STORIES
Four freshmen — Becca Howard, Daria Lundberg, Deja Howard, and Kayla Keller sit on a couch as they reminisce about what it was like to graduate in the middle of a pandemic.
It was about a year ago when the four girls were told to take an early spring break in March. Becca Howard, knew at the time that things were not normal, but she remained optimistic that she would be able to return...
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An Untraditional Ending
After an unexpected ending to high school, many members of the Class of 2024 felt like they were in a weird place. They knew that high school was over, but their next chapter did not seem real. For most of them, their first page of Spring Hill would be from their own bedrooms as they would attend Spring Hill’s orientation virtually...
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A Virtual Beginning
There are endless reasons why college can be intimidating for freshmen. There’s the fear of being far away from home, hard courses, and most of all, the fear of not belonging. One of the fastest ways for new students to feel accepted on campus is by establishing a community and for a few freshmen like Lily Mascari and Kristen Mitternight, being a part of Spring Hill College sport’s teams...
An instant community
While some found an instant community on Spring Hill’s campus through the upperclassmen, others had more difficulty meeting people and making friends. Natalie Justice, a freshman from Louisville, Kentucky, describes what the first semester felt like for her as she entered a campus not knowing a soul.
“One of the hardest things about last fall was making friends,” said Justice, “my Badger Connection guides had told me that I’d meet a lot of people by going to events...
First semester fever dream
One thing that the pandemic established as a “new normal” this past year was online learning. While offering online learning was one of the reasons that Spring Hill could allow students to return safely to the Hill, the freshmen students expressed their struggles with the new learning format.
“The hardest thing about coming to college was having to learn in a virtual format,” said Darbi Broadus. Broadus said that she had not...
VIRTUAL LEARNING: LOW MORALE & ENDLESS TASKS
Eric Williams and Trahan John met the second day they were on campus. The two were walking from one informational session to the next when a typical Mobile downpour prevented them from making it to their next one.
“It started pouring and everyone was sprinting because they didn’t want to miss the next session,” said Williams. “People were going crazy...
Meeting new people: a freshman challenge
For the first half of fall semester, Spring Hill College’s cafeteria would remove its tables and chairs. The high-ceiling space would appear ten times larger than it normally did because of its missing students. Meals would be served on styrofoam plates, and students were asked to grab their food and go back to their dorms to eat.
“I didn’t realize how important the cafeteria was to Spring Hill until it opened up later first semester,” said Meara Tolley a freshman from Chicago, Illinois. “Once they allowed...
The barter student center cafeteria: shc's saving grace
Students arrived on Spring Hill’s campus on August 17, and within less than a month the school reported that there were 56 active cases and 87 students in isolation.
Vivi Milian, a freshman from Miami, Florida described the first month as “scary.” When the outbreak happened, Milian recalls that events started to get canceled, and people started to be placed into quarantine. “I was quarantined for having been in contact with someone and then the day before I got out, my whole friend group tested positive,” said Milian. This meant that after spending two weeks in isolation, she would go without...
Positive cases & close contacts
When second semester rolled around and COVID restrictions began to be lifted, Spring Hill College decided to allow for fraternity and sorority recruitment.
Michelle Ly, a commuter from Gulf Shores, decided to sign up for recruitment. Ly shared that the reason she chose to rush was because she wanted to meet more people. “College during Covid made it really hard to find friends because most just went to class and their dorms,” said Ly. Since Ly is a commuter, the lack of social events on campus in combination with virtual learning, made it hard to be on campus. She mentioned that since joining sorority life, she has been able to establish ties to Spring Hill and also be connected with upperclassmen...