunities for the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, to revolutionize how it serves its students.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to turn on a dime last spring to provide virtual courses and support services to our students. We took advantage of the creativity and innovative spirit of our staff and faculty to launch a new online course format, a suite of virtual student services and multiple communication tools to engage with and support our students through an incredibly difficult time.

The pandemic was a catalyst that forced us to quickly make changes we had discussed but not yet implemented. It pushed our institution forward technologically, programmatically and drove us to be more connected with our students. Many of these initiatives were driven by necessity, but now shape the future of our institution.

We created Go Live with SCF Online to provide a scheduled, interactive online classroom experience for students who craved more structure and predictability. Go Live allows students to engage with their professor and fellow students in a Microsoft Teams virtual classroom. It has quickly become very popular and will remain a component of our schedule. This spring we created Teams-enabled classrooms on all our campuses and will add more classrooms in the future. This expansion creates greater access for students in both online and face-to-face courses, allowing us to offer the same course on multiple campuses and modalities at once.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic fast-tracked our virtual transformation last spring, SCF was already committed to providing concierge-style support services to our students. A big part of that commitment is communicating with our students in the way they prefer. The pandemic increased this need exponentially and our team quickly developed the tools to engage with students on an individual basis and provide them everything they needed from application to graduation. Our online support services include online tutoring, academic advising, financial aid advising, disability resource center services, Veterans services, mental health services, and student activities, and help us meet our long-term goal of creating a virtual campus alongside our three physical campuses.

One of the most impactful things our student services team does is a periodic wellness check-in with every student. The students, many who are still dealing with the isolation of the pandemic, appreciate knowing that our college is interested in how they are doing and there to offer any support they need.

We also seized the opportunity to broaden the student experience to focus on programs that could get residents forced out of the workforce by the pandemic back into a job that could lead to a career. Not every job needs a two- or four-year degree and at times like this, many do not have that kind of time to find employment. Our Get Credentialed. Get Noticed! initiative highlights SCF’s short-term workforce certification programs, provides students scholarships and laptops, and helps our community members get back into the workforce. At SCF, we pride ourselves on our ability to rapidly develop the programs and courses that meet immediate community needs.

It has not been an easy year, and we still do not know when we will return to normal. We take pride, however, in how we have turned challenges into opportunities to be an even better college for our students.

Dr. Carol Probstfeld is president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.