During the spring 2020 transition to remote learning necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Oral History: the Art of the Interview classes were forced to abandon the planned interview projects During the three week interruption before classes resumed online, Associate Professor Erin McCarthy and Archives staff created Capturing Quarantine, a digital oral history project designed to document the student experience during the global pandemic.
The collection documents a frequently overlooked voice, that of the undergraduate student, and will be a valuable source for future study by those interested in learning about daily life during the pandemic from the student perspective.
Students interviewed each other, created biographical and interview abstract statements, and authored reflection pieces on the experience of the abrupt mid-semester switch and overall thoughts about the process and the pandemic.
This project resumed during the Fall 2020 semester, with additional interviews collected, as the college offered both remote and hybrid courses. As with the spring 2020 interviews, these fall interviews continue to capture the undergraduate student voice narrating their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other oral history projects conducted by Dr. McCarthy's students in support of archival holdings:
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Interview with Nick Borelli
Nolan Flavin
Nicholas Borelli was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Belmont with his parents and two older brothers, John and Vincent. After graduating from Belmont High School, where Nick participated in theatre, he moved to Chicago to study film directing at Columbia College Chicago. In his senior year, before starting college, Nick directed a feature film.
As a freshman at Columbia, Nick took introductory film classes and later delved deeper into the screenwriting and directing programs and establishing the student screenwriting organization Table Write, where he serves as the Vice President. Nick has directed music videos outside of the classroom and written multiple screenplays.
In 2020, when the coronavirus caused Columbia to go on lockdown and transfer to remote learning,moved home to Massachusetts where he continued his education digitally.
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Interview with Nikolas LaMaack
Elaine Greiner
Nikolas LaMaack was born in Davenport, Iowa. He grew up in Davenport with his two parents, older brother, and three younger siblings. During his time at Davenport North High School, LaMaack pursued a variety of activities and was an active participant in his class. He went on to become the president of the drama club, president of the environmental club, and president of his class. Nik was also active in theater, which is where he learned of his enthusiasm for dance. Nik went on to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Columbia College Chicago. His deep understanding of dance and choreography has led him to become an educator at Dance Beat, a dance studio in Channahon, Illinois. There he teaches a multitude of dance styles and techniques ranging from contemporary, modern, ballet, jazz, and hip-hop to people ages four to seventeen. Since the shutdown of Columbia College Chicago on March 13th, Nik, the second semester junior, has been teaching and studying remotely in his apartment in Uptown, Chicago. When he is not dancing, you can often find him walking Chicago’s lakefront trails with his dog, Elio, or pursuing other creative endeavors. Nik plans to stay in Chicago for the foreseeable future to pursue his dance career.
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Interview with Nolan Flavin
Quinton Walker
Nolan Flavin was born in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in Fenton on a farm with their mom and brother. When Flavin was six years old, their family moved to Manchester, a suburb of St. Louis, where they were homeschooled until college. Nolan did lots of volunteer work throughout high school, including tutoring special needs children at a school downtown. At 18, Nolan came out as bisexual and abandoned their religion. Flavin considers this their intellectual awakening. Nolan first began college at University of Colorado Boulder where they studied literature for two years until transferring to Columbia College Chicago in spring of 2019 to study film. At Columbia College Nolan is the vice president of The Art House, a film organization dedicated to screening experimental, foreign, and art house cinema, followed by discussions. Nolan also takes part in the Literary Buffs and was briefly involved with Columbia Voter Geniuses before ceased meeting due to COVID-19. Outside of class, Nolan does lots of writing and film making and is currently working on both during their self-quarantine. Flavin is expected to graduate from Columbia College Chicago in Fall of 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Film (Directing) and Literature.
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Interview with Paige Barnes
Alex Schmelter
Paige Allison Je Cai Chu Barnes was born in Guangzhou, China. She was raised by her adopted parents in Wyoming, Ohio and was actively involved with the student body of Wyoming High School as a member of the prom court, a student council representative, and served as both secretary and treasurer of the student body. She spent a her time outside of school in dance and performed in a variety of shows including Sleeping Beauty , Snow White , and Le Corsaire , throughout her high school years. She was also the runner-up for Junior Miss Ohio in 2018. She graduated high school with the intent of pursuing higher education. When she decided on Columbia College Chicago, she originally chose to pursue a double major in dance and journalism, but ultimately opted to focus on the latter with a concentration in broadcast.
She has worked at Columbia as a student ambassador, a news editor for Columbia’s Chronicle newspaper, and a residents' assistant before and during the outbreak of the coronavirus. She first heard about the virus in January of 2020 and it came to affect her housing and job situation with the announcement of the college’s shutdown.
Over the course of the Illinois lockdown, Paige moved into an apartment in Chicago with her significant other and learned to adapt to life in quarantine. She continued to work as an editor for the Columbia Chronicle while managing the life of a student at home attending online classes.