This post comes to you from UC Clermont student Scarlett Hauser. Scarlett works in the Clermont College Library and wanted to share some of her perspective on life as a student during the COVID-19 pandemic. For UC Clermont students that haven’t made a trip to campus, Scarlett shares some of what she has seen and how courses have gone.

Here are Scarlett’s thoughts:

For the first time since I started college, I had the whole summer to myself. I chose not to take any summer classes and focus on myself. After all, the Spring Semester had thrown many unknowns at us students, and I was exhausted. Out of habit, I checked my student email at least once a week, hoping to hear any college updates. When the announcement came out that that there would be limited classes on campus and the rest hybrid, I was unsure how to feel. Being in class was something I enjoyed, and I was admittedly a bit disappointed when I saw all my classes had been switched to online. I told myself that online classes wouldn’t be bad; I didn’t have to wake up for early morning classes. Class could be done, for the most part, on my own time. I could spend the day at my desk with my cats sleeping on my feet. Pointing out all the positives makes accepting things as they are easier.

My first trip back to campus was to stop by the bookstore to pick up my textbooks. Right away, I noticed several differences; the parking lot was empty, classrooms were dark, signs were on the walls, and the floors were marked with stickers 6 feet apart. There were no groups of students on campus flooding the hallways trying to get to their classes. Only a few students were on campus, but none of them stood next to one another. The library was open, but the usual chatter was gone. The magazine shelf had been cleared, and the reserve books behind the desk were gone. The upstairs was closed, but a line of books could be seen across the windows. Everything was odd; it makes one wonder how long this will be the new norm.