By Maura Trivette, Staff Writer
As the school year began, members of the Class of 2020 headed off to college for what they hoped was a new beginning. Normally, this means packing up at home, moving into a dormitory and getting to know a new roommate – an exciting time of new people, new classes and new experiences.
But for this year’s college freshmen, leaving home and going to college has been anything but normal thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
Some colleges such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State and East Carolina started the school year with students on campus, and some classes online and some in-person. Students could still move around the campus and socialize with masks on. Other colleges started fully remote and didn’t initially allow students back on campus.
However, as early as 10 days into the start of the school year, students in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Greenville were part of clusters of COVID cases popping up in dorms and fraternity houses. One person would contract COVID, spread it to roommates and suitemates, and it would continue to spread from there.
Some colleges abruptly changed course and closed down, with students essentially kicked off campus and needing to come up with a new plan – and quickly. Tar Heel Sophia Cooper left campus after a few weeks and has been home since. Online learning is not her favorite, but she’s hoping she can go back to campus and have in-person classes before the end of her freshman year.
“I’m optimistic that we won’t be online in the spring,” Cooper said.
Emmy Trivette went to Chapel Hill for 11 days, thought she had been exposed to COVID, came home, and tested positive. She quarantined for the appropriate time period while learning remotely, but she did not want to stay at home.
“I love my family, but I’d rather live under a bridge than live at home again,” Trivette said.
Trivette ended up leaving the beach again and is learning remotely with her UNC roommate near Lake Norman, just outside of the Charlotte metro area.
When N.C. State closed, Anne Holcomb went home for a few days, but is now subleasing an apartment on Hillsborough Street near campus. She likes her remote classes.
“I like online learning better than I thought I would. I can do it at my own pace. If I get it done quicker, I can go out and do other things,” Holcomb said.
Benjamin Van Vliet attends ECU, which opened with the hybrid model. But after three weeks, the school went completely online and closed the campus to most students. Van Vliet escaped contracting COVID from his roommate and continues to reside on campus. He had the choice to come back home but decided to stay. Only about 10 percent of the students stayed on campus.
“There’s not that many people here. It’s very quiet,” Van Vliet said. “It’s actually relatively easy, but I do wish I had that face-to-face connection.”
University of San Diego freshman Camden Crook started the year totally online, and she had to remain at home when her year started. Now, however, the school has changed course and she is moving on campus.
“It was kind of last-minute,” Crook explained. “They told us two weeks ago that we could move in. A week ago, I got a confirmed spot.”
Crook is excited to finally be on campus after learning online at home. According to Crook, a lot of things are still going to be closed and restricted on campus, and when she gets to school, she will have to be tested and then tested again two weeks later. But she thinks the college has devised a safe plan for students returning to campus.
“There are health checks throughout campus, and it seems like it might work, so I’m hoping for the best,” Crook said.
Otherwise, students are having to plan for the worst. So far, college freshmen are learning that they should always have a “COVID Plan B.”
Sophomore Maura Trivette can be reached at 23trivettema00@daretolearn.org.
