Florida SouthWestern enters Phase 2 which allows students on campus for first time since March

Florida SouthWestern starts phase two on Monday and that means in-person enrollment services are available for the first time since the campus has been closed due to the pandemic.

For the first time since March, students are allowed back on campus to receive help with admissions, advisement and financial aid.

Students planning to go on campus must wear a face mask inside all buildings.

One of the concerns for returning is that some of the classrooms on campus weren’t built for spacing out and could make proper social distancing difficult, but that is something the school is still working on.

“Things are in constant motion as we figure out what college is going to look like in the fall. Buildings on our campus weren’t built in the last five years; they’re not these big collaborative spaces. They are older classrooms: older classrooms are meant to pack students in and now we’re having to work through all that,” said Greg Turchetta, executive director of the marketing and media department at FSW.

Turchetta says more than half of FSW’s professors wanted to offer in-person classes this fall, so the campus came up with a handful of different class formats: Your traditional face-to-face classes with consideration of social distancing, a mix of online and in-person classes and classes completely online with the option for live lectures and class time.

This flexibility is a welcome sight for students like Javia Melton.

“I came from an environment of being socially active, seeing people each and every day, getting in tune with my classes to basically only having so much in my control at an arm’s length away, you know? It took a lot to get used to,” Melton said.

The fall semester starts on Aug. 24. FSW says students should monitor their emails as they anticipate more class changes before then.