Anita Pozin is the guru of summer fun in her role as director of Summer at the Academy, but when the pandemic landed with a thud this spring, she kicked into an entirely different gear.
From the start of the year in August, Mrs. Pozin has been at the helm of the school's COVID-19 testing program; all students and employees are tested every two weeks on a rotating schedule. She has handled the full range of the activity, from discussing the complexity of protocols with the school's two testing partners to gathering many volunteers to help with the challenge of getting students to spit into tiny tubes to submit saliva samples --10,045 samples to date. And she leavens the serious enterprise with a little humor.
For going above and beyond for Norfolk Academy during the pandemic, Mrs. Pozin was named a Magnus Health Frontline Hero. The Raleigh-based Magnus, a leading provider of cloud-based student health records, is celebrating those in school communities who have played leadership roles in helping surmount the challenges of the crisis.
She was nominated by Assistant Headmaster for Business and Auxiliary Services Jeff Martin. His nominating letter touched on the speed of the response led by Mrs. Pozin this fall, as well as the cycle of the yearlong program:
“As we prepared to open school in August, Anita was placed in charge of our school's COVID testing program. With very little notice, she led us to our first testing company and then arranged for the testing of 1,500 faculty, staff, students, and auxiliary staff within two weeks," he said. “This first run of testing required extensive choreography, as the students were not yet on campus so we had to take over a gymnasium and schedule times for all of our 1,200 students to come in and get tested. We then decided to test everyone every two weeks, so Anita has the responsibility to schedule all of these tests, coordinating with division directors, teachers, and the testing company. This effort requires quite a bit of administration as every saliva test vial must have its barcode read and matched up with a corresponding student or staff ID number, placed in a Ziploc bag, and then distributed to divisions, teachers, and advisors as appropriate. Anita has developed an incredibly smooth process for this logistical challenge."
As part of Academy's commitment to protect its entire community amid the worldwide pandemic, the school conducted more than 10,000 COVID-19 tests during the summer and fall of 2020.
Anita Pozin, Director of Summer at the Academy and the school's enrichment programs, has taken on a new role amid the worldwide pandemic. She has organized scheduling for Academy's COVID-19 testing program.
Students, faculty, and staff have been tested roughly every other week since August 2020.