Things are Starting to go Back to Normal for College Students Thanks to the COVID-19 Vaccine.
This pandemic has caused hardship for people all across the globe. College students are some of the first ones to experience life changes, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a matter of days, college students were forced to pack up their dorm rooms and leave campus, with no clue on when they will be able to come back. Now, over a year later, college students hope to get back the time they lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of today, 103 million people are fully vaccinated. As a result, the CDC has changed their mask mandate to allow fully vaccinated people to no longer have to wear a mask in small outdoor gatherings. The city that was hit the worst by this pandemic, New York City, plans to be fully reopened by July 30th.
These new changes in policy have not only allowed for colleges and universities to plan to have fully in-person classes, but the return of concerts are now upon us. Two major American music festivals, Rolling Loud and Lollapalooza, have both announced that they will be returning this summer.
For college students who spent the last year following strict quarantine guidelines, this news comes with great excitement to them, especially after getting fully vaccinated. Arthur Rosenthal, a rising senior at Morehouse College, is one of those people. Rosenthal has secured an internship this summer in Miami, the same city as Rolling Loud. He mentions how it seemed like it was fate as Rolling Loud is scheduled to be only days after his 21st birthday. Rosenthal plans to go to all three days of the music festival.
“It’s been so long I think I forgot what being at a party actually feels like,” Rosenthal said. “The last time I’ve been to a party I believe had to be October of 2019.”
Rosenthal would not have imagined things getting better so soon as he thought the COVID-19 restrictions would last forever. Then, by seeing his fellow peers travel in the midst of everything, he believed it only made matters worse.
“I definitely miss being on campus,” Rosenthal said. “I really thought this was going to be our new norm. I’m still a little bit skeptic about hanging out in large crowds, but Morehouse requiring the vaccine is a good start to getting things under control.”
Rosenthal is referring to his college’s decision to fully reopen for the 2021–22 school year, along with Spelman and Clark Atlanta, for all fully vaccinated students and staff. This decision received criticism from some outside of the college, but overall it was meant with excitement as students will finally be able to return back to campus.
Other colleges in Atlanta, like Agnes Scott College, have made that decision as well. Madison Rowe, an rising junior at Agnes Scott, mentions how living on campus now before the vaccine was required by the school is not very fun at all.
“Ever since this COVID pandemic started, my level of social interaction has dropped to none,” Rowe said. “I live alone on campus, and share a bathroom with one other person. The only time I ever leave my room is to go get food, then I go back to eat it in my room alone.”
Rowe received her second Moderna shot just days ago. She hopes that next semester once everybody is vaccinated, things will start to look normal again on Agnes Scott’s campus. Now that Rowe is fully vaccinated, she plans to do some traveling of her own this summer.
“I planned a trip to Chicago, Austin, and Orlando,” Rowe said. “Before COVID, me and my mom travelled a lot, on average 3–4 times a year. I’m not yet comfortable traveling out of the country again, but this summer I plan to reconnect with friends I haven’t seen since all this COVID stuff started.”
The pandemic also allowed for some college students to try new things, like Colorado State rising senior Jennie Olivias. Olivias was forced to change her weekly routine of partying, and decided to start camping instead.
“During this pandemic, I went camping in Wyoming,” Olivias said. “We got to see wild buffalo, and that was really cool! I also just visited Yosemite National Park for our Spring break and completely loved it!”
Now, after being fully vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Olivias doesn’t want to give up camping entirely. Her goal is to try to incorporate camping wherever she may travel now as she is planning to travel to both L.A. and Atlanta this year.
The end of this COVID-19 pandemic will allow people to start to come back together again. All the things we once took for granted we will start to experience once again. COVID-19 is far from gone, and things may never be how it used to be. Even though college students can’t get the time they lost not being on campus, fully vaccinated college students can get to experience some of the things they lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Edited by Kennedy London
