Do you remember where you were one year ago when you received the email that classes would be moved online for two weeks?
“I was at practice and everyone was also sharing the same feeling of surprise,” said senior Ryan Corbett. “It felt like everything was ripped away from our season and in just a couple of days most of us would be at home.”
On March 9, 2020, the Sacred Heart University Coronavirus Planning Team sent out an email that stated, “while there are no known or suspected cases of coronavirus on campus, we are taking the following steps out of an abundance of caution in response to the rapidly changing global health situation.”
Those steps included suspending classes for March 10 in order to prepare to move to a schedule of online classes from March 11 to March 29, with the exceptions of online learning being clinical placements and labs. Effective immediately, all major on-campus events through March 29 were to be canceled.
“When I got the email about going online for two weeks, I had just come back to campus from spring break,” said sophomore Madison Mancha. “I remember I was in class that day and I kept hearing rumors that we were going to be sent home, but I truly did not believe it until I saw the email for myself.”
Many students said they were hopeful that life would resume as normal after the two weeks of online learning were over.
“I initially thought we were just going online for a few weeks and then everything was going to go back to normal. I didn’t realize we were going to be shut down for the rest of the semester,’’ said senior Alexa Caputi. “I really thought I was still going to be able to study abroad in Dingle for two weeks in May and that everything would be fine by then.”
Similar to Caputi, senior Megan Mango did not expect two weeks to turn into a year of online learning.
“Honestly, at first I thought it was going to be ‘fun’ to have an extra two weeks of spring break,” said Mango.
Some students said that they never imagined things to turn out the way they did.
“When I first found out that classes would be moved online because of COVID last year, I was very shocked,” said Corbett. “Everything happened so fast, and I feel like we didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone.”
On the other hand, some students said they had a feeling that the outcome was not going to be a favorable one.
“I actually predicted we were not going to come back to school, so I stayed home waiting for the email because I’m from NYC and everything was going into full lockdown so I literally was just waiting for it to happen,” said senior Alessandra Leone.
Some students said that reality started to sink in when residential students began to move out.
“At that moment, I knew that we were being sent home for the rest of the semester and I can honestly say that was the worst news a freshman could hear because I was not able to experience all the fun events that happen at the end of the semester,” said Mancha.
Although adjusting to a new way of life was difficult for many, some students said they were able to learn a lot from the changes and challenges that came with online learning.
“Looking back, I think the shutdown and taking classes online taught me to be flexible with change. I was never one to like change, so this process taught me a lot about being able to adapt to certain difficult situations,” said Caputi.
Some students said the adjustment to online learning taught them not to take things for granted.
“I learned a lot from the shutdown. Mostly to appreciate things more and that I missed in-person classes. I learned to become more organized with my online work and also picked up some new hobbies with extra time,” said Corbett. “In one year, I feel like we all adjusted in major ways.”
