Early Bird

Met Media wants to hear your COVID-19 story

The student media organization invites Roadrunners to submit stories, photos, audio clips and more to chronicle the pandemic experience.

By Lindsey Coulter

May 18, 2020

Just as the years 1929, 1969 and 2001 are automatically associated with the Great Depression, Woodstock and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, respectively, 2020 will soon be remembered for its historical significance.

In the not-so-distant future, we may ask one another: “Where were you in 2020? How did you manage the shutdown and reopening? How did the pandemic change your day-to-day world? What are your most vivid memories?”

Thinking big-picture, Met Media started the Roadrunner Diaries initiative to collect COVID-19-related stories of hardship, triumph, humor and tragedy. The initiative will chronicle Roadrunner experiences throughout the pandemic via stories, photos, video and audio. The posts collected will be shared with the campus community and will join the History Colorado collection.

To share your COVID-19 story, visit the Roadrunner Diaries initiative webpage.

“We anticipate publishing songs, poems, even the simplest sentences and observations that give this unique experience its color and relevance,” said Steve Haigh, director of Student Media. “From the AHEC custodial worker wiping down handrails in a quiet Tivoli Student Union to President (Janine) Davidson’s overview of decision-making, we want to tell the stories of Roadrunner tenacity.”

Posts received to date have been heartfelt and personal, including:

• A student describing the privilege she feels working from home as her mother with health problems heads to work each day facing the risk of contracting the virus.
• The Metropolitan assistant photo editor’s experience of walking the empty campus shooting signs of early spring.
• Roadrunners Listen, a subset of Roadrunner Diaries created by office manager and Met Radio adviser Meher Noorulamin, tells the six-minute audio story of graduate student Enrico Dominguez, program marketing manager for the Office of Graduate Studies. Dominguez describes his pandemic experiences as a campus employee, father, mentor, friend and MBA student.

Met Media is also inviting responses and engaging with contributors via Instagram and Facebook. Met Media’s student marketing team – Kelsey Kiernan, Sam Labadie, Safa Khairalla and Calvin Nordberg – will continue with this approach through the summer to collect dozens of meaningful submissions. Graphic artists on the Met Media creative team, led by Kathleen Jewby, will contribute designs to support interesting posts. Reporters, broadcasters and podcasters from The Metropolitan, Met TV and Met Radio will also continue to cover the pandemic’s effects on students and campus throughout the summer.