Patty Mullaney, Director of Alumnae Relations & Traditions
The quiet of the main hallway is what comes to mind when I’m asked what Martha Cook has been like fall term. Clusters of residents conversing on the benches, or studying in the Gold Room were missing as we followed guidelines to not gather indoors. I wondered how the students were coping, and began to realize they were adapting to this unfamiliar reality. During weekly House Board meetings I saw engaged students looking for ways to maintain MCB traditions, asking good questions, building their board, all while meeting virtually from their own separate rooms. And I found a silver lining: it has been more convenient for me to attend virtually and thus I participated more often in the late evening House Board meetings. Not only did residents adapt but also the staff that keeps the community of Martha Cook humming along.
The Resident Advisors (RA) planned events and activities for the students on their floor and for all Cookies. As is universal across the globe, most of the activities were attended via Zoom from the safety of one’s own MCB room. Residents attended virtual movie nights, voting & election information gatherings, class advice sessions, and get-to-know each other activities. The students of Martha Cook continue to create friendships and MCB memories, but in a novel way - from the screen of their phone or computer. We are all thankful — residents, MCB alumnae, and staff — that we have the internet and technology during this pandemic.
At the beginning of the term Michigan Housing distributed masks to all residents and staff. It’s challenging each year to get to know the residents, and being masked added to the effort of recognizing both returning and new Cookies. But our custodians, Ann and Geneva got to know their students, and were clearly appreciated by the residents for their warmth and their extra cleaning efforts this year.
We learned that Martha Cook’s window at the front desk/Community Center is a built-in covid virus buffer! Along with our century-old barrier, health protective, “no-contact” processes were adopted to distribute keys and packages, get Mcard information, and more. The front desk was quieter than usual because we had fewer residents and guests were not permitted. This temporary reality, of fewer students moving about and no visitors, has been in place across all of campus.
Most missed, in this year of public health safety restrictions, has been eating meals together. So many of our lasting and cherished memories and friendships are created in the comfort of the Martha Cook dining hall. All the ways residents have gathered over the years, from formal sit-down dinners, chatter-filled meals after a football game or an intense exam week, quiet conversation or solo meals after the lunch time rush, to cookie decorating in your pajamas with your floor mates, hasn’t taken place this year. Yet, I heard again and again from our residents how thankful they were to have dining in the building; that they enjoy the menu choices, and while their meals have been take-away, they sincerely appreciate the dining staff who know their favorite menu items, and they value the quiet atmosphere of Martha Cook dining.
Martha Cook’s iconic teas, which have taken place since the building welcomed its first residents, continued this year, and as they have evolved through the years, these markers of the unique community also adapted to provide safety during the 2020 pandemic. The tea chair, Bethany Furness, partnered with our dining manager to produce themed “tea packages” including a tea bag and cookie, which residents received during Friday lunch. Later in the day residents joined each other outside on the terrace for conversation, bringing the tea they made for themselves, and wearing their masks. Even though Ann Arbor was experiencing a pandemic this fall, we were rewarded with warm, sunny weather nearly every Friday afternoon into November, and the residents of Martha Cook continued the tea tradition.
Our residents departed Martha Cook for the Thanksgiving break and finished the term remotely, as did students across campus. This new year is bringing the vaccine and thoughts of the possibility of being together with a wider circle of friends to share a meal and conversation. Eventually the rooms of Martha Cook will experience this again too!