Eastern is wrapping up the first week of classes in the Spring 2021 semester and the university’s second semester on campus under COVID-19 regulations.

Some students are excited for the new semester, looking forward to graduating in May or just happy to have some sense of normalcy in having in-person classes while others are not as excited to have another semester plagued with COVID-19.

Either way students are taking on a new semester with new courses, classmates and challenges to face.

Skylar Redmond a senior geography major, said she is looking forward to two of her classes this semester, Sociology of Disasters and Geospatial Intelligence. Redmond says she thinks the professors for the courses will help make the courses easy to take.

Eli Ruter, a senior computer and information technology major, said he’s enjoying some classes but he feels some of his classes should be taught online instead of in person.

“My senior seminar was amazing because I have a good teacher but (my ethics class) was really boring,” Ruter said. “I only had two in-person and one online and so far they seem pretty spaced out with seating and fairly safe but still I believe that (the ethics class) should be a Skype class with the way it is taught as an intro and being in-person should not be required as it currently is because it puts students at risk for literally no reason because all she does is talk.”

Cooper Morrell, a freshman studio art major, said he doesn’t have a favorite class yet but he’s looking forward to making connections with professors.

“I don’t really have one right now, I’m just trying to live my life and if I make a really good connection with a teacher then I will know if he/she is my favorite teacher or the class,” Morrell said.

Morrell said he is hoping this semester is closer to a typical college experience than his first semester was.

“Don’t get me wrong last semester was great, but it didn’t seem like the college experience I wanted since there’s a pandemic going on right now,” Morrell said. “I hope this semester is better with in person classes instead of online, more school events if COVID goes down, and possibly no masks, but we can only hope for the best.”

Redmond said she recommends students get serious early in the semester.

“Study, write down all your due dates, and use the resources available. The student success center has helped me tremendously in the three years I’ve been here,” Redmond said. “Just have a good semester!”

Ruter said his goals for the semester are to not die from COVID, get straight A’s and to find a job for after graduation.

He said he thinks more classes should be offered online this semester.

“More teachers should be encouraged to offer online options for students because if I am not feeling well and we are in a pandemic I should be able to still attend class from my room, but some teachers still don’t allow this and it needs to change,” Ruter said.

Typically, Ruter said he would recommend getting involved on campus but due to COVID he recommends students set aside at least two hours a day to do homework to stay on top of work.

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].