Thames Community Life in the Time of Covid-19

By: Carlo Rivera, Academic Coordinator

For twenty years, the Thames community has moved forward in pursuit of its school motto: “Novus Ordus” – a new order. So we weren’t truly surprised when a new order came to us.

As they say, a new normal.

For our community, the lockdown has been an opportunity. Even as the school switched to 100% full online learning, Thames made sure that the holistic education of its students was not compromised in any way. The start of the Spring Term coincided with the start of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in the NCR, so the school organized a workshop for online learning study habits to help the students prepare for the changes and adjustments that they will have to face.

The school then held a Family Wellness Webinar to help students and their families adapt to the changes that the new normal brought to each of our homes. This was further reinforced by the newly established Wellness Wednesday Sessions, where students are given a safe space online where they can reconnect with each other through facilitated conversations, games, and even demo cooking. In one of the Wellness Wednesday sessions, one student shared: “What I learned earlier is like I remember who all this was for. It’s like I got to refresh my mind on the reason why I am striving and pursuing all this because I had a dream to achieve. It’s great to reflect on the things we want to achieve because in our situation right now, I sometimes tend to lose hope and motivation to do stuff.”

The student organizations pivoted their planned activities to be lockdown-compatible; hence the rise of the weekly online workout sessions (℅ Thames Sports X Fitness) and Art Showcases (℅ Thames Communicators), which both aimed to complement the previously mentioned online activities in ensuring that everyone is able to deal with the various stresses that the new situation has brought about. Students are generally happy to attend to such activities as it allowed them to manage their daily stresses through physical exercise and through sharing of  talents with their peers

Overall, 90% of the students found that Thames’ online learning since March has been an effective academic alternative to face-to-face classes, as featured in an article at Good News Pilipinas. But beyond this Proven Online Learning, Thames also puts a premium on maintaining its tight-knit community as a safe and healthy one for everyone. Life continues in lockdown, and so does learning. For Thames, it’s not just about survival, but growing into a new normal – and a new order.

Thames International is committed to building a new order for the world by giving talented students and entrepreneurs the tools to thrive and lead the way in a world beset by rapid change, coupled with a safe and nurturing community life. If you’re interested in augmenting your skills and making connections with some of the brightest minds in business education today in a tight-knit and safe school community, please take a look at our future-proof undergraduate degree programs.