Early Monday afternoon, St. John’s students were informed by the University that class instruction would remain online for the rest of the semester. Not only did this mean that we would no longer be learning in our classrooms, but the 2019-20 school year was over. “Furthermore, effective immediately, all University in-person events are cancelled for the remainder of the spring semester. Event organizers are responsible for informing guests and attendees that their event has been cancelled,” university president Conrado “Bobby” Gempesaw, Ph.D said in a statement. No more events, outings with friends, campus club meetings and spring activities. Naturally, this news hit seniors the hardest.
“I’m annoyed, but mostly sad,” said Rebecca McFadden. “I have so many friends who live far away who I won’t get to see for who knows how long”.
A lot of uncertainty and unanswered questions loomed after the news was given to students. Many worried about their work-study jobs, transitioning to graduate school, and tuition refunds.
“All I could think about is all the opportunities I’m missing,” says Aminah Bullock, who plans on starting graduate school in the fall. “This is such a crucial time for seniors so I’m even more scared of post-grad than I was before”.
For tuition refunds, President Gempesaw said in the statement that “all resident students who have paid their room and board fees will receive instructions regarding a pro-rata refund from the Office of Financial Aid.” A pro-rata refund is when you are refunded for a portion of a product or service that went unused. In this case, resident students will receive a refund for the weeks or months the dorms have been vacated due to the coronavirus.
Amidst the uncertainty, many seniors felt nothing but sorrow. “As a first generation college student, this is especially devastating to me,” said Valyntina Francois. “Like all seniors across the country I feel as if something has been stolen from me”.
“It makes me wanna [sic] die” Nisha Busre put it simply.
The biggest question currently is the state of the undergraduate commencement ceremony, set to take place May 17th. Gempesaw addressed this briefly, stating “in the weeks ahead, we will make an announcement about plans for the University’s various Commencement events and activities, currently scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 14. The coronavirus situation may prohibit these events from being held in person.”
There’s no further word on when they’ll make a decision, but seniors are already mourning the potential of the commencement’s cancellation.
“Even if graduation proceeds as planned, the feeling won’t be the same. Instead of joy and excitement, I’m filled with fear and anxiety,” Francois added. “My heart is breaking for the class of 2020 as our memories of our final semester of college won’t be what we had intended to be.”
Click here to read the full statement from President Gempesaw.