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Berea College
As you all know, the coronavirus pandemic reached our great state of Kentucky just a few weeks ago, and since then it has served to force shut down nearly every public establishment in the state.
Before quarantine became the norm, though, the shut down started with the cancellation of all further instruction at a small private college in Eastern Kentucky. I am a student of Berea College and this is the story of the day my world got turned upside down.
On Tuesday, March 10, at exactly 12;20 p.m., I was working at my job in the college crafts department when I went on break and noticed an email in my inbox. President Lyle Roelefs had sent an email to the entire campus, informing us that our school would be closed and we all had to be out by that Friday.
The announcement came completely out of nowhere for everyone, including faculty and staff. It made us aware that the administration themselves had not known this was going to happen until that morning when they realized that the virus reached our campus.
They were not equipped to quarantine all of the students properly, and thus the only option was to close the school.
We were all completely blindsided. Emotions ranged from confused to heartbroken as students started flooding the student Facebook group with their reactions to the situation. I sat at my desk dumbfounded, called my Mom, and sat some more. How else to react when your entire way of life has just changed?
We found out later that the decisions about how our courses would continue was going to be left up to our professors. Many chose to continue instruction via video chat, others chose to pick the most important assignments from the remainder of the course and just ask that students turn them in by the end of the term. Some even decided to leave midterm grades as final grades and be done wit it. Regardless of what was chosen, all students would still receive credit for their courses. This, at least, was a relief.
I spent my last few days there, packing and spending as much time as possible with my friends (pictured above) whom I knew I would not see for at least several months. The friends that you make in college become like family; it was tough to say goodbye.
As hard as it was, though, I am thankful in the end for the consideration that administration and staff of Berea have for their students
We truly received the best treatment possible given the circumstances. We were given financial assistance for traveling home, our professors offered to work with us any way that they could to ensure our success in the rest of the course, and at the end of the day, the health of our campus was made the top priority. I am proud to be a Berea College student, a place that I am cared about this much.