Today: Mar 28, 2024

the virus has changed the campus atmosphere

Jessica GuerrucciEditor-in-Chief

The days of a music filled academic quad, free food buffets and crowds of students walking the halls of campus are gone. While being on-campus gives students much needed interaction, the atmosphere has undoubtedly changed.

With classes shifting online, some students will not even have the chance to come to campus and will continue working from their bedrooms at home.

For some it is a choice, but for others it can be mentally draining. Of course, COVID-19 had to change the way people experience college if we are all to stay safe, but what is interesting is how the university is trying to help those students still who may feel disconnected from campus.

The Office of Student Involvement held their first virtual club fair and they have successfully held on ground events in a socially distanced manner. So it is not to say campus life is dead, it is just changed.

I cannot speak for them, but it is hard to imagine being a first-year student too because the loud welcome events are all done at a distance.

It is not easy to feel connected to any college right now and when we are all so separate. However, whatever campus life is now, students should be glad it exists to some capacity.

It is not easy to be a college student right now and we all need the little things, whether that would be a Kahoot trivia night or a giveaway to feel connected to something.

Even if the harsh reality of the current situation the world is in hits you every time you have to put your mask on before you leave your car, try and stay positive.

Though everyone on campus may be having their lunches with a plexiglass divider between them or sitting six feet away from each other rule in the classrooms, not having that at all makes students, myself especially, value just being able to be part of a community.

Even in the WebEx or Zoom calls, no matter how awkward, sometimes everyone having their cameras on and engaging with each other makes it feel like both students and professors are trying to get through this together.

Online classes were loose and unstructured, and having set times and something to do – even if it is dreadful homework – created a needed sense of normalcy in life.

So even though campus is not what it used to be, and while safety comes first, sitting six feet away from each other is better than sitting alone in your bedroom.

Photo Credit: Jessica Guerrucci

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