By Greg Ellison

(Nov. 12, 2020) Since hitting the brakes on meetings following the coronavirus outbreak, the Ocean Pines Association Communication Committee is looking to develop an online “virtual resident’s academy.”

Committee Chairwoman Jenny Cropper Rines said the group discussed the matter during its last in-person gathering in March.

“When covid happened, things got derailed,” she said.

Despite having yet to reconvene, Rines said committee members hope to launch the effort again.

“The committee figured the situation was ideal to work on this concept in a virtual capacity,” she said.

Rines said based on previous input from the board of directors, the hope is further refine the concept.

“There were some good suggestions that came back,” she said.

The absence of recent meetings has added challenges.

“We would like to see the project get going [but] it’s been hard to garner peoples’ attention to focus on it,” she said.

The online program would be a modernized version of a previous Ocean Pines resident’s academy.

“There’s an outline of content,” she said.

During the committee’s meeting in January, the existing template was employed to develop chapter headings.

“It was broken down to park and recs … public works, finance, [advisory] committees and the board,” she said. “There’s sort of the skeleton of that breakdown on the website.”

Rines said creating short videos to highlight areas of importance for community members is being considered as well.

“The more people know, the less misunderstandings,” she said. “Short videos that would be available to anyone in Ocean Pines would be good.”

The intent is to increase knowledge of the inner workings of the Pines.

“There’s some lack of general understanding of how the community operates and who does what,” she said. “If you need something, who do you call?”

Rines said the in-person resident’s academy had been highly instructive.

“In the past, over several weeks, people went to various sessions,” she said. “At the end of the session, you would know pretty much what there is to know about the community.”

Rines said part of the earlier resident’s academy involved visiting Pines amenities.

“There are things that people don’t even know we have,” she said.

Regardless of online content, some sentiment exists to retain face-to-face interactions.

“The board thought it would be valuable to have some in-person parts,” she said.

Networking aspects are also a consideration, with the potential to find candidates for advisory committees or board positions.

“It could be a wonderful resource,” she said. “We need recruiting mechanisms, because it’s hard to keep people on committees.”

Rines said while offering criticism online is common, following through with potential solutions happens far less.

“Social media has changed how people voice their concerns, but it doesn’t get them any more involved it just gives them a platform,” she said. “You have to get involved to effect change.”