As numbers are increasing due to Covid-19, open colleges are decreasing.  

As colleges close once more due to COVID-19, Lakeland University is taking extra precautions to try and stay open this fall. They are taking many steps as it proceeds to stay open this semester for students and faculty.  

Students and professors are glad that classes are back on campus but that always comes with a cost, as well. Numbers for COVID-19 are rising but that does not mean they are for the campus, in general. At the beginning of move in day, there were a few cases, but since, they have been slowly dwindling.  

Some teachers have moved all their classes online because they would not even want to put the students or themselves at risk of catching the virus, but others need to and want to see their students. Monique Brickham, a professor at Lakeland, says that she is glad that students can come to class if they choose to because “having students sitting in the room creates an energy that you can only feel when they are there and you cannot feel it when they’re online.”  

Doing the best both students and faculty can do in a situation like this shows that each one cares enough to take the precautions and try to keep our campus safe and clean. Monique explains that she makes sure her students wipe down their stations after use, and she tries to sanitize the best she can. This is all Lakeland can ask for to stay open this fall. 

This only helps some of the students on campus, though. 

For students like Brian Brickham, it is completely different than what he hoped. The classes that he had signed up for were supposed to be in-person classes, but right before school started, all of them switched to online only, and no meeting face to face. Brian explains that he is a “social butterfly,” so he would rather have classes in person to meet new people, but that will not be happening this semester.   

One thing for sure for Lakeland students is that even if they are not able to get to class, most, to all, professors on campus are streaming their classes on collaborate and they can still follow along in class even though they are remote. So, for students who have to quarantine, that does not mean you have to fall behind, or not understand the homework given out because the students could still participate in class. 

For most professors at Lakeland that teach the arts, it is a wonderful way for the students to learn what they need to learn in person than online, and with the classes that Monique teaches — graphic design and many more — she is glad to have the technology on campus for the students who wish to join in face to face classes.  

Lakeland is taking these new steps and precautions seriously to be able to keep the doors open this fall, and they are going to try and keep it going into the spring semester as well, so both students and professors can see each other while being socially distant.