1-20-21

The Pitt News

T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | January 20, 2021 ­| Volume 111 | Issue 53

WELCOME BACK

Cover by Kaycee Orwig| Senior Staff Photographer

Students concerned about online learning, burnout during spring semester

Betul Tuncer Staff Writer

Adnaan Hasan has made the difficult decision to stay home this semester due to the coronavirus pandemic. He said even though he wants to attend in-person classes, he’s making this move to not only protect himself, but also his family.

“COVID definitely impacted my decision to stay off campus just because I didn’t want to put my family members at an unnecessary risk of COVID,” Hasan said.

As the spring semester begins, many students are preparing for classes and move-in while still feeling the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Even though classes started on Tuesday, students aren’t allowed to move in until late January or early February. Students shared their thoughts and concerns regarding housing, classes and other topics about the spring semester.

Some students, like Hasan, are concerned about their spring classes. Hasan said he felt like last semester’s online classes didn’t accommodate students’ needs and resulted in an overload of coursework amid the pandemic.

“I felt like online classes didn’t really accommodate the pandemic, even when the school said they would,” Hasan said.

“We seemed to be given more work with less breaks.”

Hasan also expressed worries about overworking and burnout from online classes. He said he hopes that the University can work to prevent students from experiencing another “draining” semester.

“Online school burnout is definitely real, and not much, if anything, is being done to limit it,” Hasan said. “I was relieved to get through one semester of online classes but the rigor of it was draining, so I hope they accommodate more for burnout this semester.”

Pitt will continue to use the Flex@Pitt model this semester, which may allow for some in-person classes, depending on the University’s operating posture. Pitt is currently in the middle Elevated Risk op-

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erating posture, which permits partial in-person instruction, housing with virus mitigations in place and gatherings capped at 25 people.

Since students have already experienced completely online classes, there’s hope from some that this semester might go smoother. Iman Ahmad, a sophomore biology major, said while the initial transition into online coursework was challenging, she thinks professors are more accustomed to online teaching and that this will lead to a smooth semester.

“I don’t fully know what to expect,

since she will live in on-campus housing, she wants to have at least a few in-person classes, specifically labs.

“I do want to have in-person classes, but only for labs because I feel like that’s something really hard to replicate through Zoom,” Gilbert said. “There’s only so much you can do as far as labs through a screen since it’s so hands-on.”

Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick said it is still too early to determine an exact number of students that will be on campus for the spring. Residents are grouped into one of four move-in dates — Jan. 29,

Thomas Yang senior staff photographer though I assume this semester will be similar to the fall semester,” Ahmad said.

“I hope that all professors are comfortable using online resources because that was an issue I faced last semester.”

Similarly, Muhammad Rajput, a firstyear biology major, said he has learned what to expect with work load and time management for online classes from the fall and hopes to use that experience to his benefit in the spring.

“The fall semester taught me that online schooling revolves a lot around self discipline, which I will use in my spring semester,” Rajput said.

Some students are hoping for the option of in-person classes, though. Amaya Gilbert, a first-year nursing major, said

Jan. 31, Feb. 3 or Feb. 5.

Students are also advised to shelter in place for at least seven days before moving in. Additionally, students will need to have a negative COVID-19 test before entering University housing in order to keep campus safe. Students need to register as soon as possible for a free test from Quest Diagnostics, which will be mailed to their homes and then taken on the first day of the shelter-in-place time.

Zwick added that the University is taking into account many factors in deciding how to bring students back to campus safely.

“We are carefully monitoring a number of factors, including case counts in the area and around the country follow-

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ing the holidays,” Zwick said. “All health and safety rules will remain in place, and student housing will continue to be dedensified as appropriate.”

Pitt added 16 new COVID-19 cases, composed of 14 students and two employees, between last Tuesday and Thursday, with 25 students currently in isolation.

Allegheny County Health Department and state health officials have continued to report soaring case numbers. According to hospital data compiled by The New York Times, around 89% of ICU beds in the Pittsburgh area are currently occupied, compared with 81% statewide and 79% nationally. UPMC Shadyside is at 104% capacity and has no ICU beds remaining.

But the option to take in-person classes on campus is not as readily available to all students, especially those who are choosing to stay home for the semester.

Hasan said he would only want to attend in-person classes himself once all students and staff on campus receive a vaccine in order for classes to be safe.

“I wouldn’t want in-person classes until a vaccine is out and safely administered to the masses,” Hasan said.

He added that even if in-person classes are offered, students who don’t have the option to physically attend might have less access to educational resources.

“If they have classes in person and not all students are able to join, I feel professors might show preference to in-person classes and online students would be at a disadvantage,” Hasan said.

While students are uncertain about the upcoming semester, there is still excitement for the beginning of a new year.

Rajput said he is optimistic for the spring and hopes that, with potential vaccinations and safety precautions in place, this semester will be much better than the fall.

“For the spring semester I feel pretty good,” Rajput said. “With vaccinations starting, 2021 looks much more hopeful and I would love in-person classes as long as they are safe.”

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Students travel overseas to see family after COVID-19 previously delayed travel Rashi Ranjan Staff Writer

Megan McCann had not seen her family for the last two years — her scheduled trip to Guam earlier in 2020 was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she was thrilled to have the chance to finally go back in early December.

“I’m so excited. This is what I’m grasping onto for dear life, to make it through the semester — it’s my hope of being able to go back home,” McCann, a junior communication science and disorders major, said.

With overseas trips to visit their families delayed, students were patiently waiting for a chance to fly back and enjoy their longer-than-usual winter Megan McCann, a junior communication science and disorders major, travelled to Guam to see her family for the first time in two years. breaks with friends and family. But Delo Kaycee Orwig senior staff photographer Blough, director of the Office of Inter-

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January 20, 2021

national Services, said travel restrictions and various quarantine policies could make coming back to Pittsburgh difficult as well.

“During this time especially, [we] are keeping track of travel bans that might be in place or things that people might face when they’re trying to come into the country, whether they’re immigrationrelated or COVID-related,” Blough said.

Guam’s quarantine policies require all individuals arriving in Guam to quarantine at a government facility, such as a hotel. McCann said even though that meant the policy would further delay her getting to see her family, she was “so ready.”

“Once you leave the airport, a government bus will take you [to a hotel],” McCann said. “It’s mandated by the government to stay in a hotel for two weeks, so I won’t be able to see my family until mid-December.”

But once McCann was in Guam, as long as her COVID-19 test halfway through her 14-day quarantine was negative, she could leave the governmentprovided hotel she was staying at with her twin sister and finish her quarantine at her family’s residence. McCann also commended the strictness of Guam’s policies.

“The National Guard was everywhere, making sure everyone was in order,” McCann said. “We had to quarantine for another seven days at home, and the government would check up on us every day to make sure we were in our homes. If we didn’t answer [their random phone calls], we would get a citation.”

Ghalia Malki underwent a similar quarantine process when she flew back home to Saudi Arabia for winter break.

A Saudi citizen, Malki was required to take a COVID-19 test within 48 hours of arrival. If negative, she could go home See Overseas on page 15

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Colm Slevin

Oakland businesses get creative to stay afloat amid pandemic

Staff Writer

Gidas Flowers has sold floral arrangements throughout Pittsburgh for more than 90 years, but owner Jason Gidas said the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened his livelihood.

In a normal year, Gidas sold flowers to more than 100 weddings. He only sold to 20 last year. This number is even bleaker, he said, because the weddings that did happen were in small venues or backyards rather than places like the Carnegie Museum or Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall.

“There's really not much you can be doing actively because obviously a lot of our business is wedding-event-based hotel business,” Gidas said. “There's no private events, there's no weddings."

And Gidas isn’t alone. Many stores in Oakland and across Pennsylvania closed temporarily in March and have adjusted to various social distancing restrictions throughout the summer and, most recently, with temporary mitigation restrictions during the holiday season.

More than 30 million small businesses across the country are struggling in what is typically their busiest quarter.

In response, businesses such as Gidas have transformed the way they do business and relied more heavily on online sales. Even though his store’s online sales have increased since the pandemic began, Gidas still isn’t getting the same revenue because of the massive loss in weekly sales from large customers such as hotels.

Other Oakland businesses have also shifted toward more online sales. The University-owned stores — the University Store on Fifth, Maggie and Stella’s and The Pitt Shop — closed their doors in March. When the stores physically opened during August and September, they started a number of new projects to draw in business while instituting COVID-19 mitigation measures and site-specific safety plans to keep customers and workers safe.

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Monica Rattigan, the executive director of stores and strategic initiatives, said University-owned businesses limited their in-store hours and closed for pickup and appointment-only shopping from Dec. 28 through Dec. 30.

They instead focused on online sales and, according to Rattigan, had a successful Black Friday that was “better than normal.”

According to University spokesperson Julie LaBar, trends from the National Association of College Stores show nationally that university-owned

stores also partnered with campus mailing services to deliver students’ orders directly to their residence halls. This partnership will continue in the spring semester.

“That was an indirect effort to make sure that students were able to get their course materials safely and conveniently,” Rattigan said. “So that's been received really well.”

Not every business has, or needed to, shift to online sales, though. Chas Bonasorte, who owns and operates the Pittsburgh Stop at the corner of Forbes

Chas Bonasorte, owner of The Pittsburgh Stop on the corner of Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard, stands in front of his apparel and merchandise stand.

Sarah Cutshall visual editor stores have seen increases in online sales. She said online sales at the University have grown to 24% of total sales fiscal year-to-date and are almost 2% ahead of planned sales through October based on expected reduced store occupancy and traffic.

One of the other initiatives to mitigate COVID-19 and increase sales is a pickup window outside the University Store on Fifth. From the window, students can also pick up orders from any other campus store.

Rattigan said the University-owned

Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard, said his business did better than ever last year.

Bonasorte attributes this success to students wanting to get out of their rooms and shop.

“Students are studying in Hillman to get out of their rooms,” Bonasorte said.

“So they walk by me and look around and grab something, so I think sales are up because there isn’t much else to do.”

Bonasorte said much of his sales comes from students shopping for game day attire and other University merchandise. He said even though students

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have been off campus for much of this basketball season, basketball isn’t typically a prime selling time for him.

“I don’t see basketball affecting sales that much,” Bonasorte said. “Their uniforms don’t really change, and basketball doesn’t bring many people in anyways.”

The University-owned stores also saw a similar flux based on when students were on campus versus off campus. Rattigan said when students returned to campus in the fall, in-person sales were higher than expected, but less than a typical year. Rattigan said she expects this same surge of sales when students return to campus for the spring semester.

“As the semester gets kicked off, things are a little slower in September and October,” Rattigan said. “That was a typical trend that we would have seen any other year as well, so it started at the Pitt Shop, in all the stores, really, at the beginning of August when everybody's moving in.”

Students can’t move into their dorms until at least the end of January, but Rattigan is still optimistic that Pitt’s stores will see a similar surge this semester.

Gidas is also hopeful that walk-in and online sales will help his business.

He said he doesn’t know what else his business can do to increase revenue during the pandemic.

“We've just been trying to hold our own,” Gidas said. “There isn't much you can be doing to actively sell more.”

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column

Leah Mensch

Shrink your COVID-19 pod

Opinions Editor

Pitt urged all students, both on and off campus, to stay home until further notice, rather than travel back to campus for the spring semester, in a Jan. 8 email. Since virus cases are soaring across the country once again, Pitt will instead notify students two weeks before they are permitted to move in.

Some off-campus students already have travel plans, and will probably keep them. Others might just want to get out of their parents’ house. Which is all to say, even with residence halls remaining closed, some students will return to campus. It’s also pretty safe to say that a majority of campus transmission happens in public spaces off-campus rather than within University housing — there was only one reported residence hall outbreak, located in Tower B. Pitt’s case numbers also started to soar following Halloween weekend, likely related to students attending parties.

I wrote in August about the impor-

tance of talking frankly with roommates about social distancing and ensuring that fellow pod members were being responsible and limiting their exposure.

Allegheny County reported 63 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Aug. 17, the day the column was published. Now, the county is reporting hundreds of cases a day, and hospitalizations are nearing an all-time high. United States COVID-19 cases are also at an all-time high, and with a new, more contagious variant, scientists are warning that the situation will become even worse in the coming months. Whether you’re returning to campus now or staying put for the time being, you should think seriously about shrinking your COVID-19 pod.

I think most of us got away with something risky last semester — having a 10-person Friendsgiving celebration, sleeping with a Tinder date, attending a party or just relaxing social distancing practices in general — by not communicating well with our established pod.

There’s just not space to do this any-

more. If someone did a few risky things last semester and didn’t get sick, that doesn’t mean the risk was OK or that they’re out of the woods. It essentially means that they were lucky.

Compared to other public state universities this past fall, Pitt fared fairly well in terms of case numbers. The University has reported more than 800 student cases, whereas Penn State, for example, reported more than 5,000.

I would argue, though, that the case numbers here were likely substantially higher than what Pitt reported, since aside from randomized surveillance testing, Pitt only tested individuals who were symptomatic or in contact with someone who was confirmed positive.

Students also had access to off-campus testing sites like CVS and other pop-up clinics in the Pittsburgh area, and those case numbers are only included in Pitt’s COVID-19 reports if the student chooses to report the case to the University.

While it’s true that Pitt’s lower numbers can partially be attributed to stu-

dents taking caution, it’s also likely that they were lower because Pitt, unlike other universities, didn’t start the semester with in-person classes, and the county transmission rate was relatively low when students returned to campus in August. As noted earlier, cases started to accelerate when Pitt began allowing in-person classes, and right after Halloween. Around this time, community cases were beginning to accelerate, too.

We never really saw if Pitt’s mitigation efforts were effective after the postHalloween spike, because students went home for break shortly after. But this is all to say, when COVID-19 is present in the community, it spreads like wildfire. And since then, the prevalence of the virus in Allegheny County has only increased. If you choose to return to campus, you are at a far greater risk of coming into contact with someone who is infected, and thus, becoming infected.

Talking to pod members about their COVID-19 activities — who exactly See Mensch on page 16

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column

How to get back into the swing of things Dalia Maeroff

Senior Staff Columnist Winter break this year was bittersweet. Students were finally given relief from a terrible fall semester. We were all exhausted, burnt out and stuck wherever we were, whether that was with family or our roommates or alone. Pitt has announced that students should not come back to campus until their new assigned move-in date, which can make it hard to get back into the swing of things with the new semester. Here’s how to make sure you’re ready for the upcoming semester.

Clean and organize your workspace I didn’t touch my desk for the entirety of winter break. Didn’t go near it, didn’t look at it, didn’t breathe in its direction.

It’s time to clear off the clutter and reorganize things so they work better than last semester. Maybe last semester you could never find your highlighters, or your notebooks were hard to reach. Put everything into places where they are easily accessible to make the beginning of the semester a little bit less frustrating and your workspace less cluttered and ready for, well, work.

Make sure you have everything you need This one is obvious. Make sure you have the materials you need to take notes. I prefer taking notes on paper, and I’m very specific about what pens and paper I like to use. Textbooks are also important, but wait until your professor says that you actually need them, and try and see if you can find free digital copies online. Buy textbooks used — they’re so much cheaper — or rent them.

Fix your sleep schedule I’ve been pretty good with this over break, and I’m proud of that. But I know that many people have been effectively nocturnal over the break. That’s not going to feel great when you have to wake up to go to your 9 a.m. lecture.

Adjust your sleep schedule slowly, by a half hour every night, to go to sleep

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and wake up earlier. Exercising during the day, avoiding caffeine, having a blue light filter on your devices and taking a melatonin supplement before you go to bed can help make the transition to a new sleep schedule easier.

Plan to wear real clothes for the first day of class — at least on your top half Remember when we used to care what we looked like and when we used to plan out our outfits for the first day of school? When we left the house wearing something other than sweatpants?

I’m not asking you to take off the sweat-

feelings of burnout, anxiety and exhaustion from the last semester. Reach out to the people you haven’t seen to provide support for both them and yourself as this semester starts.

Build a schedule for the day-to-day activities between Zoom classes Over winter break, I picked up habits and hobbies that I really don’t want to abandon once the semester starts. I have actually been picking up a camera again, practicing violin in the afternoon, reading often and doing wicked amounts of self care. If you have a 15-minute break between classes, use it to do a face mask,

Promiti Debi senior staff illustrator pants, but at least wear a shirt that you didn’t sleep in, fix your hair a bit and try to give this semester a chance. Not only do first impressions matter, but it will also boost your confidence in class.

Reconnect with human beings Some people were lucky enough to spend the break with their families, while others were alone in their apartments or spent the break with roommates. Regardless of who you spent it with, you likely had a small group of people whom you didn’t get to see over the break. The beginning of the semester will be hard, as it might drudge up

read a chapter of the book you’re reading or step outside for a moment. Making time in your weekly and daily schedule to do things for yourself will make a world of a difference in your quality of life during the semester.

School-adjacent activities Disclaimer — this is not a real term.

I made it up. After a long break of not even thinking about school, I forget entirely how to do everything schoolrelated, and I am not in the mood to just jump in right away to hit the books.

My solution is school-adjacent entertainment. Reading a book, watching

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a documentary that you find interesting, listening to podcasts and catching up on Duolingo are some things that I consider to be school-adjacent activities. Reading books you enjoy can help you adjust to soaking in information.

Watching documentaries or listening to podcasts are really no different from listening to Zoom lectures. These activities prime your brain for studying and paying attention in lectures without exhausting you and can help ease you into the semester.

Make a study playlist for the semester Or just a general playlist for the semester to help separate the semester from the break in your mind. I’m someone who listens to music almost every second of every day, and music can have a huge effect on productivity. Make a playlist or two or six of different genres for different moods, different times of day and different classes. Plus, music just makes things more fun. If music isn’t your thing, ambient noise is also great.

Put everything from your syllabi into a planner This is the bread and butter for your semester. After the fall semester, students tend to get lazy and skip this, but it is one of the most important things a student can do. Don’t skip it. Take all your syllabi, put down all assignments, essays, quizzes and exams in a planner, and that planner is your beginner’s guide for succeeding for the rest for the semester. With your planner in hand, you can power through the semester ahead.

Dalia Maeroff writes primarily about issues of psychology, education, culture and environmentalism. Write to her at DAM291@pitt.edu.

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column

Top 10 resolutions you can keep in quarantine Alex Dolinger

Senior Staff Columnist New year, same column. Last year, I wrote a wildly optimistic column about New Year’s resolutions that we all could “actually keep.” But if you look back at that column, you will notice that we haven’t been able to do a lot of those things — like petting sweet therapy dogs and blasting Celine Dion in a local bar — since March.

Oh, to be a silly little junior in college telling you to experience silly little Pittsburgh. I haven’t experienced anything but my silly little defective oven in a long time. While hope is most certainly on the horizon with the arrival of the coronavirus vaccine, I am done being foolish.

Thus, I have compiled some personal resolutions that will be applicable no matter what episode of “Black Mirror” we are living in. Whether we spend another year inching toward the everencroaching void or actually start interacting in public again, here are 10 ways I’m attempting to make 2021 a year to regret less than usual.

10. Read a book Personally, I have never had more spare time.

I’ve also never wasted it with such fervor. All day

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Promiti Debi senior staff illustrator long I sit on my phone and wish that I had something to entertain myself with besides lesbians fostering dogs on TikTok. I also lament all the

time that I don’t have time to read for fun anymore because I have so much reading to do for class, but we all know that I don’t read for class.

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There are all kinds of year-long challenges that involve reading several books per month, but I like to aim low, so I’m hoping to read at least one book this year. Literally any book. It will probably be “Twilight”, which sucks, but in the words of Selena Gomez, the heart wants what it wants.

9. Get organized Since we’re all going to be cooped up for at least a considerable amount of 2021, it’s time to make the coop a pleasant place to be. I don’t know about you, but there is a pile of receipts waiting for me on my desk when I eventually return to my apartment. They have no discernible purpose. I need to throw them away. I think everyone could benefit from some spring cleaning and reorganization, even if our “home offices” will become garbage heaps by mid-February. If our home offices just become our homes again, it will always be important to know where your checkbook is. I do not know where my checkbook is.

8. Schedule yourself Because nothing matters and every day is the same, I often find myself forgetting what day of See Dolinger on page 16

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Pitt Stages spring productions feature myths and childhood memories Charlie Taylor Culture Editor

Theatre arts faculty and students took us on roleplaying journeys and life-changing road trips after Pitt Stages moved online last semester. Audiences this spring will experience friendship, heartbreak and mythic adventures, once again from the comfort of their couch.

Pitt Stages’ spring lineup features two undergraduate-directed Student Labs and three faculty-directed Mainstage shows, starting in February. Students from all majors and backgrounds can submit auditions through the theatre arts department website through Jan. 21. These productions will stream online without a live audience due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, although directors are working on new ways to place the viewer in the action.

Annmarie Duggan, chair of the theatre arts department, said the fall semester “went as well as could be expected,” although producing virtual theater brought its challenges. She said Pitt Stages found it difficult to attract audiences to their online productions, and many directors this semester had to choose new plays, since not every play gives theater companies the right to produce the show online.

The first show of the spring semester, “Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties,” will stream Feb. 26 through Feb. 28. This show is directed by Julia Kreutzer as a Student Lab — a program that gives undergraduate students the opportunity to direct their own works. The play follows five vastly different women, all named Betty, who come together to produce a play based on Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Kreutzer, a junior double majoring in political science and English writing, is a senior staff columnist at The Pitt News.

Pitt Stages’ second Student Lab, “Carrie & Francine,” streams April 9 to 11 and follows the two titular characters as they navigate a tumultuous preteen friendship. Rebecca Hobart, the show’s director, said she chose the play for her Student Lab because of its depiction of young women.

“It's basically a complicated relationship about young girls,” Hobart, a junior theatre arts major, said. “The playwright, Ruby Rae Spiegel, is a really young woman. I was just looking through many, many collections of plays by young women, because I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

According to Hobart, she originally selected “Carrie & Francine” before she knew she would have to direct a virtual play. She said the play sometimes requires an inti-

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macy between the actors that she worried about achieving over Zoom, but she’s working through those issues with theatre arts faculty members.

“When I was asked if I still wanted to go forward with the play, I thought I was a little bit nervous about the intimate moments, but I have a great mentor [Kelly Trumbull] who is helping me through that,” Hobart said. “I have a really great scenic designer [Karen Gilmer] who is doing Zoom backgrounds.

So a lot of my initial worries, they're being culled in the process.”

Gilmer, a lecturer and costume designer in the theatre arts department, is directing the first Mainstage production of the season.

She said her love of science fiction drew her to “Spark,” a play that combines Greek myth with themes from novels like “The Hunger Games.” “‘Spark’ uses the myths of Prometheus and Pandora to write a play that pays homage to futuristic and dystopian young adult novels and movies,” Gilmer said. “This play looks at our dependence on technology and how the governing structures use this to keep society in the dark about the reality of truth.”

The play by Tom Arvetis imagines a future where humans live underground, governed by a cult-like organization that convinces its citizens that the surface is unsafe.

Prometheus and Pandora search for the truth “by breaking rules and challenging authority,” according to Gilmer.

“Spark” will stream March 12 to 21 and, depending on the University’s operational posture, could feature actors performing over Zoom or on a live stage. Gilmer said she’s taking a “hybrid approach” which will allow her to move to Zoom if necessary, while planning to safely set the stage for a live production.

“The difficulty of managing the safety and health guidelines also presents obstacles deciding what is the best way to stage using the bare minimum, no contact or backstage crew,” Gilmer said.

Like “Spark,” “Anon(ymous)” reinterprets a famous Greek myth. Framing Homer’s “Odyssey” as an immigrant story, the show follows a young refugee named Anon

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after he arrives in the United States and becomes separated from his mother, according to director Ricardo Vila-Roger.

Although it addresses serious subjects, Vila-Roger said the show also has moments of humor, and often crosses genres as it passes from intense to light-hearted moments.

“The Cyclops, for instance, is much more of a horror film. Sometimes it's more of a buddy flick,” he said. “Sometimes it's a thriller, sometimes it's a ghost story. That's one of the weird, quirky things about it, is it has a lot of different genres that it kind of tries to imitate.”

Vila-Roger also said he hopes to overcome the disconnect that comes with a Zoom production by finding a way to incorporate the viewer in the action of the play.

“One of the things we're talking about is making it much more of a point-of-view telling, so that the audience is actually the immigrant child, and that the lines are told through voiceover,” Vila-Roger said. “This is still in the very early conceptual phase. But part of what I envision is the audience feeling like they're in the story.”

Also in the works this spring is an original production from Cynthia Croot, an assistant professor and head of performance in the theatre arts department. “Appalachian Paris” — the show’s working title — will invite collaboration from the cast on the script and production of a walking tour through Oakland, according to the Pitt Stages website. Brian O’Neill, a former columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, coined the term “Paris of Appalachia” to describe Pittsburgh in his 2009 book on the City’s history.

Although streaming has allowed Pitt Stages to continue making content in the time of COVID-19, Vila-Roger noted that the theater community has debated whether online shows actually count as theater, if they have no in-person audience.

“I will leave that to other people to fight it out,” Vila-Roger said. “But the hard part is, how do you do these things when there's no interaction with the audience, and you're not in the same room, and it's not a communal experience?”

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Anna Ligorio

Pitt offers remote study abroad programs this spring

Senior Staff Writer This semester, Pitt students can explore the Himalaya Mountains or participate in a London internship while never stepping a foot outside their home.

Pitt’s Study Abroad Office decided not to offer any traditional study abroad or study away programs for the spring 2021 semester, instead offering certain programs remotely in place of cancelling them entirely. According to its website, these virtual programs give students the opportunity to gain valuable global experience without the need to travel.

Jeff Whitehead, the director of the Study Abroad Office, said he hopes that some of the programs implemented this semester will remain in the years to come.

“We’re trying to take what we like the most about the experiential pieces of study abroad, and pull them into a setting that is accessible to everyone,” Whitehead said. “We hope that some of this sticks, even when we do get back to traditional study abroad.”

Some of the remote programs include Pitt in LA, Pitt in the Himalayas and Pitt Global Virtual Internship. Dylan Ogilvie, a sophomore finance major, opted to apply this spring for Pitt Business’ Global Business Institute: Virtual Internship program.

“This program stuck out to me as a great opportunity to get some early internship experience as well as develop my global awareness,” Ogilvie said. “I’m hoping employers will see that I tried to make the best out of a bad situation during these crazy times.”

According to Whitehead, Pitt’s study abroad programs have always been popular. He said these new virtual programs will allow for more flexibility for students in the instance of another disruptive event like the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve always been a very popular study abroad school, so we don't expect that to go away,” Whitehead said. “We hope that our virtual offerings allow us

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to pivot quickly, so we don’t have to cancel on people like we did last year in case anything like this happens again.”

Study abroad programs this semester emphasize virtual internships, research and volunteering. According to Whitehead, these new remote programs will focus on experiential learning — such as internships, service learning and research — as opposed to traditional classroom settings.

“You can learn about Shakespeare the same way in Oakland than you can from England, so we’re not really doing that,” Whitehead said. “Instead, we’re honing in on the things that students really appreciate from the study abroad experience, which is experiential learning.”

Whitehead said he foresees a future in which students can use these remote programs to supplement their in-person experiences.

“You could envision a student experi-

ence where they have had a brick-andmortar, downtown internship, but then they decide that they want to continue their professional development and take a remote internship in London or Sydney after that as well,” Whitehead said.

Additionally, with multimedia, outside-the-classroom virtual experiences will supplement these programs in order to get a sense of the area’s cultural landscape. For Whitehead, these programs act as an augmentation, not a replacement for typical study abroad.

“If you are not able to travel in a traditional form of study abroad, you can still get a much deeper look at some of these cultures and places and get a sense of what they actually look like, how they function and get to know some of the people in a meaningful way,” he said.

Even though these programs are completely remote, Whitehead said they have had lots of student interest.

“We know that internships are popular as components of traditional study abroad, so we knew we would have a lot of interest,” Whitehead said. “We had more applications than we had slots available, so we have spent several months now trying to improve capacity across the board.”

These programs do not cost anything extra to Pitt students, but rather are included with normal tuition, according to Whitehead. And unlike traditional study abroad, there is no extra cost for travel or housing.

“We’re hoping that this can help level the playing field across the board so that students have full access to these programs to fully globalize their experiential learning,” Whitehead said.

According to Belkys Torres, executive director of global engagement at Pitt’s University Center for International See Remote on page 17

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The Pitt News Staff

Staff Picks: Our most anticipated movies of 2021

The film industry had a rough year in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic slowing or halting production, and companies pushing new releases to 2021. Luckily for us, that means 2021 is shaping up to be a year of sci-fi blockbusters, artistic masterpieces and whimsical animated flicks.

Dune // Diana Velasquez, Senior Staff Writer Everyone is familiar with “Star Wars,� Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and more recently “The Mandalorian,� but there’s more to the space-opera genre than the light and dark sides. “Dune,� a 1965 sci-fi book by Frank Herbert, is finally coming to the big screen — the horrible 1980s attempt notwithstanding — under the helm of “Blade Runner: 2049� director Denis Villeneuve.

TimothÊe Chalamet and Zendaya — a pair of Gen Z favorites — star with an ensemble cast featuring Oscar Issac, Jason Momoa, Stellan Skars-

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gĂĽrd, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem. “Duneâ€? tells the story of the House Atreides, a noble family of space in the far far future that gains control of the richest planet in the galaxy — the desert planet Arrakis, which produces a drug called “the spiceâ€? that aids in light-travel and life-extension. The Atreides heir, Paul (Chalamet), must navigate the deep-rooted history of the planet, its people and its politics while dealing with his house’s demise. It’s basically the epicness of “Star Warsâ€? and the political intrigue of “Game of Thronesâ€? combined, but with more desert and giant sand worms. For any sci-fi or fantasy fans who are up for something new, but still familiar, “Duneâ€? is the burgeoning franchise we’ve all been waiting for.

In the Heights // Sinead McDevitt, Senior Staff Writer Before “Hamilton,� Lin-Manuel Miranda created the musical “In The Heights,� which won the Tony for Best Musical in 2008. The musical is

now set to come to the silver screen in summer of 2021, and I could not be more excited. We first got the trailer in 2019, but the summer 2020 release date was pushed back a year. I am so ready for this.

I am not going to say “In The Heights� is better than “Hamilton� because I do not want to incur the wrath of theater kids everywhere, but it is still really good. It’s more of an ensemble piece than “Hamilton,� following the various people living in Washington Heights, a barrio in New York City. Also, the soundtrack slaps — especially the song “Paciencia Y Fe.�

Based on the trailer and the fact that it was directed by Jon M. Chu of “Crazy Rich Asians,� this looks like it’s going to be a film with a lot of color and fun movement, like “Hairspray� or “Mamma Mia.� Not to mention the film will feature Anthony Ramos, perhaps better known to “Hamilton� fans as John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, in the lead role. This film is shaping

up to be a real treat for musical fans, and I can’t wait to see it.

The French Dispatch // Nadiya Greaser, Staff Writer There isn’t an obvious stylistic similarity between author Nick Hornsby (“High Fidelity�) and director Wes Anderson (“The Grand Budapest Hotel,� “The Fantastic Mr. Fox�). Hornsby’s aesthetic is messy, a little hungover and too revealing. Anderson’s highly manicured, deeply artificial films are so instantly recognizable that there are Instagram accounts dedicated to realworld locations that replicate his sets.

But these two artists believe deeply, as Hornsby wrote in “High Fidelity,â€? that “what really matters is what you like, not what you are like ‌ books, records, films.â€? Anderson’s films are like shadow boxes of the things he loves — Austrian

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Former Panther Demetrius Thomas pursues Olympic aspirations

Alex Lehmbeck Sports Editor

After the final whistle blew, an exhausted Demetrius Thomas held up his arms victoriously, taking in the standing ovation of blue and gold around him. The 2020 ACC Wrestling Championships took place at the Petersen Events Center, a fitting location for the end of the Pitt senior’s collegiate career.

But Thomas didn’t know that it’d be the last time he stepped onto a mat representing the Panthers. He had just won the ACC Championship for the heavyweight division, his second conference title in a row, and was scheduled to compete in the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis just over a week later. He’d earned the No. 7 seed and would face Purdue’s Thomas Penola in the first round.

But the college career of Pitt’s decorated heavyweight came to an abrupt end just a few days after his bout at the Pete, when the NCAA canceled all 2020 winter and spring championships on March 12 in response to the rapidly growing COVID-19 pandemic.

“This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread the pandemic and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” the NCAA said at the time.

The news disappointed Thomas, mostly because it prevented him from the opportunity to “earn” All-American status. Unlike college sports such as football or basketball, where coaches and media members use their best judgment to select recipients, college wrestlers automatically receive the honor if they make it to the final eight competitors of their weight class in the NCAA Championships.

Because the pandemic cancelled the NCAA Championships, the National Wrestling Coaches Association selected the AllAmerican team based on athletes’ resumés up to that point. Although Thomas made the team, he didn’t feel that the award had

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the same authenticity with the new circumstances.

“I felt like it was a pat on the back more so than anything,” Thomas said. “In wrestling, it’s not really acceptable for a pat on the back. Nobody likes to be like, ‘Good job man.’ Either you won or you lost, and what are you gonna do about it to get better?”

With the season over, and the entire sports world on pause, Thomas temporarily moved out to Los Angeles with his girlfriend for the rest of his final academic semester. The two-and-a-half-month “vacation” gave him a chance to relax, but also caused changes to his fitness routine.

“It was rough because even being [in Pittsburgh], I didn’t have a gym,” Thomas said. “I did get a little heavy. I think that was the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life.”

See Thomas on page 18

January 20, 2021

13

Pitt women’s basketball makes strides, faces challenges during pandemic season Alexander Ganias Staff Writer

College basketball has returned for the 2020-21 season amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the debate on whether college athletes should play this winter, and several programs either postponing or cancelling their seasons, the Pitt women’s basketball team has already completed its rather short nonconference schedule and begun ACC play. The team has steadied itself into a 3-3 record.

In the three nonconference games the Panthers played, they went 2-1 with wins against the George Mason Patriots and the Hofstra Pride. Their ACC matchups resulted in one win out of three against Clemson.

The pandemic caused a slight delay to the season, with the Panthers opening against the Patriots on Nov. 25, just under three weeks after the date of last year’s season opener. And while starting the season the day before Thanksgiving seems stressful, head coach Lance White simply expressed gratitude that his team could play basketball again.

“A couple of weeks ago or a month ago, I didn't really believe that this day would happen,” White said after the game. “To be able to play against somebody else and for our kids to get out there and compete, I'm so excited and I'm really thankful to all the people that made today happen."

Pitt won that game 72-57, with help from sophomore guard Dayshanette Harris’ 11 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Jayla Everett led both teams in scoring with 18 points of her own.

Pitt’s defense stood tall aside from the fourth quarter, where George Mason outscored the Panthers 26-9, holding George Mason to just 20% shooting.

The win against Hofstra proved almost as easy to obtain as the George Mason victory. The Panther defense played this game much more evenly — allowing no more than 20 points in any quarter — but it was Everett’s 23 points that helped seal the 71-58 win. Harris also

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had another great game with 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Sophomore forward Amber Brown snagged eight boards of her own, along with two steals.

The fourth quarter of that game saw a similar attempt at a comeback by Hofstra, but the Pitt defense snuffed it out after a 6-0 Pride run. The first half scoring and the second half defense helped put the Panther team over the edge, which White credited to the team’s work ethic behind the scenes.

"We've shown glimpses of really good basketball," he said after the game. "As you can see our program moving forward, that for me is huge, as that we've worked tirelessly as coaches and assis-

Johnson scored 13 points off the bench to secure a 85-79 victory.

The ACC opener on Dec. 10 against Virginia Tech stung the most. Strong offensive outputs from Everett and Harris led to a 32-point first quarter for Pitt.

The Panthers led 48-40 after the first half, but that wouldn’t prove enough.

Pitt’s offense couldn’t get going after halftime, and the Hokies outscored the Panthers 48-23 in the second half — including 25-8 in the last frame — winning 88-71.

But the Panthers bounced back from that defeat with a statement win over the then-undefeated Clemson Tigers on Dec. 13. Down 40-29 after two quarters, Pitt turned up the heat in the second

ing every part of it,” White said. “Then our kids flipped a switch and that's what we've talked so much to this team about, about being able to do so in those moments and we did it today.”

The Panthers played one more game in 2020, a 67-53 defeat at the hands of the Florida State Seminoles on Dec. 20. Neither team cracked 20 points in any quarter, nor did any player reach that mark. Harris led Pitt with 18 points and senior guard Gabbie Green tacked on 11, but the Panthers turned the ball over 23 times, erasing any chance at a comeback.

Pitt would’ve played against Boston College on New Year’s Eve, followed by matchups against North Carolina, Louisville and a rematch with Clemson. But four scheduled games were postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test within the Panther roster, and the resulting contact tracing and quarantine. The announcement came just five minutes before the BC game would have started. Pitt paused all team activities for the foreseeable future in accordance with the ACC’s coronavirus protocols.

Pitt’s Valentine’s Day game against the Duke Blue Devils has been cancelled, after Duke surprisingly withdrew from the 2020-21 season. Pitt also postponed its next game with Notre Dame, so the earliest the Panthers can take the floor again is Jan. 21 against Miami.

Pitt has started well in some games but finished rather quietly. In others, Pitt paused all team activities in accordance with the ACC’s coronavirus protoit has started slowly but finished with cols and will not play again until at least Jan. 21. a burst. Some of Pitt’s late hot streaks Photo courtesy of Matthew Hawley pitt athletics couldn’t overcome the deficit, and the late cold spells cost it potential victories. tant coaches to put a better product on half, scoring 51 points, including 31 in This year will tell if the team can string the floor.” the final frame. Four Panthers ended up together some more consistent perforPitt’s next two games would not with double figures on the score sheet, mances. produce the same results, though. The and first-year forward Cynthia Ezeja Panthers completed their nonconfer- snagged 11 rebounds off the bench. ence schedule with a match against the Although the team’s first-half perforDelaware Blue Hens. Despite 20 points mance didn’t impress White, he said reby Everett and a double-double from bounding and effort made the difference sophomore center Rita Igbokwe, the in the second half. team could not catch the efficient Hens “I thought we were really flat and just offense. Senior Delaware guard Tee got out-rebounded and out-hustled dur-

January 20, 2021

14

Overseas, pg. 4 — if positive, she would be required to quarantine a full 14 days. Malki said the travel process “felt cleaner than it ever did before [the pandemic].”

“Officials were prepared and ready for any case. There were testing centers everywhere and information about everything [was] readily available,” Malki, a junior biological sciences major, said.

Malki said Saudi Arabia’s measures have, in part, allowed her to fully enjoy her break, and that it’s better than anything she saw back in Pittsburgh.

“My break has been amazing. I’ve been able to visit family that I haven’t seen in a year. There’s still the fear of the virus, but at least I know I will be taken care of should anything happen,” Malki said. “There’s the rigorous contact tracing and preparedness that brings back a sense of normalcy.”

Blough said her office is always encouraging students to think carefully about travel for many reasons, including safety and the COVID-related proclamations issued by the federal government. These proclamations prohibit individuals from coming back to the U.S. within 14 days of visiting a country on the CDC’s “prohibited” list. As of publication time, these countries include China, Iran, the European Schengen area, United Kingdom, Ireland and Brazil.

“There’s the risk the president might enact another proclamation,” Blough said. “The other thing the students are facing is embassies remain closed, so if you need a new visa, you better check ahead of time to make sure your embassy is available for business.”

As in previous years, the Office of International Services requires prior knowledge of scheduled international travel and provides travel signatures for students who may need it to come back to the United States, such as students on student visas.

Malki is planning on coming back to Pittsburgh before the start of the spring semester — she said the process is seamless through one of the many apps the

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Saudi government is using to monitor the virus and inform the population of testing centers, contact tracing and general information.

“The process before leaving is getting paperwork signed through one of the apps,” Malki said. “It’s in order to prove my leaving isn’t just for vacation but for necessity.”

Once Malki returns, she is planning to self-quarantine. Similarly, McCann will also return to Pittsburgh. She says it’ll be easier than travelling to Guam “for sure.”

“It’ll definitely be easier because Pittsburgh is not doing a governmentmandated quarantine,” McCann said.

“I’ll also quarantine inside of my apartment for two weeks.”

While both McCann and Malki are planning on coming back to Pitt, any student who chooses to take classes remotely can do so through Flex@Pitt.

Blough said students were participating in classes from “all over the world” in the fall semester.

“We had several hundred students, at least, studying from their home coun-

January 20, 2021

tries their last semester, so I anticipate that will continue into next semester,” Blough said. “As long as you can access your internet and get into those classes, you can take them from wherever you are.”

Though she’s sad about leaving Guam, McCann is looking forward to the new semester.

“I don’t want to go back. Being warm — I missed that,” McCann said. “But 2020 is over, and it’ll be a new start to the new year and the new semester, so I’m feeling positive.”

15

Dolinger, pg. 9 the week it is. Remember calendars? Mine is still set in July. A new semester is a great way to add structure to your life, even when there is minimal structure to be found. I spent winter break staying up until four in the morning and staring at the wall, so I’m resolving to do other things instead. By this time next year, I will probably be working in a school, so it’s time to channel the ferocity and grit it took to get up at 6 a.m. every day four years ago and start getting up at 10 a.m.

7. Go outside If you’re returning to Pittsburgh — and even if you’re not — it is very cold outside. And if you don’t have a dog or a job or a class to go to, you will probably be spending a lot of time in your apartment, dorm or childhood bedroom. Even if we are miraculously released back into the world anytime soon, we’ll probably still spend most of our time indoors. Being outside is good for your health, both mental and physical. A little bit of time outdoors is said to lift your mood and decrease your anxiety, and we live in a nightmare regardless of whether or not there’s a pandemic going on. So, I hope you’ll join me this year and spend a little more time outside, whether it be to take a little stroll or scream at the heavens.

6. Try something new Due to the absolute madness that was 2020, I’m sure I can speak for a lot of us when I say that relying on old comforts has kept me from going off the deep end. I’ve watched the entire Twilight saga more than I did when it was coming out, and my Spotify Wrapped informed me that I listened to Taylor Swift’s entire discography for hundreds of hours. I don’t think this is a bad thing, but I’m starting to remember that I am a 21-year-old adult who needs a little more spice in their life. This year, I’m hoping to find joy in new things, such as a different series about different vampires, or a female pop singer who I have not listened to yet.

5. Get healthy I am not here to shove diet culture propaganda down your throat, for I would like to leave the weight-loss talk in 2020. But I know a lot of us haven’t been going to the doctor since Promiti Debi senior staff illustrator the pandemic began, myself included. As the year unfolds and the health care system hopepg. 7 fully becomes less overwhelmed, we all need to start addressing all of the mild medical anomalies that have yet to be checked out. For instance, they’re seeing, how often they go shopI rolled my ankle on a run over the summer, ping, whether or not they go to the gym — can sometimes feel like interrogation, Find the full story online at but this is necessary. It might seem safe to hang out with someone who hangs with only three other people, but it’s likely those three people are each seeing three other people, and so on and so forth. You should assume that every time someone in your pod is exposed to another person, you are also exposed to that other person. So if you are in prolonged, close contact without a mask with someone outside your pod, you should behave as if you’re then in contact with everyone they’ve been in contact with. With the county reporting several hundred cases a day, the chances of infection seeping into your pod becomes drastically higher per each person you add.

Perhaps even more than mask-wearing and hand-washing, proper social distancing is really the most effective way to slow the spread of COVID-19. And really, there is no good way around it.

Some people choose to engage in risky behavior and then get tested for COVID-19, and while this is definitely better than nothing, it isn’t foolproof. If someone gets a test too soon after exposure, the virus might not be detectable in their body yet, and they might get a false negative. Most experts recommend waiting at least two days post-exposure before being tested — and by then, you’ll

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January 20, 2021

almost certainly be in the presence of your pod members. And even if you do wait the recommended period of time, test results are still subjective. There are a slew of COVID-19 tests currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and each has a different accuracy rate, which depends on different factors.

The FDA recently warned Los Angeles, a COVID-19 hotspot, that a particular test residents use might not be producing accurate results.

You should only be in a pod with people whom you are absolutely certain are behaving responsibly. Lay out what you see as responsible behavior. Have a conversation with your friends. If someone isn’t willing to take precautions in a way that makes you comfortable, shrink your pod. And no matter how responsible your pod members are, there’s always a chance of exposure. The fewer contacts you have, the better.

With vaccinations beginning in the United States, and a new, more competent president being sworn into office, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

But we’ve still got a long way to go before we’ll see any sort of normalcy. We have to keep each other safe until then, no matter how hard it is. We’re out of options at this point.

Leah writes about mental health, books and the spices of the world. Write to Leah at LEM140@pitt.edu.

16

Remote, pg. 11 Studies, input from Pitt students heavily influenced these programs.

“Because the student experience is the core of what we do, all of this has been informed by student input,” Torres said. “We spent a lot of time sending surveys and focus group sessions throughout last semester to be sure that we were listening to student feedback.”

For Torres, these programs are important for furthering the professional careers of students.

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“Students know that they are going to be much more competitive in the job market if they complete an internship in London than if they completed one in Pittsburgh,” Torres said. “Our objective is to provide those opportunities for students to become more competitive.”

Ogilvie said he was interested in studying abroad before the pandemic, and that it was one of the primary reasons he applied to Pitt in the first place.

“Part of the reason I applied to the University of Pittsburgh in the first place was because of its many study abroad opportunities,” Ogilvie said. “One of the

programs that I was really excited for before COVID-19 struck the world was the Plus3 Study Abroad Program.”

The Plus3 Study Abroad Program is a three- to four-week Maymester program designed for business and engineering students. Although Ogilvie was accepted into the program, the pandemic cut his plans short.

“I was fortunately accepted into the Plus3 Vietnam program and began taking prep classes during spring 2020 but was never able to go due to coronavirus,” Ogilvie said. “It still annoys me to this day that I wasn’t able to go.”

January 20, 2021

Although Ogilvie is interested in a virtual study abroad program this semester, he acknowledged that there are some clear limitations to the situation.

“The big disadvantage of doing this program is not actually studying abroad while doing the internship,” Ogilvie said. “I would love to immerse myself in new cultures, try new food, attempt to speak a new language or learn the history of an area, but unfortunately that’s not possible.”

17

Thomas, pg. 13 Thomas began to adopt new training methods, needing extra creativity to replicate his typical regimen. He started to lift anything he could find, including bags of mulch, and began using the Nike Training Club app for home workouts. He eventually returned to Pittsburgh to take on the next phase of his wrestling career — the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club.

The Pittsburgh Wrestling Club Regional Training Center is a private, nonprofit organization established in 2016 that aims

to push wrestlers to their Olympic and world goals. Pitt head coach Keith Gavin leads the training team, and it utilizes Pitt wrestling facilities. With only three athletes on its current roster, the organization looks for certain qualities in its athletes — qualities that have fueled Thomas to success since he transferred to Pitt from William Baptist University in Arkansas.

“I think it was pretty mutual,” Gavin said. “His work ethic and character, he was a guy we wanted to keep around in any fashion. He just really likes to compete. He felt like he had more wrestling to do.”

Thomas signed with the organization in

the summer, which pays him to train to further his own career, as well as help the collegiate wrestlers in the facility improve their craft. RTC doesn’t provide his food and housing, but his status as a college graduate allows him increased access to the wrestling facilities within the training center’s rules.

Since he began training with the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club, Thomas has quickly acclimated himself with his new environment. PWC athlete Nico Megaludis, a three-time All-American at Penn State from 2011-14, already knew Thomas from the PWC’s involvement with the Pitt program.

“Demetrius is a very humble dude who really cares about himself and others,” Megaludis said. “I remember at a match last year, afterwards he was playing violin with a kid in the stands.”

The Pittsburgh Wrestling Club has scheduled multiple matches since Thomas joined, primarily as fundraising exhibitions and opportunities for the wrestlers to stay tuned with elite competition. Thomas’ record has struggled in those matches, but Gavin attributes that mostly to an unfamiliarity with the rules and techniques of professional wrestling.

“He wrestles freestyle now,” Gavin said.

“When you get taken down, on the bottom, in freestyle it’s much different. That’s the biggest difference. He gives up points from that position. That’s probably the main focus right now, but that’s pretty common for somebody that’s new to that style.”

On top of learning new habits on the playing surface, Thomas has started to familiarize himself with some of the differences between a collegiate and professional lifestyle. Thomas said his current situation requires much more self-motivation and independence — creating his own schedules, reaching out to his coaches for help when needed and wrestling for individual success instead of a team goal. Still, he knows that his position demands success.

“Don’t get me wrong, my spot is now, even on the Regional Training Center team, is in jeopardy,” Thomas said. “If I don’t perform, they will fire me and I won’t have a job. But at the same time, I’m performing for, I guess you could say, my advantage or my personal goals now.”

Outside of his wrestling ambitions, Thomas draws motivation from his faith.

He said his connection to the Christian church has existed since his childhood, but started out more externally motivated with his parents making the decision for him to attend services. He began to find more interest internally in high school when he chose himself to go to church.

His journey took a significant leap at Pitt, participating in the Panther Fellowship, a bible study group of athletes that meets once a week. He experienced a defining moment in his religious perspective during his sophomore year while working for Kids Across America, a Christian sports camp in Thomas’ home state of Missouri.

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January 20, 2021

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