2020 has been an excruciating year for everyone during the covid-19 pandemic. With the death toll reaching thousands around the country, it has sent communities into a state of shock, fearing for our lives, and change our lifestyles including daily routines outside of our homes. Nothing has been the same since the virus begun to take its toll back in March. Businesses, institutions, social life, and the workforce have been severely impacted, stemming from a shutdown in efforts to reduce the spread of the virus, until recently where steps have been taken to dispute these matters. For months, people have had to endure several hardships such as losing their jobs, not having access to many businesses, coping with the loss of their loved ones, and having to protect themselves from illness.

A significant blow that arose from these conflicts, was the wavering of college life and how universities operate. Kentucky State University is among the colleges that have decided to remain open by taking precaution to ensure students safety and offering alternatives for the fall semester. Although students have not been kept from getting their education, the things that compliment being a college student are nothing like they were before.

Fall sports and extracurricular events have been cancelled, and students are not only advised to wear facial coverings and social distance themselves in classroom settings, but they are in their dorms as well. This has been mandated by the commonwealth and eliminates much of the social interaction we enjoy. Cameron Beckley, a sophomore at KSU is already one of the students on campus that has had to quarantine for two weeks due to contracting Covid from his roommate.

He stated, “By being here, we are putting our health at risk, and we don’t even get to look forward to the cultural experiences and benefits of attending a HBCU. I look at it as a reward to enjoy for putting in all the hard work in the classroom, and now it has been taken away.” The experiences students could have been a part of have been ruined, and for some, the decision to even return to campus has been renounced.

Thanks to the conversion to partial/complete online instruction being offered for courses this semester, it has been a favorable choice for students because it eliminates the risk of having to be around peers and faculty that could potentially contract the virus and pass it on to others. This has also had negative outcomes. Students who are taking classes virtually are finding it hard to keep with their workload. Junior Maysha McFayden is one of the students that can attest to this problem.

“Some of the courses that are required for my major are difficult to understand and keep up with since it’s challenging for some professors to instruct certain classes online.”, said McFayden.

Indeed, it has been rough on the faculty that have been striving to smoothen the conversion for students as well. This situation has undoubtedly been a disaster that struck us by surprise and limited the things we can do, but we have to continue to work hard through a time of adversity, just as others are who have dealt with issues this pandemic has brought upon us.