By Leah Wilkinson
Microsoft Teams allows us to teach or attend classes remotely, but it also allows for our personal lives to be more visible, which can make for some pretty interesting classes.
Dr. Gregory Hillis of the theology department was in the middle of teaching Honors Ultimate Questions, an intro class, when things took an unexpected turn.
Due to his three sons’ remote learning and his wife, Kim, working outside the home, Hillis has been teaching from his house.
“My office is in my bedroom,” Hillis said.
Hillis said Kim Hillis, a piano teacher, concluded her teaching for the day and went out with the couple’s oldest son. Hillis said his 9-year-old and 12-year-old were home with him.
“They had promised they wouldn’t fight and that they would be good because I was teaching,” he said.
Then he heard some commotion.
“All of a sudden I could hear the back door swing open and I could hear my 9-year-old screaming, and all of a sudden the door opened [in my office] and his hand was up at his head and there was just blood pouring down from his head down to his hands,” Hillis said. “And so I just looked at my students and said, ‘I need to take a break for a second.’”
When Hillis arrived downstairs, he discovered his two sons had been arguing.
“My 12-year-old had gotten so frustrated that he actually hit my 9-year-old in the head with the metal end of a dog leash, and essentially split his head open,” Hillis said.
Hillis said he didn’t panic but that everything happened very quickly.
“So I had to quickly run back [into my office] after I saw there was a possibility he was gonna need stitches,” Hillis said. “So I came back [to my office] and basically had to cancel class very abruptly.”
Hillis said his son didn’t end up needing stitches, but the incident meant class ended earlier than usual.
“But I sort of thought to myself, ‘If that isn’t the epitome of what a 2020 is like, I’m not sure what else could show it,’” Hillis said.
Raidel Batista Torres, a sophomore, was in Hillis’ class at the time of the injury.
“I was half asleep during theology when [the professor’s] kid walked in with his head busted,” Batista Torres said. “It was a peaceful nap until it wasn’t.”
Hillis said he sent his students an email with an explanation afterward and said his students seemed to find it funny.
“I said to them, ‘These are the kind of experiences that will be part of all of our stories that we tell in the years to come when we look back on this and say ‘Hey, wasn’t that a brutal and strange and weird year that we had together?’” Hillis said.
Dr. Kaitlyn Selman’s criminology class also experienced an unanticipated interruption. Selman is married to Dr. Justin Turner, also a criminal justice professor at Bellarmine. They both teach in the criminal justice department.
“So, generally speaking, I fell down the stairs,” Turner said. “It hurt very much and it made a clammer.”
Selman: “Do you wanna add that you were carrying our child? I feel like that’s an important aspect.”
Turner: “Oh, yeah, our child was in my arms when I missed a step and fell down the rest of [the stairs].”
Jack, the couple’s baby, was eight months old at the time of the fall.
Selman said she was in the basement with about 10 minutes of class remaining when she heard a loud noise.
“And I heard this big crash, but I thought maybe Jack’s highchair had gotten knocked over or the dogs were doing something — I didn’t really think anything of it — and I think maybe there was another crash when [Turner] actually made it to the end of the stairs, and then I was like ‘Hold on, something’s not right,’” Selman said.
Selman said she ran to see what was happening.
“I was like ‘Hang on, I’ve gotta go check,’ and so I like ran [away from] my computer, ran partially up the stairs and then heard [Turner] kind of, like, yelling, and then I came back downstairs and told my class, ‘I don’t know what happened! I’ve gotta go!’ and I slammed my computer shut and then I went up there, and [Turner] was like crumpled on the floor, and Jack was screaming his head off in a way that I never want to relive again because it was absolutely terrifying,” Selman said.
Although both her husband and son fell, Selman said Turner received the brunt of the injuries.
“Justin’s face was cut because I guess he hit a picture coming down [the stairs],” Selman said. “I had to sweep Jack up because he was screaming and I didn’t know if he was hurt or not…and Justin’s just kind of laying there,” Selman said, laughing.
“Laying there forgotten,” Turner added.
Selman said Turner hurt his knee and had a mild concussion, and Jack had a small gash on the back of his leg, which Turner said he believes came from his hands holding onto the baby during the tumble.
Selman said despite the unfortunate accident, the timing was ideal.
“Luckily it was a Thursday because neither of us teach on Friday, so we were able to just kind of hunker down,” Selman said.
Selman said she had to call the pediatrician and ask how to make sure Jack was OK.
Turner said his mom is an athletic physical therapist and was able to make sure he was healthy.
“She was able to kind of do those assessments of damage and stuff,” Turner said. “And as long as her assessment was simply kind of concussion and ligament stuff, she was comfortable with it, so she was like ‘You’re fine.’”
Selman said she’s thankful she was at home at the time of the incident.
“I guess the nice thing is that I was home teaching, because if I would’ve been up at school I don’t know what would’ve happened,” Selman said. “I mean, [Turner] would’ve been fine, I think, but like, laying there in a pile of glass, wounded, probably wouldn’t have been the safest way to handle things.”
Selman said she didn’t have time to process how to handle the situation while on Teams.
“It was a weird thing where I had to shift from being in professor mode to like a very real, human moment,” Selman said. “I’m pretty sure I actually said, ‘Oh sh*t! I’ve gotta go!’ and like slammed the computer,” Selman said.
Selman said she later messaged her students letting them know what happened.
“I got a couple of emails from students before I sent the message,” Selman said. “We share some students, so they kind of got to hear it [from both of us].”
“None of them emailed me, though,” Turner added.
Professors and students have also had experiences that are not injury-related.
“I’ve had students who have had their pets kind of bombard them and that kind of stuff, which is always really funny but is always very welcome,” Selman said.
Professor Cody Nygard, who teaches interdisciplinary studies, said he also had an interesting outdoors Teams experience in spring 2020.
“One girl in my class participated in the last couple of weeks by Zooming from her backyard in a bikini while drinking sangria,” Nygard said. “Honestly, I didn’t blame her at all.”
Nygard also said any time he teaches a class from home, his two kids, who are 2.5 years old and 8 months old, crawl all over him, and his wife is always trying to peel them off.
“This pandemic has hit everyone so hard psychologically — I sympathize,” Nygard said. “I think the most important thing professors and students can both offer in this time is grace, patience, and a robust sense of humor.”
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