In March of 2020 the world stopped when it experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. SSU and all campuses throughout the country shut down and classes, clubs and jobs came to a halt. This left college students and incoming freshmen wondering what their education would be like in the next few years.
Joey Botta, a fourth-year business major said, “ My freshmen year was totally online so I worked a lot and did my classes over Zoom. It was very easy as some teachers hadn’t really figured out the online aspect of teaching so I assume they just handed out good grades.”
The graduating class of 2024 were incoming freshmen whose first college experience would be through a screen. They were offered to come live on campus while classes were being held online, some students found the experience to be a surprisingly enjoyable time while it made others despise the campus.
Skyler Gabriel, a fourth-year Hutchins major said, “I moved into the Beaujolais Dorms for my freshman year it was fun being on campus meeting new people but it was hard with all the rules from the school about social distancing – at times it felt very isolating.”
Gabriel said that she didn’t hate her time on campus. However, she never felt like she experienced what a True freshman year of college feels like.”
All aspects of the campus were essentially shut down throughout this time, classes remained online, the rec center was closed and food options on campus were limited. The overall atmosphere of the campus was at an all-time low for the incoming freshman.
There were some cases where students didn’t even want to live on campus during this time. Noah Portillo, a fourth-year business major said, “I was online my freshman year and decided to stay at home because most of the campus was closed anyways.”
Finding your space in college can be challenging as it is and without being able to socialize with your friends and classmates can make it even more taxing on an individual.
SSU tried to ensure every student’s safety while opening the campus back up through the pandemic. Although students might have felt isolated, they were being protected in the way that the university saw fit. There were many safety protocols set into place such as daily wellness checks, mask requirements throughout the whole campus, social distancing signs posted, as well as regulations as to how many other students you could interact with. In turn the campus also decided that having less students per dorm would ensure a higher level of safety so there were only about 2-3 students per dorm room.
When they returned to campus in 2021 the campus was mostly open so it was a big adjustment for those students who never saw the campus open or knew it before it closed.
Botta said, “Covid really affected our campus because it closed a lot of the businesses. Lobos was completely different, Charlie Brown’s was open, Prelude was open and the wine spectator building was open. Now we just have toast which is a shack.”
The campus that the class of 2024 first arrived at is very different then how they are leaving it. There are no longer as many COVID-19 safety protocols and the campus regime has begun to pick up again.
