Few will forget March 2020, when Knight Hall looked like a scene out of Contagion as COVID-19 potentially spread to this campus. I scrolled through Reddit, looking at pictures of workers in Hazmat suits sanitizing a classroom and wondered if I should pay for one-day shipping on a small Hazmat suit from Amazon in order to attend class.
A week earlier, Gov. Larry Hogan announced that “Marylanders should go to work or go to school just as they normally do,” even though the first known cases of COVID-19 were in Montgomery County. I suppose everything was fine.
Luckily, I soon received some direction from then-university President Wallace Loh. In fact, the COVID-19 guidance overall from the University of Maryland was so enlightening, I decided to turn them into inspirational quotes.
Maybe the hazmat suits were just a new trend for no legitimate reason at all? Of course, students could still gather in classrooms without masks, let alone hazmat suits. Forget about the fact that Towson University, Johns Hopkins University and Loyola University all canceled classes the week before spring break without any known cases on their campuses. This university decided to wait until the Thursday before break to cancel class Friday.
During spring break, the university confirmed more cases and kept their rigorous communication up with students:
Inspiring.
[Review: ‘Seaspiracy’ aims a jarring spotlight onto the commercial fishing industry]
And of course, we’ll never forget the wellness information students were given after the fourth case of COVID-19 affiliated with this university was announced:
Meditation and avoiding alcohol and drugs — the No. 1 way to combat COVID-19.
Over the summer, there were a lot of questions as to whether students would have in-person classes in the fall. This university’s response truly aided students in deciding whether to start finding housing and planning their semesters.
University officials broke their silence on the subject on July 8:
[Ariana Grande is at the top of her game. Why is she joining ‘The Voice’?]
The plan to mix in-person and online classes didn’t seem to make as much sense when cases spiked in the state of Maryland:
And even when those in-person classes began, they didn’t last all semester …
Finally, after a mighty push for this university to reinstate the pass/fail option offered last spring, this university’s administrators responded to student’s concerns of academic and emotional stress in an appropriate manner:
With so much uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important for students to feel that their needs are being responded to accordingly — and that they are being properly inspired. And as quarantine drags closer to its second summer, don’t forget to keep meditating and avoiding alcohol and drugs.
