WELCOME BACK: As Students Return for the Fall, Campus Vibrancy Follows
As students converged on NJIT for the first day of the fall semester, they acknowledged the changes wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, chief among them, of course, mask-wearing. Nevertheless, they relished the chance to resume classes and reconnect with friends.
“It feels different but I appreciate it all because, at the end of the day, the goal is to just stay healthy,” said Emmanuel Odekunle, a biology major and student in the Albert Dorman Honors College. The challenge, he added, is to stay focused amid the necessary changes. Or as he put it, to “make sure that I don’t relent, that I push forward.”
In his welcoming message, President Joel S. Bloom described the new semester as one “unlike any we have previously experienced.” Signs of that were evident across campus, with an outside table offering hand sanitizer, distanced spots to stand on in elevators and fewer students in each classroom. Still, the mood was relaxed and friendly.
Seated atop a low wall by the grass outside the Campus Center was Rachel Schlesinger, a junior double majoring in science, technology and society and theatre. After finishing a bite of breakfast and restoring her black NJIT mask, she said she looked forward to a class on artificial intelligence and the human mind. She’ll also be busy outside the classroom this fall, working in the theatre department and as a resident assistant in Redwood Hall. And while the new world order is “very strange,” she added, “I think everyone is making do.”
I love this place. I love our family
Nearby, students sat in twos and threes at round tables under white tents, while music played and peers walked by. It looked sparse compared to a typical first day of school but definitely safe and preferable to being sequestered at home.
“We want to stay on campus and we don’t want to be sent home,” said Katrina Nguyen-DeMary, a biology major and soccer player. “So, we’re all just like doing what we can to not make that happen.” Added Yasmeen Malik, her friend and teammate: “To just be around my teammates again — even with all the precautions we’re taking — it’s nice.”
Professors, for their part, discussed the myriad steps they’ve taken to ensure safe learning during a pandemic. Boris Khusid, a professor in the Otto H. York Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, pulled a bag of extra masks for students out of his backback, and Frank Biocca, chair of the Department of Informatics, noted the extra spacing in classrooms — just one sign of the months of preparation that led to Day One.
All that effort gives Serena Branson, director of administration at Ying Wu College of Computing, confidence that NJIT is responding well to the circumstances. Branson, who’s beginning her 18th year at the school, added, “I love this place. I love our family.”
And while converged learning is decidedly different, NJIT remains focused on its core missions. “While these past months have been difficult and the months ahead are not easily predicted, NJIT continues to move forward, to serve its students, to strengthen its community, and to innovate in ways that improve the quality of life for many,” Bloom said. “I can assure you that, even during this uncertain time, that will not change.
