COVID-19 has affected the world physically, emotionally or psychologically, taking its toll on many of the students right here at Georgia Southern watching their friends and family get sick.

“The hardest part was not seeing people,” said Emily Vonck, a PR major. “My family is independent and we’re used to connecting. We’re used to going to grab dinner or having movie nights with friends.” 

“My mom had to be hospitalized at one point,” said Esther Asare-Nkansah, a junior in computer science. “My mom works in healthcare and my brother is a freshman at GS, but last year, they both got COVID and it was really hard for me because I was here at school.” 

Some students believe COVID-19 has had a change in terms of their performance in class.

“I was hesitant at first, but I definitely want to be in person,” said Asare-Nkansah. “I chose to do certain classes face to face rather than online because I just feel that I would get more value being in the classroom.” 

 With cases spiking at the beginning of the semester, students had opinions on how the university handled the spike.

“I wish that the University System of Georgia would be a little more forceful with maybe some of the mask requirements,” said Dylan Yarbrough, a senior majoring in Communication Studies. 

Yarbrough praised his professors for handling class in a post COVID-19 world. 

“I think they’ve done it the best they can,” said Dylan Yarbrough. “I’ve seen some of them try to change the course content to be a little more flexible and they seem really interested in making sure we all still get a good education out of this, so they’re trying their best.” 

“I would hope the university stays the course and I would urge all my fellow students to get vaccinated,” said Asare-Nkansah. “I think that’s extremely important and taking the first step to reduce the number of cases that hospitals are seeing.”

Yarbrough believes that cases are likely to go up as the college enters the fall season.

“More people are spending more time inside and now we’ve got flu season,” said Yarbrough. “I would hope that coming towards the end of October and moving towards Christmas that we’ll see a decline. Maybe more people are going to start getting the shots after seeing how bad it’s getting. That’s my hope.”