From the outside, Maple Street Commons looks just like it has in previous years. One step inside the front door, however, and that notion is quickly dispelled. In order to comply with COVID-19 protocols and ensure students stay safe when getting their grub, Miami’s dining halls look drastically different than they have in previous years.
The verdant grounds and broad walkways of Miami are no longer desolate when the clock reads 11:40 a.m. or 1:15 p.m. However, the ever-present issue of COVID-19 and the fact that some students opted to stay remote for the semester have led to some interesting changes in how professors are conducting classes this fall.
In the hallways of their dorms, students pass each other in their masks. They try to smile, to make a friend, but are unable to tell who they are passing. The girl from 204? Someone down the hall? They ask themselves one question: Can I make friends and stay safe?
The week before classes start each fall, around 250 students dot the football field at Yager Stadium, each on a specific mark. Practicing morning to night, they create a wall of sound that fills campus. Once school starts, they are the life of football games and beacons of school spirit. This year, the stadium is silent.
Last March, musical theatre group Stage Left and improv comedy group Sketched Out accidentally scheduled their performances in the same room at the same time. The groups were able to work it out, but the incident showed how different performing arts groups were disconnected from one another.
Online classes to online activities to online events. With this being the life of a college student for the past six months, many were excited to branch out and do something outside of a computer screen. On Sept. 24, Miami Activities & Programming (MAP) hosted its first face-to-face event of the semester, “Plant Your Roots,” where free succulent plants were available for students to pick up near the Armstrong Student Center.
Farmers markets have a long history of providing fresh food, art and a center for communities to come together. The Oxford farmers market is no different, bringing the community together for decades, a tradition that has continued despite challenges faced during a pandemic.
“I get off task more often, but this is because I simply have more free time, and it lets me get off task,” Jakubowycz said. “I feel like I’ve been doing overall worse but not so drastically worse so I’m falling apart.”
As I walk up the long stretch of stairs to the Recreation Center (Rec), a staff member in a red t-shirt sprays and wipes the railings. Inside, there is caution tape where water fountains used to be. Almost every machine is being used and students on benches stay inside a barrier of yellow tape. Some students walk to the next area with a rag and spray bottle in hand. Surprisingly, it is not a complete ghost town.
The usually full social calendars for the members of the Miami Greek community are virtually empty with pandemic safety precautions limiting gatherings of more than 10 people. With coronavirus continually changing our social world as we know it, Miami Greeks are trying to find as much normalcy as they can during these unprecedented times. Instead of the normal mass gatherings for chapter, weekly chapter meetings are now conducted virtually through a screen.
These past two weeks have proven to be quite eventful for Miami University. Underclassmen began to move into dorms Sept. 14, and simultaneously, the viral video of a police officer confronting a student having a house party while positive for COVID-19 made headlines from news sources ranging from TMZ to The Washington Post.
To all the freshmen who just moved to campus: welcome. Though it’s an odd semester for all of us, you’ve arrived at a nice time — basically missing the sticky, humid, end-of-summer sunshine — and instead greeting lower temperatures and the promise of fall foliage.
The first few weeks of college in your first year are hard. They are even harder for the Class of 2024. But, as always, we eventually find comfort, connection or familiarity somewhere. Look out for stories about first-year 'shock' from a few of our newest writers.
Before Aug. 18, I thought it would be impossible to get lost on the first day of class — just one more essential college experience the Class of 2024 will never get. I was wrong.
The class that Lisa Martin-Stuart teaches, THE 151 — Stage Makeup, is just one of many studio art classes that has had to adjust to online learning. Being in a tactile career field like theatre has proved to present many difficulties during this virtual era of learning. Despite that, Martin-Stuart said there have been some surprising positives that came out of hosting the stage makeup class online, such as extra application and research time.
Miami’s equestrian team may be nationally recognized, but it’s easy to forget about the animals that make it all possible.
With her Release Radar playlist bumping on Spotify, Kayley Harris pulls her brand-new Honda Civic into the McDonald’s drive-thru. When she gets to the window, the employee recognizes her and smiles. Back in her car, she turns the music up, and the cycle continues. A DoorDasher’s work is never done.
Driver and trash collector Jody Kieffer has gone to work at four in the morning and picked up the waste from both Miami students and Oxford residents for the past 20 years. In a normal year, most of the trash in Oxford comes from the various businesses lining the streets of uptown. This year is different.
At the beginning of each school year, Miami Activities & Programming (MAP) always welcomes students back to campus with a slew of exciting events. This year, however, the student-run organization had to take a different approach. Between the COVID-19 pandemic and Miami choosing to start the semester totally online, MAP had to turn their movie nights, escape rooms and bake-offs into virtual events.
As Miami shifted online, each department faced unique problems stemming from the transition. Information Technology (IT) services were at the center of it all. Throughout a typical year, IT’s role is crucial, but as students moved away from campus, IT’s impact was even more important to Miami’s success online.