YSU’s Erin Driscoll: Giving Grace, Embracing Gratitude

Erin Driscoll, executive director of student experience & residence life at Youngstown State University, is hanging tough. You can read more about YSU’s division of student experience at its website.

What are some ways the COVID-19 outbreak has changed your work life?

COVID-19 flipped my work world upside down. I oversee a wide variety of student engagement opportunities on campus, and essentially all of those areas were impacted in some way by COVID-19. In mid-March we facilitated the process of moving students out of the residence halls, and safely consolidating those who needed to remain on campus for the rest of the semester. We still have student and professional staff staying on campus to support these students. The rest of us have shifted to working from home, doing our best to get our home technology up to speed, adjusting to a world of Webex meetings, and taking on the challenge of shifting all of our end of the year celebrations — Greek Sing, the Annual Student Awards Banquet, Federal Frenzy and many more — to a virtual setting. My mission has been to keep the spirit of those events alive. We’re learning new things every day, trying our best to maintain the meaning and energy of the work that we do, while adapting to a new way of working. We hope that we can provide a sense of connection, celebration, and support through our students until we are back together again. I’m so grateful that my staff and colleagues have remained positive through this challenging time.

How about your personal life?

I’ve definitely spent more time in my apartment than I ever have before! Pre-COVID-19, weekends would be spent listening to live music, supporting our great local craft beer scene, or traveling to see family, friends, and new places. It has been a major adjustment not to see my Youngstown family regularly — my YSU colleagues and students, the parishioners at Saint Patrick and others around town that have become my second family since my family is far away. I am one of eight children, but we are spread out from Utah to Germany. Thankfully, social media has provided us with an avenue for coming together and sharing some love as we all experience this uncertainty in our own parts of the world. There’s been an ongoing virtual concert by my 4-year-old great niece, excitement about the birth of another great niece, and a Zoom happy hour that had at least 22 of us at one time. Normally, I would have been with my parents in PA for Easter; I’m sad that wasn’t the case this year. But staying in touch with my family has made it all a little easier.

What steps are you taking to hang tough?

I’m grateful to have a very supportive partner in my life who is traversing this with me. He and I are both very committed to supporting the local economy, so we are keeping neighboring MVR and Noble Creature Cask House busy with regular orders! Since downtown is quiet right now, we’ve been able to take walks around Wean Park, the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater, and the YSU campus to get some fresh air (while respecting social distancing guidelines, of course). I’ve been listening to The Summit (90.7fm) a lot, especially enjoying the new “330 at 3:30” local music spotlight to power me through the last portion of my work day each day. My faith is a strong foundation to lean on during this time of uncertainty.

What advice are you sharing with the people you love?

Grace and Gratitude are two words that have always carried a lot of meaning for me. Now more than ever, I find myself coming back to these principles. We need to give each other grace; every person is dealing with this situation in a different way. Stress, anxiety, depression and fear have all crept into our psyche in new ways. We need to show empathy to others and do our best to support them as they traverse these unchartered waters. We don’t know all the answers, and we aren’t used to functioning in this way with so much uncertainty. We need to give people grace — let humans be human, and understand that everyone isn’t going to function as they normally do. It’s important that we don’t just extend grace to others; we need to give ourselves a little grace, too. Gratitude goes hand in hand with that grace. If we can be thankful for the things that we do have — our health, the people who are important to us, meaningful work, a roof over our heads — it can ease the anxiety of all of the unknown, and remind us just how fortunate we are.