Parents of the Class of 2019

[bjscheel]

Good news, they reversed the $100 charge. I had noticed that her Americorps award had a duplicate entry in between the dining charge and the bill. They said that messed them up and mistakenly enrolled her in the payment plan. Yay! But now I know to check before the 15th of each month to avoid any problems.

That would have been some expensive Chick-fil-A!

 

[Eureka]

Due to an increase of positive COVID tests on campus, they have issued new restrictions for at least the next week. All classes online (DS normally has one in person this semester) and only students who work in residence life or dining services can report to work. So, no job for him until they loosen restrictions again. Off campus people are “strongly encouraged” to not go out much, which he really only does for class/work/food so that’s not too different. Kids in residence halls can only go out for food or outside in the immediate areas of their dorm for fresh air. Sounds like no fun at all.

DS had said last week he was thinking about coming home for a weekend soon but maybe now is not the time. He had a Covid test earlier in the week (normal testing; he’s not sick) and told us a few months ago to assume he’s always testing neg unless he tells us otherwise. But I think that test will be too old to be sure he’s ok if he wants to come home next weekend. I’m so tired of all this.

 

[design_mom]

Ugh. Sorry Eureka, that doesn't sound like fun at all.

DS's campus is doing something similar with the dorms. If they detect a "cluster" then that dorm/floor is put on a "remain-in-room" plan. Must do classes online, food delivered from dining halls, only allowed to go outdoors briefly for fresh air. It sounded miserable, but thankfully my son's dorm hasn't been impacted so far.

 

[Eureka]

Ugh. Sorry Eureka, that doesn't sound like fun at all.

DS's campus is doing something similar with the dorms. If they detect a "cluster" then that dorm/floor is put on a "remain-in-room" plan. Must do classes online, food delivered from dining halls, only allowed to go outdoors briefly for fresh air. It sounded miserable, but thankfully my son's dorm hasn't been impacted so far.

I keep hoping by the time DS17 goes to college in the fall, it can be different. Because he will be in a dorm, no matter where he decides to go. DS20 has a little more freedom since he lives off campus. Funny to think this time last year I was trying to convince him to live in the dorms for another year, to not jump into so much “real life” (as much as you can call it that, with Mom and Dad paying for rent and food, lol) with living in a house/cooking etc. so soon. I know at age 19-20 I was not ready for it full time. Anyway, I ended up being really glad this is the direction he went as the world changed.

 

[mom2rtk]

Due to an increase of positive COVID tests on campus, they have issued new restrictions for at least the next week. All classes online (DS normally has one in person this semester) and only students who work in residence life or dining services can report to work. So, no job for him until they loosen restrictions again. Off campus people are “strongly encouraged” to not go out much, which he really only does for class/work/food so that’s not too different. Kids in residence halls can only go out for food or outside in the immediate areas of their dorm for fresh air. Sounds like no fun at all.

DS had said last week he was thinking about coming home for a weekend soon but maybe now is not the time. He had a Covid test earlier in the week (normal testing; he’s not sick) and told us a few months ago to assume he’s always testing neg unless he tells us otherwise. But I think that test will be too old to be sure he’s ok if he wants to come home next weekend. I’m so tired of all this.

I'm so sorry. I'm sure that's particularly rough with cases going down everywhere else. Wonder what's up?

Are you willing to share a general area where he's in school?

 

[mom2rtk]

Oh, I hope they're able to fix that for you!


I have some 'sad-but-probably-the-right-decision' news to report: DS applied for a leave of absence, and is taking the rest of the semester off. He's just drowning emotionally. Between the pandemic and some other issues, school is just too much right now. He plans to get some needed (and previously postponed) surgery on his arm, and use the time to recover and regroup to go back in the fall, hoping things are more normal then. Wish us all luck!

I'm so sorry your son has hit a rough patch. Knowing to step aside for a moment and tend to himself is a good life skill though. Hopefully that comes with the side benefit of sitting out the last (?) bit of compromised college living conditions.

Hang in there and best of luck to him!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Hang in there and best of luck to him!

Thanks!

 

[Kae]

Just came back and read some replies on this Thread. DD is on campus works at a Hospital so has had both shots. I have to say I'm so thankful she is at a Purdue and for Mitch Daniels as the president. All her Labs are in person. She does live off campus with 1 roommate and a small bubble of friends. Random tested twice, 2 quarantines but all and all is doing great. Life lessons

 

[Eureka]

I'm so sorry. I'm sure that's particularly rough with cases going down everywhere else. Wonder what's up?

Are you willing to share a general area where he's in school?

He goes to the University of Maryland. He said today he’s heard that people on campus are just not using good judgment when it comes to being together. They had a snow day this week which is almost unheard of, and apparently there were a lot of parties. Which isn’t why the spike this week happened, but it may be why another spike could happen in the next couple of weeks. Overall in the state, cases are going down but the county the school is in is one of the largest and is particularly hard hit.

He said he thinks they’ll be keeping these tighter restrictions until spring break, which is a few weeks away, at which point they’ll have all online classes for two weeks after that too. Poor kid is never going to get back to his job. It’s not a ton of hours and he doesn’t need it for survival, but I know he likes earning money.

 

[design_mom]

He said he thinks they’ll be keeping these tighter restrictions until spring break, which is a few weeks away, at which point they’ll have all online classes for two weeks after that too. Poor kid is never going to get back to his job. It’s not a ton of hours and he doesn’t need it for survival, but I know he likes earning money.

DS's school canceled spring break. Instead they get 5 individual "wellness days" spread throughout the semester. There are no classes on Wellness days. Their first one was last Wednesday, but DS said it was a joke. He said that professors just made assignments that would have been due at 11:59pm Wednesday due at 12:01am Thursday instead. Or if it was a Mon/Wed/Fri class, there was no assignment for Wednesday, but there are two due on Friday. He really wishes they'd just have ended the semester a week early instead. (But, in good news, he got to sleep late that day because there was no actual class.)

I'm sorry he can't do his job while the restrictions are on. I know my kids wouldn't like that either.

 

[mom2rtk]

He goes to the University of Maryland. He said today he’s heard that people on campus are just not using good judgment when it comes to being together. They had a snow day this week which is almost unheard of, and apparently there were a lot of parties. Which isn’t why the spike this week happened, but it may be why another spike could happen in the next couple of weeks. Overall in the state, cases are going down but the county the school is in is one of the largest and is particularly hard hit.

He said he thinks they’ll be keeping these tighter restrictions until spring break, which is a few weeks away, at which point they’ll have all online classes for two weeks after that too. Poor kid is never going to get back to his job. It’s not a ton of hours and he doesn’t need it for survival, but I know he likes earning money.

That's rough. I'm not a fan of punishing the group for the actions of a few. But I don't have the right answer either. I'm sure he's just happy he lives off campus. That helps a bit. Being cooped up in a shared dorm room would be the WORST in this situation.

 

[Eureka]

That's rough. I'm not a fan of punishing the group for the actions of a few. But I don't have the right answer either. I'm sure he's just happy he lives off campus. That helps a bit. Being cooped up in a shared dorm room would be the WORST in this situation.

All the dorm doubles are housing only one kid this year but I was more concerned about how many people share a bathroom. And you can’t mask up to brush teeth or shower. But yes, he’s happy to live with his four friends/housemates. It’s cute, he’ll say things like “family dinner” and “family movie night” when referring to things they all five do together.

 

[soccerdad72]

Bumping this up for a quick update - son's roommate came back to school a week or so ago. But he apparently walked in the room, stared at my son for a few minutes and when he realized the kid was staring at him, finally asked him what's up. Roommate told him he was talking to housing the next day and was planning on moving out. A couple days later, he had moved out, over to one of the dorms to live the rest of the semester with a friend of his. Son is thrilled - he now has a double room to himself, so he's moved around some furniture, expanded his desk to use both, etc.

Classes are still mostly online, although the school has started opening a little more, so him and his suitemates have done more working out at the gym. Heck, the other day they somehow managed to play disc golf in the snow, so at least they're getting out more. He's hoping to go snowboarding sometime soon.

Still on the search for his fall co-op - he said he's put out about 25-30 resumes so far, but probably needs double that amount to land one or two offers.

 

[mjkacmom]

He goes to the University of Maryland. He said today he’s heard that people on campus are just not using good judgment when it comes to being together. They had a snow day this week which is almost unheard of, and apparently there were a lot of parties. Which isn’t why the spike this week happened, but it may be why another spike could happen in the next couple of weeks. Overall in the state, cases are going down but the county the school is in is one of the largest and is particularly hard hit.

He said he thinks they’ll be keeping these tighter restrictions until spring break, which is a few weeks away, at which point they’ll have all online classes for two weeks after that too. Poor kid is never going to get back to his job. It’s not a ton of hours and he doesn’t need it for survival, but I know he likes earning money.

UD just did the same, closed dining halls, using hotels for isolation because the quarantine dorms are full (my 18 year old was just accepted into scholars at UMD but merit hoo low, since she hadn’t seem most colleges she was accepted at she is cutting by financials).

 

[bjscheel]

DS's school canceled spring break. Instead they get 5 individual "wellness days" spread throughout the semester.

DD's spring break days are moved to the last week of April- so they stop classes the Friday before, go home and have a week off before online finals. But she does have next Monday off- the only day off the whole semester. So she is going to visit her summer job because they want to meet her.

She has joined a service club that kind of works like a sorority but isn't. They have a form of pledging/rush/big sister. So she's happy to sort of get that experience and meet some new girls but for the low price of $40/semester.

She's hoping to find a senior year roommate in the group because her current one is graduating a year early and landlord would like to know this October if she's renewing! I told her he probably doesn't HAVE to know in the fall. But also my advice would be to just renew and get someone to come in with her because it's one of the nicest apartments around.

 

[Eureka]

They llifted the increased restrictions after one week because numbers went back down. DS came home last weekend as a surprise for an early birthday celebration for me, (hitting a milestone that I have not been looking forward too, lol). We had a great weekend, ate a lot of good food and now he’s back to his normal routine working a few mornings a week for a few hours and having the one class in person and the rest online. Spring break is in a couple weeks and after that, another two weeks of online only. I am so tired of it all. He’s been applying for summer internships and I wonder how many will still be virtual or how many won’t happen because of funding. I don’t remember if I mentioned they signed the lease for another year and he has/we pay for the house all summer, so depending on what he ends up doing for a job, may stay there during the week and come home on weekends. Especially if he gets a research job on campus.

 

[mjkacmom]

They llifted the increased restrictions after one week because numbers went back down. DS came home last weekend as a surprise for an early birthday celebration for me, (hitting a milestone that I have not been looking forward too, lol). We had a great weekend, ate a lot of good food and now he’s back to his normal routine working a few mornings a week for a few hours and having the one class in person and the rest online. Spring break is in a couple weeks and after that, another two weeks of online only. I am so tired of it all. He’s been applying for summer internships and I wonder how many will still be virtual or how many won’t happen because of funding. I don’t remember if I mentioned they signed the lease for another year and he has/we pay for the house all summer, so depending on what he ends up doing for a job, may stay there during the week and come home on weekends. Especially if he gets a research job on campus.

That’s a plus of renting, they have more choices. My daughter will spend her summer in whatever state she can get employment. She just joined a gym because the one on campus has capacity limits/appointments, she goes every day religiously. It’s walking distance from her townhouse and there is one 12 away from us. She spent a long winter break going to several local gyms with friends’ guests passes, free 7 day passes, and a little sneaking in. She would rotate and try not to be recognized . She used all of our emails.

 

[Colleen27]

It is nice to hear so many of your kids are settling back into some form of campus life and/or at least some in person classes. It gives me hope for fall.

DD is back in her apartment in SF, though she didn't go back until the middle of last month so this time she's only gone for three months. And she's back to work, so she's stalking the vaccination sites in the area for an available appointment since food workers qualify out there.

She's applied to a few internships but the ones on her "dream" list are looking like they'll still be disrupted this year - one is a non-profit research organization that can't operate the programs that provide their financial support and wouldn't be able to arrange the usual internship housing, a couple are at nature centers or outdoor attractions that might not be open or might be running at limited capacity, and the last is a national park whose operations are likely to be effected by ongoing travel restrictions on tribal lands - and she's leaning toward taking the summer off rather than branching out to look for less-exciting internships/ones that wouldn't be as much in her field. And as a mom, I'm torn on whether this is a moment when I should be pushing her to do more or whether to take the same flexible/supportive position I'm taking with DD12 in navigating all this craziness, but so far I'm stepping back and letting her decide. I think what she really wants, if she can't have a "good" internship, is to come to Alaska with DD12 and I and spend another summer wandering the great outdoors like we did when we moved her in to school.

On the bright side, she is going to be an RA again in the fall (hopefully for real this time!) which covers basically all of the costs we've been paying and guarantees her a single room. She is really looking forward to being back in the dorms, much to her LLC advisor's relief - he lost the male RA for the program because after a year off campus, the boy decided he really doesn't want to go back to a dorm.

 

[bjscheel]

I think what she really wants, if she can't have a "good" internship, is to come to Alaska with DD12 and I and spend another summer wandering the great outdoors like we did when we moved her in to school.

Umm, who wouldn't want to do that?

What is her major? Some of the possibilities you mentioned sound like stuff my DD would be looking for (her is Parks & Rec).

 

[Colleen27]

Umm, who wouldn't want to do that?

What is her major? Some of the possibilities you mentioned sound like stuff my DD would be looking for (her is Parks & Rec).

Biology, with a concentration in ecology/conservation. So interpretive internships at state and national parks are really appealing to her, especially since the research internships she's interested in either require junior standing or want to see some experience in field work that she won't have until her junior year classes.

Two of the internships on her short list are actually in Alaska, which is part of how the idea of going up there this year came up, but the probability of no summer cruise season led one to cancel already and the other is looking for local applicants only at this point with a decision still pending about the internships that would usually include housing. But the idea of seeing the Inside Passage without the cruise crowds is too good a chance for me to pass up, so our plans only solidified as the internships got more questionable.