Dear WiCS Community,

As of today, March 12, 2020, we are postponing all WiCS events originally scheduled between now and April 19th until further notice.This includes the WiCS Movie Night on March 19th and the WiCS Hackathon from April 10-11.

In the interest of keeping our community and the extension of our community safe and healthy, we have made this decision based on a number of safety recommendations from Student Activities & Leadership Programs (SALP), Portland State University, World Health Organization (WHO), and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

For events after April 19th, we will assess whether in-person events will be cancelled as we get closer to the date, with guidance from the university and other global health partners. 

General Support
We know that there is a lot of discomfort and uncertainty in the near future with our environment. However, we want you to know that you are not alone.  All of us are still connected now more than ever thanks to the power of the internet, and we encourage you to reach out in our WiCS slack at wics-psu.slack.com or the PDX-CS slack at pdx-cs.slack.com for support from the community.

Additionally, as more of our day-to-day operations become ‘remote’, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with Zoom! Portland State offers this resource for students, with information provided at https://www.pdx.edu/oit/zoom-meetings. 

Hackathon
If you’ve already registered for the hackathon, we have your contact information on file and will reach out with new hackathon details when we have them.

Mentorship Program
If you were planning on meeting your mentor or mentee, you may continue to do so and we encourage you to use remote meetings. Please exercise precaution and continue to wash your hands and avoid touching your face. See more under the Health section below.Mentors, please check in with your mentees and offer support as needed. If you, or other mentors, are in need of support please reach out to us at wics@pdx.edu.

Health
Reiterating the advice from the university and the CDC please continue to regularly wash your hands, avoid touching your face and practice social distancing. If you are feeling ill, or would like to meet with someone remotely, we encourage that you use Zoom. Please refer to the “New coronavirus guidelines for PSU” email from PSU’s President emailed on March 11th.

We will do our best to update you on the status of future WiCS events and programs through our website and slack channel.

Stay Healthy & Stay Connected!
Love, WiCS Leadership <3