New school year sees a campus more like that of 2019

Though the pandemic remains, a semblance of normalcy has returned to the McNichols campus. / VN photo by ADIA PALMER

BY RYAN RUTKOWSKI / VN STAFF WRITER

After over a year and a half of being hampered by lockdowns, Zoom calls and stress, Detroit Mercy’s campus is showing signs of life once again. 

With much of the university back in person for classes, students are enjoying the events and sense of community on campus.

“It’s a much more fun environment,” said computer science major Lorenzo Izzi. “Compared to last year, there are a lot more events and people to actually do things with.”

A lot has changed over the last year.

“I lived on campus last year during the winter semester,” Izzi said. “There were a lot fewer people then.”

More students on campus can also mean more work for resident advisors (RA) and other campus workers.

“There are way more people and it is definitely stressful,” said Destiny Proffett, who was an RA last year and is an RA in the East Quad. “But with more people comes more events and more times to interact with my residents.”

Living and being on campus is drastically different than last year. 

Whether because of workload or fewer pandemic limitations, there is a different atmosphere at Detroit Mercy. 

“You can tell that morale is up. Everyone is interacting and talking to each other again,” said Proffett.

It was difficult for residents to find things to do with restrictions last school year.

“You really didn’t see many people walking around or doing things,” said Izzi.

The changes extend further than just the atmosphere on campus, however. 

With in-person classes back, the dread of appearing in class has returned, too.

“It’s like we’re starting all over again,” said junior Noah Szymanski. “Being online and asynchronous is a lot different than having to go to class every day.”

Learning how to assimilate back into a day-to-day college has been challenging for students, especially with a new workload.

“I hope professors realize that we will be a lot busier this year,” said cybersecurity student Tyler Allis. “Our workload can’t be as intense this year.”

With classes every day and more activities and events on campus, time to work on assignments has decreased since last year.

“Some professors gave an increased workload, sometimes six assignments a day, with classes online,” said Proffett. “It was a lot and this year it might be hard to deal with it all.”

Nevertheless, most students appear to see returning to campus as a positive, having an opportunity to learn in better ways.

“I think being in person will be better all around,” said Izzi. “I’ll have more chances to talk to professors and work with others.”