With the semester already 6 weeks in progress, students and faculty members are figuring out ways to deal with the start-stop dilemma with classes and assignments, and how to finish out the semester strong.

Students and faculty are having to adjust to the COVID-19 regulations the school is enforcing, which has caused significant changes in how students and faculty operate throughout the semester. The learning process looks a little different now, and with Hurricane Sally’s arrival, changes in class meetings and postponed assignments have students on edge. 

Junior Soccer player Hayden Franklin explained his thoughts on rescheduled/postponed assignments by saying, “So far this semester it has been a struggle, it’s definitely challenging to find when classes are getting canceled or having some assignments I planned to work on get moved, but I know that things will work out in the end.”

Hayden also pointed out that he isn’t worried about the syllabus changes because he trusts the professors’ judgments on “what is most important.”

Senior Will Kent gave his insight on how the hurricane and COVID affected him and his classes by explaining, “This semester feels weird to me for sure, classes have already been hectic to deal with, and throwing a hurricane on top of it really makes things difficult. Having basically a week off was fun, but it also puts me pushing assignments off till later that I could have done, which makes my weeks even more stressful. I am not really sure how the rest of the semester will play out, but I just hope next semester will be good enough for me to graduate.” 

Lastly, faculty members are dealing with the same amount of stress as students are with the COVID pandemic and hurricane aftermath. Assistant professor of graphic design, Rachael Hatley, talked about how she’s managing her class by stating, “Given that my classes are already conducted within a hybrid format allowed for flexibility for unexpected changes such as the hurricane. So this past week was basically the same as the others. I designed a flexible schedule in regard to the COVID situation, so my course is built on being able to go through certain changes.”

Rachael Hatley says that having these skills to be able to go online and communicate will help us in the future.