FGCU officials plan for in-person classes in August

FGCU officials are already looking forward to next school year by planning for students to head back to in-person classes. This while, they say, students will continue following COVID-19 protocols.

An empty campus during the pandemic didn’t exactly provide FGCU students with the typical college experience.

Leah Lurie is a freshman at FGCU. “It feels very quiet. It’ll be nice to be less quiet,” she said.

Most of her classes have been online. Because of the pandemic, FGCU offered 50% of its classes online this semester.

“You can’t turn to the person next to you and ask questions it’s all online. But you know I’ve adjusted fine. I’m not the biggest fan of it but you know,” Lurie said.

With COVID-19 cases trending downward and COVID-19 vaccines expected to be widely available by this summer, FGCU officials are already planning on fall semester to look the way it did before the pandemic. this means most classes and activities will be held in-person.

Olivia Roth is a sophomore. “I’m a very visual learner and its nice to have a teacher that can actually talk to you in person rather than having to wait for emails,” said Roth.

With more people on campus, Roth hopes that will translate to more enforcement of safety measures.

“Making sure students wear the masks especially indoors like even in dining areas if they’re not eating because I see a lot of people go into dining areas just to take off their masks and talk,” Roth said.

While this might not have been the ideal freshman year for Lurie, at least she’ll have a story to tell. “I’m going to have to tell people about it in the future. And it’s going to be like wow that was weird,” Lurie.

University President Mike Martin says that any decision that is made will be based on the health and safety of everyone on campus.

FGCU’s semester schedule will be released in the coming weeks.