For over two years since the COVID-19 pandemic, Holy Angel University has worked hard to retrofit its campus facilities and buildings to carefully bring back students for the classroom experience while following strict health and safety protocols.
On Monday, February 28, 2022, the HAU campus will finally welcome back students who are invited to attend their limited face-to-face laboratory classes, specifically upper-level college students. All programs with laboratory components are invited into the campus, but not at the same time. The School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) is the first to invite students to limited face-to-face laboratory instruction. Other college academic programs will follow based on the schedules they have established. Upper-level students have priority, but small laboratory class groups will also have the opportunity to participate.
“The main goal of reopening the campus for limited face-to-face laboratory instruction is to allow students to continue their learning journey and for graduating students to complete their laboratory requirements before they graduate and join the workforce. A minor goal is to help bring normalcy as students lack the social face-to-face interaction that is needed for holistic transformation to persons of competence, conscience and compassion. We are always about the student. And should there be any minor obstacles, we will help students and their parents. Long-term, we would like to see a healthy learning environment that uses both online and face-to-face learning (also known as hybrid instruction). Asynchronous online learning will be integral to HAU’s learning environment even when the campus has reopened.” HAU OIC-University President Mr. Leopoldo Jaime N. Valdes explained.
The first day of campus reopening will officially commence at 8:30 AM with a physical flag ceremony at the HAU Courtyard, to be graced by selected employees and students, as well as a live band performance from the HAU Rondalla.
Before this announcement, HAU applied to the Angeles City Local Government Unit to conduct the limited face-to-face classes. The COVID-19 Crisis Management Committee (CMC) and university management completed a self-assessment checklist on HAU’s readiness to reopen.
The CMC oversees and monitors the implementation of safety protocols such as access to campus facilities, signage, ventilation, ongoing cleaning, sanitation, and the vaccination and contact tracing of students and staff.
“We have been planning campus reopening since June 2020. In December 2020, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) visited HAU’s campus to monitor our readiness, one of the first Higher Education Institutions to subject themselves to inspection. It is only now in February 2022 that all relevant government agencies have allowed us to implement our safe reopening,” Mr. Valdes shared. “As we open next week, we want to assure the students that we have been ready for months (#RightAndReady). Government agencies also provide additional guidelines, and we include those in our reopening plan. If any requirement seems to be an obstacle to students’ return to campus, allow us to work with you.
Our goal is to expedite your learning process and not to hold you back with requirements.”
During the first week, an average of 400 students on campus are expected at any time and over 600 daily. This computation was based on the capacity of the laboratories which students will occupy. The number of students on campus per day will increase as more laboratories are opening and capacity limitations are increasing. Students may stay on campus only half a day, whether morning or afternoon, to allow many students to use the laboratories and work on their findings at home. This daily scheme will also be necessary as there are no available food services for students on campus at the moment. Some students might have separate laboratory classes in one whole day. They may bring their lunch or snacks and eat at the designated areas around the campus, following strict safety protocols.
The various Schools and Colleges are discussing face-to-face laboratory schedules with students. While the campus will soon reopen, HAU will remain considerate and accessible to students — both those invited to face-to-face laboratory classes and those who wish to continue online learning. The campus reopening has considered many possibilities with the safety of students in mind. Using the University mantra as a guiding principle, Mr. Valdes assures the public that “no student will be left behind” for the inability of some to be on campus or for any other reason.
“If they cannot attend for whatever reason, alternative activities are available and suggested to keep up with those that attend. Absence from the laboratory does not affect their marks. The student that learns from home has the same opportunity to get the same marks like those on campus, except that they miss out on the tactile experience inside a laboratory. Hopefully, all invited students have a chance to join face-to-face laboratory instruction at least once in the semester. HAU’s limited face-to-face laboratory instruction is safe, accessible and considerate of parent and student concerns.” Mr. Valdes adds. HAU’s preparation for a flexible academic process on both online and face-to-face modalities supports students who are unable to go to the campus.
New and enhanced protocols from Mr. Valdes, who also chairs the CMC, were previously announced through a Memorandum Circular last January 8. The Memo Circular provided guidelines on the modified protocols and the number of employees reporting to the campus and working from home. It also encouraged the University community to help spread awareness by sharing best practices in virus prevention and safety on social media, using the hashtags #HAUToStopTheSpread and #HAUDoingMyPart. Only vaccinated employees and students will be allowed on campus as a safety precaution.
On March 31, 2022, there will be Graduation ceremonies in a hybrid format — both online and face-to-face in the University Theater after the Holy Mass at the Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angel on campus. These will be commencement exercises for college and graduate students of Summer Term and Third Trimester of School Year 2020-2021 and First Semester and First Trimester of School Year 2021-2022.
Thirty-two years ago, Mount Pinatubo erupted. Angeleños nearly lost hope. But Holy Angel University reopened in a matter of weeks, signaling a return to normalcy. And that motivated the city to rebuild. “By reopening today, we want people to feel that things are going back to normal. The Now Normal will still be different. And we will discover how it evolves together,” Mr. Valdes ended.
