Freshman Todd Marshall talks about campus and COVID
Freshmen are entering college in a unique environment, and that includes students in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. The AHS communications staff spoke with new AHS students about campus life, why they decided to come to campus—or stay home—and how COVID-19 changed their expectations. Today, we speak with Todd Marshall, a Recreation, Sport and Tourism major with a concentration in sport.
Q: Are you on campus?
A: I do not live on campus, but I grew up in Champaign so I live at my house off campus.
Q: What made you decide to be on campus?
A: It was a cheaper option to stay home especially with classes being mostly online. Although I am still able to attend my in-person classes since I live close.
Q: What challenges have you found in navigating campus?
A: I’ve been on campus quite a lot and navigating is not very difficult to me.
Q: Have often are you in a classroom, as opposed to taking remote classes?
A: Two days a week I go to in-person classes, (but) only the Spring semester, though. I spend much more time on computer classes than in-person.
Q: What challenges are you discovering with remote classes?
A: Deadlines often conflict or get mixed up with each other. I have not had very many technology barriers, other than having to pay for services teachers use.
Q: Tell me what you think about the COVID testing process. Has it been easy to find a testing site?
A: I believe the university is doing a great job providing testing and access to students health history through the app. The U of I has taken this opportunity to actually demonstrate their innovation and commitment to student safety, and as a student that is very valuable.
Q: What are the differences between your high school remote learning experience, and here at Illinois?
A: Not much is different, other than more Zoom calls with university classes.
Q: What is the one thing you can’t wait to do when you get to campus?
A: Go to Kams (bar in Champaign).