Dear students,
Last week, the NBSS community responded quickly to a strange new situation: the arrival of COVID-19 to Boston. We were fortunate to close out of caution rather than illness, and our community remains healthy. I am so impressed with the way faculty, staff, and students righted themselves and focused on what is important and essential. Thank you.
After protecting our community, our next aim is to provide training in your program. And while NBSS has particular needs, we are following decisions made at the City and State level about how we can continue that education.
Following the direction of the Governor, NBSS will remain closed for in-person work until April 7. As we approach that date, we will continue to assess our ability to re-open the building. We’ll keep you informed of updates by email and via our COVID-19 webpage.
During this closure, we will be moving into uncharted territory for NBSS—distance-learning—to help you stay engaged in your fields. This will be different for each program and it will be a test of our creativity, adaptability, and expectations.
In order to assess ways we’ll do this, we ask that all students complete this survey by Thursday, March 19. In the coming days, you will hear more on this effort, and get answers to many of your questions. Staff is working from home and moving quickly to address the concerns on all of our minds.
The hallmark of NBSS is in-person hands-on work—in a shop, supported by equipment and tools. Our new reality moves us into something quite different. We must acknowledge: it is not going to be perfect. The challenge of this moment is huge and yet our outcomes may be more modest. I believe our engagement can still be meaningful, even as we recognize it is not ideal.
NBSS has been standing strong—and adapting regularly—since 1881. Imagining the challenges faced over 139 years, I am buoyed by this endurance. While we are in another moment of substantial change, I know you all to be level-headed, resourceful, ingenious, and resilient. These are the qualities that have always served crafts- and trades-people well. Together, I’m confident that we’ll bring the best of our skills to bear on the challenges ahead.
My best to all,
Sarah Turner
President