A new way of learning
students adjust to online learning, virtual graduation, and more By Emily Peterson The events of Spring 2020 had a major impact on Snow College’s students. Instead of returning to their classrooms after Spring Break, most did not return at all. However, the College was not completely vacated, and a small group of students remained on a very empty campus. Commencement, athletics, and other events that are usually part of the college experience were also cancelled. Throughout these changes, students stayed resilient and received support from faculty and staff.
G R A D U A T E
When Snow College administration strongly encouraged students to return home after Spring Break and stay there for the rest Graduates received t-shirts of the semester, most students in on-campus and other gifts in special housing did just that, said Nathan Beck, Resi- care packages that were dence Life coordinator of leadership. Beck was mailed to them. impressed at the students’ ability to adjust to a new situation: “Overall, considering how quickly things changed, the students handled things well. We are looking forward to students returning this fall and will have careful plans and processes in place to keep them healthy and safe during this pandemic.” However, not all students were able to go home, Beck stated. “The majority of our residents [who stayed on campus] had nowhere else to go. For example, many of our international students could not return to their home country due to some of the travel restrictions, or the only flights they were able to book were for several weeks later,” Agosh Bayramgeldiyev and Durli Hojayeva, both from Turkmenistan, were among approximately 100 students who remained on campus. “I was devastated when I heard that campus was going to close,” said Bayramgediyev. While Bayramgeldiyev missed socializing with his American and international friends who went home, he found ways to keep busy. “I was trying to spend my time being productive and started learning new languages like Italian and Portuguese. Learning new languages was preferred for my major and plus I had a lot of free time, so I decided ‘Why not?’” 2 0 2 0 | S N O W CO L L EG E M AG A Z I N E
Agosh Bayramgeldiyev, from Turkmenistan, used his extra time to learn new languages.
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