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.
Trusting someone enough to put your life in their hands can be difficult. It’s even harder when you’ve only met them on Zoom.
For education majors, student teaching their senior year is expected. When elementary, middle and high schools across the country have to alter their methods of teaching because of the pandemic, student teachers have to adapt as well.
This week, we bring you three stories of mishaps, mistakes and other such shenanigans that students have experienced during online classes.
Imagine if, one day, the students of Miami University woke up to find an email from President Crawford saying that Miami would be closing after 211 years of being an active university. No more Miami classes. No more Miami professors. No more Miami organizations. No more Miami, period. This is the fate that Urbana University, located in Urbana, Ohio, was met with this year.
Everyone knows that the first day of class is the most boring one. You hear about the syllabus, attendance policies and when office hours are. But imagine logging onto Canvas and hitting play on your first video lecture to see your professor … in a dinosaur costume?
With a quiet campus and mandates against large gatherings, Miami’s community looks very different this fall. Many of the university’s clubs have found unique ways to keep their members motivated and participating even with changing regulations.
Greek life at Miami revolves around a sense of family between the brothers and sisters of the organization. That connection is now being challenged by the limitations on gathering and face-to-face contact.
Densely-packed bars, dance floors sticky from spilled drinks, streets crowded with jubilant Miamians — all hallmarks of a typical weekend in Oxford. And up until a few months ago, seen week in and week out. Now, nearly six months after Oxford’s bar scene shut down, it’s coming back to life.
Many upperclassmen are returning to Oxford for the fall semester, but with them come some lingering concerns about the price of online learning and anxiety about student health and safety.
Last fall semester, Miami University professors stood at the front of a classroom, leading discussions, fielding questions and presenting lectures in person. This fall semester, that scene looks quite different due to a sudden change in plans: online classes for the first five weeks.
Twin XL sheets? Check. Shower caddy? Shower shoes? Check. Dorm decorations? Check. Move-in date? Postponed.
Zoom calls and livestreams on Instagram and Facebook have become part of most people’s daily routines, taking the place of lectures, meetings, special events and even workout sessions.
If you’re like me, you hate to admit you spend the majority of your day lying in bed and scrolling through all your social media in a never-ending cycle. It’s embarrassing, but you feel a sense of comfort because you remember it’s become the norm with many other students while you continue to check your friends' Snapchat stories. I mean, how else are you going to keep up with everyone while maintaining social distancing?
Junior Sarah Pankratz, a psychology major on the pre-med track, started writing letters to her friends during quarantine. She picked up the habit when she worked at a summer camp and couldn’t use her phone often. She wanted to communicate with her friends without always being on her phone.
“Live every moment to the fullest and take advantage of every opportunity to spend time with your friends because before you know it, the four years will fly by and/or could come to an early end.” – Morgan Tillery, Class of 2020
In this time of isolation and self quarantine, couples are finding themselves thrust into some unpredictable circumstances. From long-distance dating to moving in together, these Miamians are each striving to make their relationships work in the age of coronavirus.