Spark 2020 cancellation

Hello teachers of Spark 2020,

We’re very sorry to inform you that we will not be running Spark this year. Accordingly, please do not plan to teach classes on March 14–15.

We understand that this is incredibly disappointing, and it breaks our hearts to cancel the program. We were looking forward to having Spark happen on campus, and we sincerely hope to see you at an ESP program in the future.

We encourage you to send materials for your class to your student mailing list (M12345-students@esp.mit.edu where M12345 is the class code). While this is not the perfect solution, we hope that even in light of these events, we can still facilitate the joy of learning and teaching.

This cancellation is happening in accordance with MIT’s guidelines regarding the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak, which were updated yesterday (March 5) by President Reif. Effectively immediately according to these guidelines, no events involving K–12 students are permitted until May 15, including our educational programs. As a student group at MIT, we are required to abide by these new guidelines, and we respect MIT’s decision to keep all of our students, teachers, and volunteers safe.

For now, we ask that you refrain from purchasing any new class supplies and cancel any pending orders. If possible, please return any materials you purchased to the original vendor. If you have any class supplies already purchased using our funding, please arrange a time with us (spark@mit.edu) to return them to the ESP office (W20-467) and we will reimburse you.

Additionally, some of you may have been intending to travel from off campus to teach at Spark. If you have already made long-distance travel plans (including flights, trains, or and hotels), please reach out to your travel providers to see if a refund is possible, as many have special policies in response to COVID-19.  If a refund is not possible, please reach out to us at spark@mit.edu.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at spark@mit.edu. 

Sincerely,

Julian and Rujul

Spark 2020 Directors