The global pandemic upended summer educational programs this year. Those that didn't cancel had to retool their vision and approach. Leaders of the A. James Clark Scholars Program at the University of Virginia School of Engineering knew they didn't want to cancel the summer experience for rising first-year students. So program leaders created an opportunity for incoming students that served the same mission as the summer program for previous cohorts. The mission is centered on providing students with an early academic start and, importantly, creating a sense of community among them. Many of the students come from populations traditionally underserved in STEM fields, such as women, racial and ethnic minorities, students with disabilities, first-generation college students and students from rural or densely urban areas. So the leadership sat down to redraw what “normal†would look like. “All of us are having to establish new Zoom norms,†said Clark Scholars Program director Jessica Harris. “We had to come together to ask, ‘What are our norms? What do we want, what do we expect from our students?' We've also just been transparent with them and shared that we're all figuring this out together.â€