The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 23

February 23, 2021 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 3 News News Briefs Get the scoop on events happening on campus and around campus NSU celebrates Black History Month For the month of February, various departmentsatNSUhaveplannedeventsover Zoom and in person to celebrate and educate students on African-American culture and history. These events feature tabling by the Black Student Union, movie nights and talks on race. For more information on where to find the full calendar of events for the rest of the month, go to sharkfins.nova.edu. NSU PRSSA hosts new addition to Women In PR speaker series The NSU PRSSA chapter hosted their most recent speaker in their Women in PR series. The series is geared towards any students who would like to hear from a female professional. Last Monday, Tasha Yohan, the assistant director of Public Relations, Marketing, and Creative Services at NSU spoke. The events are over Zoom and provide time for the speaker to give their experience as a woman in PR and then take any questions the students might have. NSU PRSSA’s social media handles are planned to have more information about when the next speaker might be, so students should keep an eye out. Drive-in Movie: Queen & Slim On Feb. 25, the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) will host a Drive-in Movie. Queen & Slim will be projected at the temporary residential parking lot along SW36 Street, according to their poster. The lot will open at 7 p.m. and the movie will start at 7:30 p.m. Black Excellence Showcase On Feb. 26 at 7 p.m., the Black Student Union (BSU) will hold the annual Black Excellence Showcase on the Alvin Sherman Library Quad. The showcase will feature music, dancing, poetry, art and more. Additionally, the event will have food and giveaways for those in attendance. The event does have limited capacity due to COVID-19 guidelines. Safety protocols will be strongly enforced. BSU encourages students to arrive on time. 2021 Wonder Women Awards On Tuesday, March 16, the Center for Academic and Professional Success (CAPS) will host the third annual Wonder Woman panel from 5-6:30 p.m. The virtual event, hosted in partnership with H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement and the Women’s Success Series, will feature a panel of six powerful women who are considered wonder women in their fields. The panelists will have the opportunity to share their stories and talk about their experiences of being successful women in their various industries. Neimah Butler, the assistant director of employee relations in the Center for Academic and Professional Success, explained that although the event takes place during Women’s History Month and focuses on women empowerment, all students can benefit from attending the event. Butler said, “Even if you are a man, these may be career paths that you are interested in. What stops [the panelists] stories from helping the next students regardless of identity? It’s not inclusive to just our female students.” This year, the panelists include… • Caitlin Beck Stella, MPH, the chief executive officer of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital • Yolanda Cash Jackson, Esq., a shareholder in Becker & Poliakoff • Jennifer Cerami, the vice president of IDN Sales for Medline Industries, Inc. • Ruth LLanos-Vos, the associate product manager for Ultimate Software • Juliet Murphy Roulhac, Esq., the director of Corporate External Affairs for Florida Power & Light Company • Tina Diehl, the vice president of Car Sales at Enterprise Holdings Regardless of gender or identification, all undergraduate NSU students are eligible to be nominated for the Wonder Women Award, and the winners of which will be announced at the event. The winners will be selected based on a list of qualities including leadership, academic excellence and career focus, community service, integrity/ethics and women’s empowerment. Nominations can be made by a current NSU student, staff or faculty member by submitting a form at nova.edu/wonderwomennominations. The deadline for nominations is March 1, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Butler explained that the award recognizes exceptional students who embody all of the characteristics of a wonder woman. She said, “Our students do a plethora of things, not just making good grades, but also being actively involved on campus, and I think this award highlights that. It highlights that ‘renaissance student.’ They aren’t just focussing on academics. They are focused on leadership. They are focussed on service. They are focussed on integrity.” When asked what being a wonder woman meant to her, the runner up for last year’s award, Samantha Aessa, said, “In the beginning I thought [a wonder woman] was someone who has already made a change, someone that has already made a difference, but it’s actually someone who has the potential or the drive or even just the dream to make a difference. To be a wonder woman is to be someone who has a dream to make a difference in the world and to make it even just 1% better.” To register for the event via Zoom, visit https://nova.zoom.us/meeting/ register/tJYtdOirqTwoE9BlM8L73SJ-0kL- Rw6r8j1G. For more information, contact (954) 262-7990 or caps@nova.edu. COVID-19: The deal with double masking and other updates Between the Zoom calls, classroom capacities, limited gathering sizes and masks covering the faces of every Shark, it’s hard to miss the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on NSU. As of Feb. 21, there were two active cases of COVID-19 among undergraduate students at NSU, both on campus -- although one student has not been residing in the residence halls within the past few weeks. Additionally, there were nine undergraduate students in quarantine, one of which lives within the residence halls. According to the university’s case dashboard found on the dedicated COVID-19 website, as of Feb. 22, for the week ending on Feb. 21, there were 25 total cases reported for all NSU populations, five of which were undergraduate students, 16 among graduate and professional students, two for faculty and staff, and two in the NSU University School (PreK-12). An email sent from Sharks Return on Feb. 16 detailed information regarding the newly released research from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about wearing more than one face covering, often known as “double masking.” This email shared tips such as using masks with wire nose-bridges, employing the “knot and tuck” technique for surgical masks, double masking and checking for gaps caused by ill-fitting masks. While NSU will not be altering their formal guidelines to require double masking or the utilization of the knot and tuck technique, Beth Welmaker, the executive director of environmental health and safety for NSU, encouraged members of the university community to make educated decisions based on this valuable information. “The surgical masks act like a filter. When you wear the surgical mask first, it may not fit as tightly as often the cloth face coverings do. You can wear the surgical mask first to serve as a filter and a cloth mask on top for a tighter fit. The other opportunity for [one] surgical mask is to follow the ‘[knot] and tuck’ technique. [The technique] significantly improves the way the mask will fit and give you that tighter seal,” explained Welmaker. Welmaker said this, among other steps, including maintaining distance from others and reducing time spent in crowds, can help continue reducing the spread of COVID-19. Further information regarding CDC recommendations for facial coverings, visit their website here. To view the video tutorial on the knot and tuck technique for surgical masks, visi t this link that was included in the Sharks Return email. If a student is having any symptoms, they are advised to reach out to NSU’s Telehealth line at (954) 262-4100, where they will be connected to a physician who will review their symptoms and, if needed, schedule a COVID-19 test on campus. Additionally, students can email COVIDcase@nova.edu to provide updates on their symptoms and test results, even if the results are still pending, and to get assigned a COVID-19 case manager to oversee the situation and offer assistance, if necessary. Emailing COVIDcase will also immediately provide students with the Telehealth number, as well as links to employee and graduate/professional student report forms, the undergraduate student form and the form to report exposures. Students, staff and faculty can visit NSU’s dedicated website, www.nova.edu/coronavirus , for up By: Madelyn Rinka Co-Editor-in-Chief By: Emma Heineman Features Editor