COVID-19 protocols lifted at Penn State
For the first time since March 16, 2020, Penn State has finally returned to a campus without COVID-19 restrictions, after only 24 remaining students have tested positive. Penn State students discuss their opinions and memories of education during the pandemic and how they look forward to returning to the campus without any COVID-19 protocols.
Sydney Tyler is a fourth year at Penn State, who will be majoring in finance at the end of this Spring semester.
“As much as I feel like complaining about COVID, there’s a lot of things that I probably took for granted. I met some of my best friends during the pandemic, and living in a constant lockdown really forced a stronger bond between us,” Tyler said.
Andrew Indictor is also a fourth year at Penn State, and his least favorite part about COVID was not being able to hit the gym, and not being able to keep himself in better shape. Indictor stands only at 5 feet, 7 inches at 165 pounds, but his personal best bench press is at a staggering 240 pounds.
“I remember during my freshman and sophomore year, I would always bring a gym bag with me to class and everyday I’d go to the I.M. Building for a lift afterwards, and I loved that it became a regular routine for me,” Indictor paused. “Before COVID ruined all of that.”
Indictor also was one of several students that said they had experienced some kind of struggle in their inability to keep in shape, Indictor said how he had gained 15 pounds over the entire pandemic, luckily he has now returned to his previous state, and he can still move 240 pounds on the bench with ease.
Indictor has since returned to his previous routine, and you can find him nearly every day hitting the gym at the I.M. building in east campus.
“I’m just happy to be back in the gym again with no capacity restrictions, and it’s good to be back in tip top shape again,” Indictor said.
Jeffrey Fichter is a second year at Penn State, currently studying business at Penn State and he also noticed how he gained a few inches around his waist during COVID-19. “Yeah, I really started to notice when my girlfriend started noticing and poking fun at me,” Fichter said.
Fichter’s girlfriend Chloe Covis, a second year at Penn State said “all of a sudden he was gaining weight, and I thought it was funny, but like what could he really do during these lockdowns?”
“I think me and Chloe are simply looking forward to a normal college experience because we’ve yet to really see that. At least our final two years will be this normal; I feel bad for the upperclassmen because they’ll never get that experience again,” Fichter said.
Vince Gatti, a fourth year and biology major, and came to University park in 2020. Gatti, unfortunately, will never have a normal University Park experience during his tenure at Penn State.
Gatti had spent his first two years at Penn State Brandywine campus, a campus with only 1500 students and came to University Park during his third year in 2020. Unfortunately, he took his fall semester off in 2020 and began his first semester on campus in the spring.
Gatti’s only real experience of campus without COVID-19 has been only a few months. “I think it was vital that we had these protocols, not only to protect students, but professors and staff as well. It’s just upsetting that I never really got the full university experience and I’ll never get the chance at that again in my life,” Gatti said.
But not all students shared the same negative experience as Gatti has during the pandemic.
Some students were able to find beneficial aspects of COVID-19
Danny Meyer is a fourth year at Penn State studying business.
“As much as I hated lockdown and turning 21 when you couldn’t go to the bar, I feel like online classes kind of saved my college career. I truly thought I was going to have to change my major, but moving to online really saved my grades,” Meyer said.
Mayer said how having the online experience and learning from home helped him find loopholes in his education.
“You could call it cheating, but every teacher had their test and quizzes online, most of them with a generous time limit, so I think of it more as like taking a positive advantage of a negative situation,” Meyer said.
Megan Straley is a student within her third year majoring in education, and like Meyer, she also took advantage of online learning.
“Even though I still wish COVID never happened, my GPA skyrocketed. I think it has to do with the anxiety I experience with tests and quizzes in the classroom setting, but I’m just glad to at least have gotten something good out of the pandemic,” Straley said.
Students are now looking forward to the end of the pandemic
Even for the students that found something beneficial to come from COVID-19, they can all agree that they look forward to returning to on-campus learning, even if it means a few bad grades.
Kayla Prag is a fourth year at Penn State and currently serves as the president of Lion Scouts, a voluntary touring group at Penn State. Prag has said how since the end of COVID-19 restrictions, they have been experience a positive increase in the number of tours that the scouts are having.
“We’ve been experiencing more tours than we’ve had in the past two years. We used to have to operate using Zoom where about 200 parents and students watch as our scouts walk around campus, so it’s definitely a relief to be able to operate in person again,” Prag said.
“As much I loved getting good grades, I can’t wait to go back to how it was my freshman year. I miss meeting people in class, and it seems simple, but I miss seeing campus packed with students. Maybe it’s just nostalgia,” Straley said.
“I’m so bored of learning from Zoom; I just feel like I haven’t learned anything from online learning. I’m more of a hands on learner, and I really only get that from being in the classroom,” Indictor said.
Whether students found anything beneficial during COVID-19 and learning through Zoom, one thing is for sure: Penn State students are looking forward to the type of classroom setting that they once knew.
