Due to an increase of instability on whether or not students were able to attend in-person classes consecutively, boarding students were especially hesitant to return to campus after winter break. West Virginia schools shifted from following the education Covid-19 map that updated every Saturday to the map that is updated daily. The uncertainty of whether or not we were able to attend in-person classes increased with the constant changes in the map.
Many boarders at Linsly decided to continue with their original plans and came back to campus after winter break. After being apart for so long, many boarding students missed their friends and the school environment. This factor overpowered the uncertainty of what the next day was going to be like. Specifically seeing that, as we all know being at home for a long period of time can make you antisocial and negatively impact your mental health.
Others decided to hold off until the infection percentage rate was consistently low enough to ensure that students did not have to go back and forth between in-person and online learning. This was a particularly popular decision among students that live farther away from campus, as they realized that if we did go online for a long period of time as we have in the past, they would essentially be “stuck.”
As of now there are about 51 students on campus and due to Ohio County’s consistently low infection rate, we are regaining a sense of normalcy in our community. Such activities include, sledding, trivia night, Nintendo switch competitions, streaming football games on the projector, and playing games in the student center. We are all excited to be back on campus and doing our best to be positive while staying negative.
