“Don’t spend more time reflecting on the negative aspect, but look at all the things you got to accomplish,” Celine Halt said.
Halt is a senior resort recreation and hospitality management major and leadership minor. President of the University Program Board (UPB), Halt said that she felt some of her time at Slippery Rock University was taken for granted.
“As much as I count the days till graduation, it was unexpectedly cut too short,” Halt said. “I didn’t get to experience those last few things where I figured I have so much time left.”
Although Halt has taken most of her minor classes online, she said that she still has questions about her major classes and the group work usually required within them.
Sharing some concerns about the start of online classes is Nicholas Condon, a junior political science major.
Condon said that he is nervous for the switch because some professors may not be technologically abled.
“I’m concerned that classes will turn into pushovers and I won’t learn anything, or they will be very heavy busy work because the professors don’t really know what to do with it,” Condon said.
However, Condon said that the difference between online and in person classes is that with online classes, the student is the one with the motivation to do it, where in person classes the student almost just has to show up.
“Treat it like it’s an in person class,” Condon said. “Set aside time of your day. You have a schedule from earlier in the semester, put aside those time slots and try to use those similarly.”
Although Condon offered advice about routine and a schedule, that may prove more difficult for other students, such as student teacher Kylee Osselborn.
Osselborn, a senior early childhood and special education major, said that this semester was her semester of being in the field with students.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for the past four years and it’s hard that it’s being taken away,” Osselborn said.
As a student teacher, students must have 12 weeks in the classroom with four observations from their supervisors to get certified. At the moment where SRU suspended all face-to-face classes, Osselborn said student teachers had just finished their first eight weeks and most only had three observations.
Currently, the assistant dean of the college of education said that student teachers can now do 20 hours a week of instructional time, however, Osselborn is placed at a school in Grove City that is currently not having their kids complete online instruction.
“My supervisor had the great idea of trying to set us up with families using ZOOM or creating lesson plans for an individual student and working with them 12 hours a week,” Osselborn said. “The student will still get educational time and we could still utilize our skills to help them.”
Although Osselborn’s supervisor is helping her with the next step in student teaching, Osselborn said that it’s hard not saying goodbye to her students or getting to meet her next group of students.
Similarly to Osselborn’s supervisor helping her, Dallas Kline, a first year graduate student in the student affairs and higher education program, said that multiple of her professors have been in contact, easing her anxiety.
Kline said that one professor sent out a survey asking what resources students have and what tools they were comfortable using while another personally called each student to ask if they were doing okay.
“It is going to be kind of hard,” Kline said. “Everyone is dealing with their own issues being by themselves that it is kind of hard to create a schedule and stay to it. it’s really relying on my classmates.”
The sense of the campus community is something that many students will miss, including Condon.
As a part of Student Government Association (SGA), Condon said that he misses it alot, but also misses the community end of things.
“Being around other people is definitely what I’m going to miss the most,” Condon said.
Other students agree that they will miss the campus community. Halt said that she found her home with UPB and Alpha Xi Delta.
“For seniors, it’s not looking at all the things we lost, but all the cool things we got to do along the way,” Halt said.
Along with all activities and accomplishments that students got to encounter, Osselborn said that her favorite memories were some of her classes.
“I met some of my favorite people in my classes,” Osselborn said. “I have professors that we can text and go to them for anything outside of school.”
All students agreed that although saddening, SRU made the right decision.
Condon said that cases of COVID-19 hit close to home, one five minutes away from his house.
“I think it’s good we’re doing things, even if they aren’t convenient for any of us,” Condon said.
Students agree that SRU is doing a great job at keeping the campus community updated.
“We need to take the time to see and respect that Slippery Rock has been doing so, so much for all of us compared to other schools,” Halt said. “They have been here every step of the way so far and I want to thank for for everything that they have done.”
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