Today: Mar 18, 2024

Students travel back home for the end of the semester

Desteny MaraghReporter

As Thanksgiving break is approaching, many students are saying goodbye to their dorms and are heading home for the holiday season. 

Finance & Administration Executive Vice President Mark Rozewski said in a statement that “the majority of faculty and staff, apart from essential personnel, will not be required to work on campus after Thanksgiving.” 

“Individual offices may stay open with limited/staggered staffing, dependent on the schedule prearranged between the department heads and deans/vice presidents of their respective divisions,” said Rozewski. 

“For example, the Adanti Student Center will be open post-Thanksgiving through finals week for students who need study spaces and computer access,” said Rozewski.  

Rozewski said as we approach Thanksgiving, we pivot to remote teaching and online working following the holiday break. 

According to Southern’s residence life webpage, students have to completely move out of their housing assignment prior to the Thanksgiving recess and classes will continue online only following the Thanksgiving recess. 

Due to COVID-19, winter housing is currently not available. 

With being in the middle of a pandemic, traveling home brings feelings of joy and worries to students. 

One student who is currently living close to campus but will be traveling home to New York for the holiday is Interdisciplinary studies major, Nigel Green, a senior. 

Green said he currently commutes from New Haven and takes four online classes. 

Apart from coming to campus for class, Green is obligated to come to school to train for track and field practice. 

Green said he is “happy to be going home for the holidays to spend time with loved ones.” 

A student who will be taking the train home is psychology major Alayna Lockwood, a junior. 

Lockwood said she is prepared to take vast safety precautions while riding the train like bringing “gloves and wipes.” 

“Watching the news every day, the virus is not going anywhere anytime soon,” said Lockwood. “Next week I will be done moving out of my dorm, I have already started taking things home on the weekends.” 

Lockwood said she must travel on the train weekly to go back and forth from home to school and she is looking forward to not having to travel frequently anymore. 

“The trains still get packed, and you’re in public, I take precautions as much as I can, but you never know” said Lockwood.  

While discussing her plans for traveling home, Lockwood said she is excited for the holiday but is not looking forward to Thanksgiving without all of her family present. 

Lockwood said her family is “taking covid seriously and not inviting anyone over besides my immediate family.” 

Lockwood feels the holiday “won’t be the same as normal because my whole family won’t be there.” 

One student who said they are “happy to go home to eat for thanksgiving” is Communications major, Kieron Turnbull a senior. 

Turnbull said he will be traveling to Pennsylvania to spend Thanksgiving at his grandmother ‘s house. 

“Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I get to have everyone in my family all in one place and this year that is a special occasion,” said Turnbull. 

“It has been almost a year since I’ve been able to see my grandma, I’m looking forward to that and her cooking,” said Turnbull.  

University President Joe Bertolino and colleges and universities nationwide have been making decisions as a proactive measure to limit student travel and prevent the COVID-19 outbreaks. 

For many safety reasons Bertolino said the university will not have students return to campus after the Thanksgiving break this semester. 

Rozewski said “I urge everyone to continue to observe our health and safety protocols as we enter the final on-ground days of the semester. I wish you a safe, healthy and peaceful Thanksgiving.” 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Latest from Blog

Don't Miss

Football team wins second game in a row

Ben Martin – Sports Writer The university football team is took on the

My Mind & Me Documentary starts up conversations 

Sarah Shelton – Photo Editor  One of the biggest role models in my