CSU professor found a unique way to help hungry students after COVID-19 closed campus
After the Columbus State University campuses closed two months ago due to the deadly coronavirus pandemic, associate professor Michelle Folta learned while teaching her music education students online that some weren’t eating nutritious meals.
The reasons why they couldn’t return home varied:
A family member had compromised immunity.
Couldn’t afford the travel expenses.
No room back at home.
Must stay in Columbus to keep the job that’s helping to pay for college.
Then one of her students mentioned he was hungry for Folta’s famous Tex-Mex. During the five years she has been teaching at CSU, Folta has invited her students into her home for such a feast each semester, inspired by what professor Hunter March did for his students at the University of Texas while she was an undergrad there.
COVID-19 restrictions meant that gathering was canceled for this spring, but Folta figured out a different way to continue serving her students.
So she messaged that student back on Facebook, “I got you.”
And the Porch Picnic was born.
For the past seven weeks, Folta has cooked dinner each Wednesday for her students. She started out feeding six students and has doubled that number to the 12 that showed up this past week.
“It really took off,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting all of this to come from it.”
Her husband Zach, a math teacher at Jordan Vocational High School, pitches in, and her parents have donated to help pay for the groceries.
She cooks with a mask and gloves on. Then she still wears that protection when she greets the students on her front porch as they pick up their meals.
Although she follows the social-distancing guideline to stay at least 6 feet apart, Folta connects with her students by chatting with them and asking how they are doing.
“It means the world to me,” said Cassidi Jackson, a sophomore from Augusta. “… My professor cares more about my well-being than just my education. She’s here to provide for all of us in various, different ways, and I think that’s fantastic.”
Without the Porch Picnic option, Jackson said, she probably would rely on “ramen and eggs and whatever I could scrape up in my fridge” in her Columbus apartment.
“I don’t have a lot to afford groceries and all of that,” she said, “so this has been a really great help.”
This week, Folta’s menu included baked chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and a biscuit. Enchiladas, lasagna and spaghetti with meatballs also have been on the menu. She tweaks the orders for students if they have a dietary preference.
“It’s a nice, good variety,” Jackson said, “and it’s really good too. She’s a great cook.”
The portions are large enough to save some for another meal the next day, Jackson said.
“I always specialize in comfort food,” Folta said, “… just something that really stick to the bones.”
Jackson also appreciates the personalized notes Folta writes on the the to-go boxes for each of the students. For example:
“Dear Cassidi,
Congrats on making it to the last week of classes. I’m so proud of you.”
Other messages have been happy birthday wishes or encouragement for those who are struggling, such as, “You’re stronger than anything that’s coming at you. You have been 100% successful on even your worst days.”
Regardless of the words, the main message is the same.
“I hear you,” Folta said, “and you matter.”
That’s because Folta, who also is the artistic director for youth chorus Voices of the Valley, tries to model for her students the compassionate connection she hopes they develop with their students when they become music educators.
“It really is a short-term investment for a long-term goal,” she said. “The relationships that we establish as professors and teachers, they last a lifetime, and this is a great way to solidify that. … CSU is a Servant Leadership campus, and so I’m happy to be that kind of person for my kids and serve them.”
