When West Chester University decided to move the remaining nine weeks of the spring semester to online instruction at the start of March, some students thought it was an overreaction, writes Emily O’Brien for the Daily Local News.

No other university had yet done anything so drastic, as many students believed that COVID-19 wouldn’t turn out to be that bad.

“It’s the beginning of March, why would they make such an abrupt decision for the next three months when, by April, things will be normal again?” O’Brien recalled thinking. “I was incredibly naive, blissfully unaware of how much of an impact coronavirus would have on my life.”

Three weeks later, many have now accepted the situation for what it is, and all the disruptions it will cause to nearly every person on the planet. But despite their concerns, students are also trying to stay positive and look to the future.

The pandemic has brought people together more than ever before and once it’s done, O’Brien believes it will make society more empathetic and change it for the better, “a change we never knew we needed until we were forced to experience it.”

Read more about Emily O’Brien in the Daily Local News here.

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Top photo credit: West Chester University 2019NewStudentOrientation1 via photopin (license)