Chapter 13: Finding the Helpers

“Look for the helpers,” I said, as I looked out into my classroom. My preservice elementary educators stared back at me. My program director had just left my Children’s Literature class. She told them of the pandemic news and that she was uncertain what the university would be doing, but she thought it may be the last time we saw each other for a while. “We will email you what we are doing, but we will graduate you. We will find a way to finish internships and your coursework. We will not let you down. Be safe.”

I scanned their faces. Some of my students had tears in their eyes. I went to the source I always go to when I don’t know what to say—Mr. Rogers. I quoted him: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping’” (Inspire Kindness Team n.d., para. 5). What else could I say to a room full of twenty-somethings grappling with surreal news: a mysterious and very contagious virus had made its way to the United States.