MISSOULA — Students were back on the University of Montana campus on Monday for the first time since before Thanksgiving.
It’s been nearly two months since the last day of class of the fall semester for students at UM and the overwhelming sentiment of the students we checked in with is that they are ready to get back to it.
“I think, you know, a lot of us are super-excited. I’m super-stoked for spring to be able to get back into class. I got a couple in person this year," junior Tanner Leone said.
“I’m super-excited just because the break was so long," freshman Mariah Nortz added.
Freshman Bella Spencer says the start of her second semester is feeling like her first day of college. Last semester, all of her classes were on-line. This year, she’s getting a true taste of campus life,
“I can meet new people, get that one-on-one with my professors like I didn’t last semester, it was more like emailing them. Now, I can talk to them face-to-face.”
Leone hopes students are taking UM's COVID-19 protocols to heart to help keep themselves and other around them healthy, as he sees advantages of being in the classroom.
“You know that in-class learning means so much especially nowadays, you know being able to talk to professors, being able to ask questions in class, you know meet some more students in the class," Leone told MTN News.
Nortz says she thinks UM has done a great job of communicating their expectations over the last several months, and she feels confident moving into this semester where she is also starting with almost every class being held in-person.
“I do feel really safe because they did have people checking up on us like R.A.s doing rounds just to make sure we are being safe and wearing masks, and they are giving us opportunities to meet new people just with the protocols of masks and social distancing.”
The students we talked with say they do hope they are able to stay in the classroom the entire semester.
However, if they do have to make that adjustment to online during the pandemic, they are more than equipped to do so.
