May 19 Virtual Vigil Will honor COVID Victims

May 13, 2020 - 02:02 PM

The Mt. SAC Community will come together on May 19 at noon for a virtual vigil to honor all those students, staff and faculty members who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Visit https://www.mtsac.edu/united/ for all the details.

“This seemed like something we should really be doing,” said psychology professor Cara Tan. “A student of mine had lost his father to the Coronavirus and we knew there had to be many others as well. We wanted to find a way we can support each other through such a traumatic time.”  

The vigil will be held on the teleconferencing platform Zoom and everyone is encouraged to join. The Zoom event will allow up to 300 people to take part. If this fills up, or if guests do not want their image to be part of the Zoom event, a live broadcast of the event will happen on YouTube. Both the Zoom event link and the YouTube broadcast will be available at https://www.mtsac.edu/united/.

“Vigils are community expressions of loss and support,” explained Tan. “Those who haven’t lost someone can still come together with us to help those who have and to help themselves through this time of grieving. While there are those who are experiencing a profound loss of someone very dear to them; in reality, everybody is experiencing loss right now – a loss for so many things. We are social creatures and we need each other right now; but unfortunately, we can’t be there in person to comfort each other and hold ceremonies.”

Students, staff and faculty may go to the https://www.mtsac.edu/united/ link right now to write a few words of encouragement or else have their lost loved one included as part of the event. Tan, along with fellow colleagues Alejandra Pulido and Francesca Rinaldi, have put together the event with the help of the Marketing and Communications Department. 

“For those who have lost someone, please leave your contact info so that we can get a photo to add to the slideshow,” said Tan. “All of our minds are on this collective experience of the Pandemic. The isolation we all feel is causing us to suffer and protecting our physical health is affecting our mental health. But we can all be together at the vigil and show our support for each other and grieve for all we have lost in this tragedy.”