Like many colleges, Seton Hill University ended in person classes this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Setonian has contacted individuals from various classes to showcase student reactions to how SHU responded to the pandemic.
“Overall, I felt like the transition was pretty smooth from regular classes to online classes. I think it was very beneficial to use the canvas conference to be able to at least see our professor and hear from other classmates during our courses. In fact, I think it would be beneficial to implement that in other online classes that way students can have more interaction with their professors online. Most professors handled the online courses well; however, I found it difficult to do group projects online. In the future, if we have to move to online courses, I would suggest partner work versus large group projects because not all students communicate as well as they need to in the online format, so it made the projects more difficult online.” -Mellisa Bingey, Class of 2020
“I think the earliest decision that allowed people to go home while we thought we were continuing online, only to come back a few days later was not the best. I was mostly concerned because it allowed for the possibility for people to go home to their families and towns and bring the virus back to the rest of campus. It should have been an all or nothing situation. Given that everyone was confused and the school had hundreds of people to think of, I understand why it was done that way and thankfully, there was not a large outbreak on campus. Otherwise, I think the school did a wonderful job with the transition to online school as well as their work and efforts in keeping all of us in touch with a sense of community even though we have to be apart.”-Mazie Smith, Class of 2023
“I think given all the stress and pressure from different schools closing, they reacted in the best way they could given how unescorted the pandemic was. That said, I think it might have been nice to be informed a little more about what thoughts there were in regard to what the future might look like for classes and next semester. I also think with regard to professors, lecturing and edits to how classes ran online should have been better enforced. There was way too much work being assigned and not enough professors taking lecturing and classes seriously.” -Josey Jackson, Class of 2021
“I think they responded in a very timely manner. It was a little harder because we had just come back from our spring break but Residence Life worked very hard to keep everyone safe. I do think I didn’t have as much interaction with my professors as I would have liked, and as a graduating senior that was difficult to deal with. I am also hoping they can get a rescheduled graduation figured out! Obviously, this was a new challenge for everyone and they did their best to work in the interest of the most people. I really don’t think they physically could have done everything different.” -Sarah Como, Class of 2020
“Honestly, I think Seton Hill did the best they could. While they appeared to stay on top of it, when we were still on campus all I remember is being scared and feeling like the university wasn’t responding quickly enough or giving any answers or comfort to the stress students were feeling. If anything they were adding onto the stress. I’m not sure what they could’ve done more because it’s not like there was a perfect response to this in terms of colleges. They tried and they did the best they could but I wish that I felt safer and more comforted when still on campus.” -Maureen Diggory, Class of 2023
If you have a response on how SHU handled the coronavirus pandemic that you want to share, feel free to contact the Setonian (setonian@gmail.com) or leave a comment on this article.
Published by Caitlin Srager