As I’m sure all of you know, the disease called the coronavirus has spread to various areas around the world and has created a state of panic among people everywhere. Although it is not known to be a deadly disease for most, it is highly contagious and can cause serious harm for elderly adults and those with pre-existing medical illnesses. Extreme measures to stop the spread of the virus have been taken, including the cancellation of flights, restriction of certain places where a large number of cases have been found, and various colleges and universities closing their campuses and requiring their students to return home and complete classes online.
The latter is exactly what is happening at my school, Denison University in Granville, Ohio. Our spring break is coming up on March 13th and was originally supposed to only last for a week. Due to the recent outbreak of corona, however, Denison has chosen to close its campus until at least April 3rd, or possibly until the end of the semester while students take online classes from home. Since we found out about this decision, there has been a wave of anxiety and sadness about the possibility of not being able to regularly see our college friends until the 2020 school year starts in the fall. Many students, including myself, have been trying to spend as much time as they can with their friends before they leave, while also having to juggle the responsibilities of packing all of their belongings, making travel arrangements, and keeping up with their schoolwork.
The fact that students here are so upset about leaving their friends and the campus says a lot about the strong sense of community at Denison. Some of my friends from high school who currently go to larger state schools have told me how excited they are to come back home because they get a longer spring break and more free time without the responsibility of physically going to class. However, most of us at Denison feel the opposite because it means that we will not have the opportunity to go to classes with, do extracurriculars with, eat meals with, and hang out at night with the people who we have gotten so used to seeing every day and have developed close friendships with.
To Denison students who are unhappy right now: it’s important for us not to worry and to try to make the most of our current situation. I know this plan is not ideal, but we must remember to keep a positive attitude because whichever direction this goes in, everything is going to be fine. If we are sent home until April 3rd, we will only have to endure online classes and not being able to see our friends for about three weeks, which goes by pretty quickly. And worst comes to worst, if we have to stay at home for the rest of the semester, we will eventually get used to the online classes and we will still be able to stay in touch with our friends. Remember, close friendships do not disappear just because people are in different places. If we were able to stay in touch with our high school friends while away at college for several months, we will have no problem doing the same with our college friends for a few weeks. The top priority is that we all stay safe and healthy, even if it means taking such drastic measures to do so.
***UPDATE: Denison University has canceled classes for the remainder of this semester.