Friday, April 17, 2020 — 3
News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

LAB
From Page 1

CITY
From Page 2

FASHION
From Page 1

“It’s been an incredibly wild ride,

especially during these crazy times the

world is going through,” Gogolak said.

“But I’m very grateful to be a part of their

leadership team and to help the company

through this.”

Gogolak said adapting the company to the

current situation is about communication.

She said she has daily calls, and the company

has realized they need to expand on their

digital strategy in order to keep riders engaged

through email and social media.

“We’re giving our riders the ability to be

a part of our community while being off the

bike,” Gogolak said. “We’re actually excitingly

launching our own retail e-commerce on a new

platform, which will be really supporting the

fantastic visuals and photography that we have

been working on, up since the pandemic.”

She defined this digital movement as a

“cultural phenomenon” with regard to what

SoulCycle is able to deliver on the content end.

Gogolak answered a question from an

attendee regarding how she addresses industry

competitors in the retail sector. She said the

company tries to look at more general fashion

trends as opposed to monitoring the products

of competitors. From a brand standpoint, she

said, SoulCycle has a very different business

strategy than its competitors.

“We’re always keeping our finger on

the pulse,” Gogolak said. “It’s an in-person

experience. It’s, you know, in a room that’s

candlelit with 60 people on a bike and so

that is a very different experience. But we

have recently launched our at-home content

through Variis through Equinox, which is an

amazing experience.”

Gogolak said with more people working

from home, activewear will be considered

as everyday wear. She said she believes

activewear is resilient and seasonless and, as a

result, it has a lot of room to grow.

“I think that people are dressing differently

today,” Gogolak said. “I think (retail is) going

to be less about working out and more of ‘how

do I outfit this with the ready-to-wear that I

already have in my wardrobe.’”

Finally, Gogolak said SoulCycle’s vision for

the company is very similar to its original 2020

operating plan, but they have changed the way

they are operating to reach that goal, especially

with regard to their digital plan.

“We’re trying to bring the digital piece

out,” Gogolak said. “It was almost like perfect

timing when all of this happened and I think at

this point, when we come back into business …

I’m really excited to see how our studios light

up and how people are, you know, going to be

craving going to their favorite instructors’ class

with their friends, even though we’re going to

have to be operating with social distancing

in place … I think that that fire will be super

special when our doors reopen.”

Zinke began her talk by providing advice for

those interested in going into the industry. She

described the industry as a meritocracy and

said it is possible to work your way up through

hard work.

“You really have to be prepared to work

extremely hard and demonstrate that you want

to make the cut,” Zinke said. “You want to

really make a contribution to something that is

a group effort, a collective effort. And if you are

able to do that, and you do get the recognition

of the people who are the creators in the

industry, I would say the ones who also worked

their way up, then … the sky’s the limit.”

She said, however, the business is not possible

without the people behind the big fashion

names. At the same time, she referenced the

fact that the industry requires self-direction

with regard to career development.

“I’m usually one of the people who are

helping to make things happen,” Zinke said.

“And I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t doing a

good job at that, and it’s many years in the

making. But I’ve also had to be very proactive

in my own career development because it’s

not an industry that really has a great clear

directional path that you follow to get from

point A to point B. You have to be very self-

motivated.”

Zinke compared her experiences working at

American and European brand headquarters

and regional offices. She referenced her work

at Ralph Lauren and Tiffany & Co. as well as

her roles at LVMH in Europe. She discussed

how she flows between a regional sales role to

a broader macro and global perspective of the

fashion industry.

“I kind of like to toggle back and forth,”

Zinke said. “I think it makes me a better-

informed business person. And I can really

speak to my colleagues on the other side of

the table from a more informed standpoint

because I’ve been in both regional roles and

global roles.”

MFMS co-president Delaney Walker, an

LSA senior, said MFMS was disappointed they

had to cancel the in-person event but were

determined to fulfill their mission of providing

opportunities for students interested in the

fashion industry.

“We were devastated when we had to cancel

the MFMS,” Walker said, “We were upset that

the 600 attendees would not be able to hear our

speakers and our 54-person student planning

team would not be able to showcase their

hard work. But we made a promise to educate

students on opportunities in fashion, so there

was no doubt in our mind that we would find

a way to do it. It was amazing transforming it

to a webinar because we got to reach an even

larger audience and learn how to pivot our

organization in times of adversity.”

Daily Staff Reporter Remy Farkas can be

reached at rsfarkas@umich.edu.

“Instructors always have a great

deal of autonomy in the design and

delivery of their courses, and the

pandemic
hasn’t
changed
that,”

McKay wrote. “Sometimes, we have

to make a big collective decision,

like moving all courses to remote

instruction
and
Pass/No
Record

COVID grading. But the instructional

team for each course is responsible

for deciding what course adjustments

would be best and how to make them.”

LSA freshman Sharon Shaw, who is

taking both Biology 173 and Chemistry

211, said the ease of adjustment was

different for the two courses. Shaw

emphasized that the consistency of

her professors’ communication and

assignment uploads determined the

success of the online transition.

“For Bio 173, it has kind of been

confusing,”
Shaw
said.
“Because

everything is online, professors can

technically upload anything anytime

they want, and this past week my

professor hasn’t uploaded anything.”

Shaw said she feels her lab courses

are less rigorous without conducting

experiments
and
collecting
data.

She said she misses the in-person

interactions with her labmates and

worries she is not learning skills that

come with hands-on experience.

“I’d totally rather drag myself to an 8

a.m. lab,” Shaw said. “I know it sounds

horrible, but I would much rather do

that and actually see what’s going on

in lab and collect my own data than

just take other people’s data.”

Engineering
freshman
Chase

Hartley’s Math 215 lab still allows

students to work in groups with their

former labmates. However, group

projects for his Engineering 100 and

Physics 141 courses have been replaced

with individual work.

“It’s been a little bit of a struggle

trying to do physics lab by myself,

since I’m so used to collaborating with

other people,” Hartley said. “That’s

been the toughest part. You just have

to get into a routine and then figure

it out.”

According
to
McKay,
grading

procedures are “very contextual”

for these courses. He wrote the

University has encouraged creativity

and cooperation among instructors

and students to solve challenges in

making both large and small changes

to assignments.

He wrote that each instructional

team
determines
how
grading

guidelines change if needed. Looking

to the future, McKay wrote spring and

summer courses will show the lessons

learned from the winter semester.

“These spring/summer courses will

incorporate a variety of improvements,

all made possible by the fact that we

have more than a weekend to spend

designing them,” McKay wrote.

McKay wrote creative ideas were

emerging in preparation for these

semesters, including geology classes

where students will be asked to do

local fieldwork and contribute to a

class-wide data set.

LSA freshman Heather Sherr did

not initially consider remote learning

when planning her schedule for next

fall. She is currently registered for

two courses with lab sections, but is

concerned about how they would be

impacted if courses were to remain

online.

As a pre-medical student, Sherr

plans to get other requirements out

of the way and delay taking courses

with
lab
components
if
remote

learning continues. She feels that this

semester has helped her work on her

weaknesses as a student.

“I’m
learning
to
be
more

independent with how I get my work

done and be on my own clock,” Sherr

said. “I’m setting time management

skills and setting my own routine …

and learning how to communicate

better with my peers.”

McKay
echoed
this
sentiment.

He wrote students should see their

responses to this challenge as a

success.

“As the end of this term approaches,

we hope you will be proud of all

you’ve done to help the community

get through this, know that this is a

term we will all always remember, and

be prepared to continue to help the

University, our many communities,

and the world work through this

pandemic,” McKay wrote.

Daily Staff Reporter Ayse Eldes can

be reached at aeldes@umich.edu.

“I will do my best to continue to be a conduit of

communication between the University and the

city and also to put pressure on the University,”

Disch said. “I think that the first kinds of things

I would like to do as a member of City Council is

to take the pieces of that plan that we can enact

without spending enormous amounts of money

and enact them.”

Linh Song, Democrat for Ward 2

Song is a University alum and lecturer in

the School of Social Work. She was appointed

executive director of the Ann Arbor Public

Schools Educational Foundation, a nonprofit

organization that works to distribute funds to

area public schools, in 2014.

Song said it is important to look at models of

development across the country when looking

for affordable housing solutions.

“For me, I stayed here because my

neighborhood is a family,” Song said. “We

would all benefit from a bigger, familiar, bigger

neighborhood. We should welcome folks here.

And I think we should think creatively and not

have to rely on developers to fund the work.”

When discussing student voting, Song said

important public policies come from the people

within a community. She said she hopes student

voter turnout increases in the coming years,

specifically in local elections.

“This is where elected officials are accountable

to the voices of not just complaints and really

narrow issues advanced but actually formulating

them,” Song said. “So I’d hope for greater student

participation on all levels of local government.

More students should be at the table, deciding

Ann Arbor’s future.”

Travis Radina, Democrat for Ward 3

Radina, who is president of the Jim Toy

Community Center and the LGBTQ liaison to

the mayor’s office, said he hopes to be an agent

for change for affordability issues in Ann Arbor.

He said he believes political leaders should

be careful in their use of the term NIMBY,

meaning “Not In My Backyard,” which refers to

residents who oppose proposed housing or parks

development in areas close to where they reside.

“While I do believe there is widespread public

consensus in support of smart growth and

density here in our community and I believe that

an anti-growth mentality would harm our city’s

future, I don’t believe that all of our neighbors

who voice concerns about specific development

projects are motivated by so-called NIMBYism,”

Radina said.

Radina said he thinks the city’s budget

solutions should be creative so Ann Arbor is

able to maintain a commitment to providing

basic services while also avoiding layoffs and

preventing
outsourcing
and
privatization

of work, especially following the COVID-19

pandemic.

Radina is also a University alum and currently

works as a senior global engagement manager at

the University’s Alumni Association. During his

time on campus, Radina was involved in College

Democrats and said he participated in many

political movements on campus. He addressed

issues of gerrymandering in Ann Arbor. Radina

said he remembered the student voice was

broken up while he was a student when the ward

system was introduced in 2015 and students

found themselves split fairly evenly between five

wards.

“I think it’s really important for not only

council members but candidates for council to

continue participating in activities just like this

one so that we continue to have open dialogue

with students,” Radina said.

Evan Redmond, Democrat for Ward 3

Redmond, also a U-M alum, now works at a

marketing analytics firm. He said he plans to

focus a lot of his platform on climate change

initiatives and on getting Ann Arbor to 100

percent carbon neutrality in the future.

“Climate change is key,” Redmond said. “Right

now DTE is a huge obstacle blocking the city from

getting 100 percent renewable energy, but what

we can do is establish a publicly owned electric

utility.”

Redmond also talked about how he plans to

get the University involved in his goals to get Ann

Arbor to become carbon neutral and place it on

100 percent renewable energy sources.

“As you know, the University is a state

institution, so there’s little direct power that

the Ann Arbor City Council can put on the

University,” Redmond said. “We also know the