College students back home - for school and housing

The coronavirus pandemic has sent college students across the United States back home - for both learning and housing.

College students across the country received word at varying points last week that not only were they shifting from the traditional classroom setting to online courses, but they had to pack up and be out of their college housing by the end of the weekend.

Emily Britton returned to her Hampton home last weekend, and her classes started online Monday.

“It’s been alright, but I feel a lot of professors still don’t really know how it’s going to work, so I am not sure how it’s going to go,” said Britton, a 2018 graduate of Winnacunnet High School who is now a junior at Penn State. “My professors have emailed me, but pretty much the emails say ‘we’re going to try it out and see how it works, we really don’t know what we’re doing, so just bear with us. That’s pretty much how it’s going to go for the next couple of weeks.

Penn State, as of now, is scheduled to return to the classroom April 6, but Britton said one of her professors believes the rest of the semester will be taught online.

“I don’t think we’ll be going back, either,” said Britton, an organic chemistry major. “It’s very disappointing. It’s been a fun year, and having to do classes online is not something I signed up for. I went to college to learn in person. I don’t think people will be able to learn as well as they could if they were in class like they usually are.”

The novel coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough in most cases, with severe illness more likely in the elderly and those with existing health problems.

Spencer Pickett, from York, Maine, is a sophomore at Syracuse University studying information management and technology. Syracuse is on spring break this week, but Pickett and his classmates were told no one is allowed to return to campus until at least March 30. Online courses will be offered to students after spring break.

“We’re in a really messy transition into online course work and all my professors believe we won’t be returning at all, they think we have seen the end of time on campus (for this year), Pickett said. “It’s pretty crazy. A lot of people are sad because they like to be on campus and with their college friends.”

Pickett believes once spring break is over a “virtual classroom through Blackboard Ultra” will be offered to students during the same time their classes would have been held.

“You can join a virtual room and interact with your professor and your classmates, that’s kind of a cool feature,” he said. “Some professors are taking advantage of that, and others are just posting content online for students to view at their own leisure.”

Pickett is scheduled to begin an internship with Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company on June 1 in Portland, Maine.

“I haven’t received any news about my internship being affected, but I am sure that could possibly change.”

Worcester Polytechnic Institute was on spring break last week when students were notified the campus was shutting down, spring break was being extended until March 25, and then students would shift to online classes for two weeks before WPI determines if online classes would continue or if students were allowed back on campus.

Kimmy Hazeltine, a Strataham resident, 2018 St. Thomas Aquinas graduate and sophomore at WPI, doesn’t know how online classes will work.

“A lot of kids are stressed out,” she said. “WPI is an engineering school, and we have a lot of labs, which are going to be very difficult to do online. We also do a lot of projects with groups, which also will be hard to do without meeting in person. I would really like to get back to campus. I miss my friends and would rather be in a classroom instead of doing online classes.”

Drew Leahy, of Portsmouth and a 2019 graduate of St. John’s Prep in Danvers, Massachusetts, is a freshman at Holy Cross.

Leahy, a mathematics major, was informed last Wednesday that the Worcester, Massachusetts, campus was being shut down until fall, all students had to be off campus by Saturday night, and spring semester classes would be done online.

“It was kind of shocking and a bummer (to hear that),” said Leahy, a defenseman on the men’s lacrosse team. “All these friends you just become really close with, and you have to say goodbye. It’s a bummer, pretty depressing.”

The University of New Hampshire informed students this week that online classes would continue through the end of the semester.

“It was definitely weird seeing campus clean out so quickly. I’ll miss it, but I know it will be waiting for me when I go back,” said freshman Eli Witham, a 2019 Winnacunnet graduate and business major.

Emily Tosatti, a 2017 graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas and junior political science major at James Madison University, is on an “extended” week of spring break after last week’s scheduled vacation. Online classes are scheduled to start next Monday and will go until at least April 5.

“As of right now the rest is to be determined,” Tosatti said. “It’s very frustrating for me. I live off campus, so I may go back down for a little while, but I am pretty confident we’ll most likely be shut down for the rest of the semester.”

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