Weekly Update: Snowbank Edition

Director Vince Durnan reflects on the snowy week, shares a reminder about Spring Break, and looks forward to Saturday, February 20: Music Night and when USN faculty & staff receive their first vaccine doses.
Let me interrupt the sledding and the remote schooling just for a bit. First, this week did remind me how watching the weather for a potential late start or even a snow day used to pass for hard stuff. COVID-19 surely puts all that in perspective. Next, I trust that the balance we’ve struck in these homebound days worked well enough for you — as we did what we could across the K-12 spectrum. The truth is, contrary to media speculation, the snow day is not a relic of a bygone era. We can still have one on occasion, but it’s nice to know we can still do school from afar when we choose and when circumstances dictate. Hoping you enjoyed the quarantine.
 
Following on last week’s message, thanks to the many people who called the Health Team for a travel consult. Let me reiterate — there are certainly ways to be totally safe even when you leave town, in that hermetically sealed minivan, with the cooler and the packed snacks. What the CDC and, by association, we at USN worry about is the mass transit to mass destinations which by definition are likely to be populated by people with high-risk tolerances — an adverse selection problem in action. That’s what we’re pledged to avoid. Let’s just keep looking out for one another and keep the lines of communication open.
 
At the top of my “safe fun at home” list is virtual Music Night, coming up 7 p.m. Saturday, February 20. Rather than putting this annual staple on hold, an enterprising group of USNA volunteers pressed on, as they did for Artclectic and Evening Classes. With the help of eight headliners from years past, we have a show. And at the outset we’ll hear the definitive origin story of the whole idea, told by the person who made it happen. Take a look at the lineup, sign up for a link, and make sure you’ll be able to tell our successors that yup, you saw it happen — when all this recasting of familiar events is presumably but a memory.
 
Part of the push this year is a chance to highlight USN-affiliated restaurants for the evening, at a time when we both miss the chance to be at those cherished places in numbers and want to let them know what they mean to us. Take a look at the options flagged for Saturday night and show some love. They sure answer the call whenever we ask. As hard as the pandemic has been on so many sectors, our restaurant friends have walked maybe the toughest road.
 
So see Saturday evening as a chance to rally around some of the finer things in life. I’ll see it as the chance to get my first vaccination, along with so many of our faculty and staff — thanks to HCA Tristar and USN dad David Whelan who’s coordinating the whole push on its end. It really does take all of us.
 
That’s plenty for now,
Director
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.