Getting Back to “Normal”

From left to right: Jonathan Briick, Karina Chhatwani, Ali Marquess, Sam Tinaglia, and Xingxing Wu

On March 5, with no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the local community, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign—which had been sharing information about the coronavirus regularly with the campus community since the beginning of the spring semester—was continuing business as usual. Less than a week later, a decision had been made to migrate courses to online delivery in order to facilitate the social distancing that limited transmission of the virus. As Spring Break approached, students still had the option of returning to campus to complete their online classes. By the end of the break, however, the statewide stay-at-home order had been issued and most students were faced with completing their classes at home.

AHS students Jonathan Briick, Karina Chhatwani, Ali Marquess, Sam Tinaglia, and Xingxing Wu all did so successfully. There were positives and negatives to the experience, they say, and while most are looking forward to returning to campus in August, they also have some reservations.

Making lemonade
Jonathan Briick, who will complete his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Physical Education Teacher Licensure in the fall of 2021, had completed most of his classes online before transferring into the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was comfortable with the format. He was unable to continue his student teaching experience at Mahomet High School as well as working with cadavers in his anatomy and physiology lab course, but felt that overall, the spring semester was his best so far. He’s looking forward to returning to campus. “When I was a kid, it was a dream to attend the University of Illinois but it was not possible,” he said. “Since I am here now, I want to be on campus as much as possible.” Still, he thinks the widespread fear of the coronavirus is going to have a detrimental impact on classes and labs, and he’s not looking forward to wearing a mask every day. He also believes the large number of people on campus will make it difficult to contain the virus. As an active duty member of the U.S. Marine Corps, Jonathan has had multiple deployments and assignments. The stay-at-home order gave him the most time with his wife and two children than he’s ever had. “Once I graduate, I will go right back into the cycle of military schools, field operations, and deployments,” he said. “I feel this time has been great for me as a father and husband and has strengthened the family unit. We took lemons and made lemonade.”

Looking forward to structure
Karina Chhatwani is going into her senior year in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. She thinks her professors did a great job of transitioning to zoom classes and pre-recorded lectures, but she sometimes found it challenging to focus amid the distractions of being at home. “It took self-discipline and finding a quiet area where no one would disturb me,” she said. Another frustration was getting questions answered. “On campus, we can simply raise our hands or walk into office hours,” she said. “Last semester, it took time for professors to respond to emails.” Karina is excited to return to campus. It will be a new experience, she believes, but she is looking forward to having a stricter schedule. She also has an internship lined up for the fall with a local healthcare clinic. At the same time, she is concerned about the changes that will be taking place on campus, including different class structures and whether people will follow social distancing and other safety protocols.

Greatest challenge is uncertainty
Ali Marquess will complete her Doctor of Audiology degree in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science in 2022. As a student in a field that requires practical experience, she missed the interactive experience typically offered by lab-based classes and clinical work. “We all were pulled from the external placements that provide us with the most hands-on learning in our program, and it has been very difficult transitioning to online simulators, which just are not as good as the real thing,” she said. However, she found the weekly meetings with clinic supervisors and their discussions of complex case studies interesting and thought provoking. And even though everything worked out well, the uncertainty surrounding both the initial transition to online instruction and the format and proctoring of required qualifying exams created the most anxiety for her. Ali is not looking forward to returning to campus, and not just because she is nervous about being in close proximity to people again after several months of sheltering. She has only one class in the fall and would rather take it remotely and spend several days a week at an external placement site. That said, she will enjoy getting away from the distractions of home and having a work space in the AuD graduate student room again. “Also, just being able to see people in their offices and say hello—what a small thing to miss, but so huge when it’s gone,” she said.

Isolation was tough
Sam Tinaglia, who is going into his senior year in the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, found completing the spring semester at home “very difficult.” While he feels the professors did a great job of meeting students’ needs, his favorite part of RST classes is interacting with other students. “Not having that human interaction in a classroom or on campus on a daily basis was the toughest thing for me,” he said. It didn’t help that his scheduled summer internship with the Houston Astros was cancelled as well, but he said many RST students lost great internships to the pandemic. He felt fortunate to have found an opportunity to intern with the Illini RST Undergraduate Consulting Agency for the summer. “It has been an amazing program so far and I am looking forward to the rest of the summer,” he said. Sam also is looking forward to returning to campus for his senior year. He hopes Illini sports will return, but he wonders whether his marketing position with the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics will be there if fans aren’t allowed at sporting events. “With fans or without, it will just be good to get back to ‘normal,’” he said.

Missing the coffee shops
In general, said RST Ph.D. student Xingxing Wu, completing the spring semester online wasn’t as difficult as he thought it might be. “The most challenging aspect was that I missed the feeling of being in the classroom and communicating in person with my classmates,” he said. With an anticipated completion date of May 2021, he had already collected his data and is writing his dissertation, so his progress toward his degree was not significantly impacted, something for which he is grateful. “One negative impact of the pandemic was that I found it hard to work at home because I’m used to spending a lot of time writing or reading in coffee shops,” he said. “Working from home was not as efficient as I expected.” Xingxing believes in-person learning experiences are critical to students, and he’s happy the University will resume on-campus classes this fall. He’s looking forward to seeing his friends and advisor again, but he shares other students’ fears about people adhering to safety measures such as wearing masks and social distancing. He’s particularly concerned that social events at which students gather may threaten public health.